La politique de Dieu: una traducción desconocida de la obra de Quevedo, en un manuscrito del siglo XVII

Abstract

This article aims to give news about the discovery of an unknown translation into French of Francisco de Quevedo’s Política de Dios, in a manuscript dated in the 17th century and preserved in a library located in France. The finding of this codex confirms the credibility of the information given by the controversial bookseller Roberto Duport, who already mentioned some French and Italian versions prior to his edition, printed in Zaragoza in 1626. This translation also corrects the claims of the critics, who have assumed that French readers were interested only on Quevedo’s burlesque works, particularly the Buscón and the Sueños, until recent times. The existence of translations into French of his political literature has been also denied due to the lack of handwritten or printed evidences. In fact, there are growing signs about the interest that their political and moral texts raised in Europe immediately, in the 17th and 18th centuries. This translation, entitled La politique de Dieu, le gouvernement de Jesus Christ et the tirannie of Satan, as the «primitive versions» that were used as its model, stands out for its fidelity to the source, a surprising fact if compared with examples as the Buscón translated by La Geneste. Written by an unknown author, this French version is dedicated to a counselor of the Court of Luis XIII, presumably Gabriel Maillot, «Conseiller du Roy controlleur ordinaire des Guerres», whom the translator conveys a striking appreciation from Quevedo, who should be alive even then. This fact should support an early dating for the translation