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The Labyrinth of Fortune general information | review summaries | our review | links | about the author
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Our Assessment:
B+ : fine edition and translation of an impressive and significant work See our review for fuller assessment.
(* review of an earlier Spanish edition) From the Reviews: - Return to top of the page - The complete review's Review:
Translators Frank A. Domínguez and Ryan D. Giles note in their Introduction that Mena's The Labyrinth of Fortune is: "undeniably the most important [Castilian] work of the fifteenth century and has long been considered a classic"; remarkably, however, this is the first translation of the work into English (and it does not seem to have been translated widely into other languages either).
Domínguez and Giles suggest that: "Its length, complexity, and form are the probable reasons it has not been translated until now".
The style and meter of The Labyrinth are impossible to reproduce. We have opted instead to create a prose translation that closely approximates the meaning of the stanzas but disregards Mena's meter and the hyperbata. We also do not attempt to replicate his rhyme scheme, line length, accentual pattern, or caesura, although we graphically distribute the translation over eight lines that, for the most part correspond to the sequence of verses in the Spanish text.As the translators also explain: Already in the sixteenth century, readers criticized Mena's excessive Latinate diction, hyperbata (changes in word order), frequent allusions to classical or medieval figure, and stresses that often conflicted with the normal accentuation of a word.So their approach would certainly seem to be justified -- and, indeed, works quite well: if the poetry is lost, the meaning is largely clear, and reads well and fluidly enough; indeed, the work does not appear anywhere as daunting as the Introduction (and the work's reputation) might have led readers to fear. As to the poetry, having the Spanish text facing the translation gives readers a good sense of that (if not necessarily of the stresses and the like). Interestingly, the translators have also chosen to 'modernize' the original text, with some exceptions (for example: "Unusual words that are essential to the rhyme are kept"). (My Spanish isn't good enough to get a good sense of this, but the modernization does not appear to be strictly necessary; with some glossing, the original does not appear to be overly more challenging than the modern version, at least vocabulary-wise.) Mena sums up already in the second stanza of what he will offer: "Tus casos falaces, Fortuna, cantamos" ('Of your ruinous cases, Fortune, we sing'). He notes Fortune's inconstancy -- "¿Pues cómo, Fortuna, regir todas cosas / con ley absoluta, sin orden, te place?" ('So how can you, Fortune, take pleasure / in ruling all things with an absolute law, without order ?') -- but as he makes his complaint he is whisked away by 'Mother Bellona' (the goddess of war) and deposited 'in a vast desert'. Here Providence ("you may call me Divine Providence") introduces herself; he beseeches her to be his guide, and she agrees -- at least to the extent that: "Mostrarte he yo algo de aquello que puede / ser apalpado de humano intelecto" ('I will reveal to you a measure of that which / can be grasped by the human intellect'). First up, they zoom into the heights -- "dónde podía ser bien divisada / toda la parte terrestre e marina !" ('from which one could well see / all the parts of the earth and the sea !'), with a neat little geographic tour of the world then presented in the following stanzas. Amusingly, Fortune seems concerned about the poet getting carried away, bringing things to a close here by telling him to: "Déjate d'esto, que non hace al hecho" ('Leave this be, for it is not pertinent'). In the House of Fortune, she then introduces him to the three wheels of past, present, and future -- though only the middle one, with those "confined to the present", turns. But it is the wheel of "those who belong to the past" which she draws him to, with most of the rest of the poem then describing what he is exposed to in its seven circles. These circles correspond to the (orbits of the) planets (whereby the Moon is included, as the first), each 'imprinting their action' on a successive ring/circle. Providence suggests that the poet will then be able make the connections between the lessons from the past and how they apply to the actors in the present. The local nobility features prominently on this tour, as Mena not only dedicates his epic to: "Al gran rey de España, al César novelo" ('To the great king of Spain, to the new Casar'), Juan II, but includes figures from his court -- beginning with Juan II's first wife, "the very virtuous Lady Mary" --, and addresses events and issues facing the king, complete with the call that: Sanad vos los reinos de aqueste recelo,Along the way the poet also sees many famous personages of the past, e.g.: Vi más a Sócrates tal que lo temo,He also see Homer, Virgil, and a whole 'horde of Romans': trágicos, líricos, elegïanos,The variety of classical figures is entertaining, and plays some into Mena's purpose, but the focus of this exercise is on the political, and then-present-day Spain. Occasionally, direct advice is offered to the king: Como las telas que dan las arañasAs is explained in the Introduction, the poem also has a clear objective: noting the failures to recapture the territories lost to the Moors, it puts its hopes in Juan II (and Álvaro de Luna) to finally succeed with the Reconquista (while criticizing the actions of many that Mena sees as playing a role in the continued failure to achieve these ends at the time). As the translators suggest: This may be one of the reasons why the message of The Labyrinth is couched in a style that Mena had used before but that here serves an additional purpose: the poem's unusual syntax, Latinisms, and neologisms shift the attention of its readers away from what is said to how it is said, thereby veiling its meaning and diffusing the virulence of Mena's censure.The extensive endnote-Notes to the Translation help guide contemporary readers through some of the politics and history at issue, which is certainly helpful, but the main appeal to contemporary readers is surely in the poetry and the wending of the poet's Providence-led path across geography and history. Even if the full effect of much of the writing is lost in translation -- no hyperbata ! -- enough comes across, and both in its parts and as a whole the work impresses. Having it finally available in English fills a significant hole -- and it is certainly particularly to be appreciated that it is available in a bilingual and well-annotated edition. - M.A.Orthofer, 24 May 2025 - Return to top of the page - The Labyrinth of Fortune:
- Return to top of the page - Spanish author Juan de Mena lived 1411 to 1456. - Return to top of the page -
© 2025 the complete review
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