Translation, anglo-hispanic relations and devotional prose in the renaissanceFrancis meres' rendering of luis de granada's guía de pecadores

Résumé

This thesis investigates the enigmatic figure of Francis Meres (1565/6-1647) and above all his interest in Luis de Granada (1504-1588). In one year, 1598, he published three translations of some of Granada's most famous and international works; The Sinners Gvyde was his rendering of Luis de Granada’s Guía de pecadores, whereas Granados Devotion, and finally Granados Spirituall and Heauenlie Exercises, consisted of selections from the second part of Granada’s Libro de la oración y meditación. Meres’ most widely known publication is, however, Palladis Tamia, Wits Treasury, a collection of quotations on morals, religion and literature where we can also perceive Granada’s influence: more than a hundred entries were taken from the Spanish author's works. The most influential part of the volume is, however, ‘The Comparative Discourse’, a significant review of contemporary English literature with a special emphasis on Shakesperian plays. The popularity religious literature had achieved in England and, above all, Granada’s singular style, some of whose features showed similarities to those admired in Elizabethan culture, particularly those promoted by John Lyly’s popular work, Euphues, account for Meres' selection of the friar’s writings.