Anthology of Spanish Literature

[Bob]

I highly recommend "Literatura Espanola: Una Antologia: De Los Origenes Hasta 1700, Vol. 1," published by Taylor and Francis. The ISBN is 0815320124. It sells for about $60, and can probably be found in your local college or university library or via interlibrary loan though your municipal library.

While the book is intended primarily for the college classroom, it can be explored with great enjoyment by anyone with an interest in the languages spoken in Spain at different times and in different regions, and their evolution and various histories. There are poems in Mozarabic, two parallel selections from "Poema del Cid" (Cantar de mio Cid), one a modern Spanish translation and the other in the original dialect, and many other works.

A good reading knowledge of Spanish is very helpful. The book contains no English other than footnotes explaining certain rare or obsolete words.

Volume 2, as you might expect, samples the more recent literature.

Bob Martinez