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The New Decameron: More Tales from the Saragossa Manuscript
In 1960, the first portion of a previously little known collection of weird and supernatural tales, divided into Days like the DECAMERON, and written in the eighteenth century by a somewhat mysterious Polish count, was published to enormous critical acclaim. "A unique and fascinating work which should never have been neglected," Anthony Boucher, New York Times Book Review; "A sequence of fantastic interlocking narratives, fabulous and supernatural, romantic and erotic, at times appalling, and, of course, resistlessly readable," Vincent Starrett, Chicago Tribune; "Indisputably a classic in the Gothic mode," Leo Lerman, Saturday Review.
But the enthusiastic critics also complained. Boucher wrote: "Readers should besiege the publishers with requests for the promptest possible release of the remaining Days." Starrett said, "At this moment, one is waiting a little breathlessly . . . Surely Miss Abbott and the Orion Press are not going to let us down now," and Lerman asked, "When, Orion Press, are we to have the remaining Days?"
This volume contains the remaining tales from THE SARAGOSSA MANUSCRIPT, a marvelous collection of stories--witty, erotic and often terrifying. Peopled with sheiks, hermits, cabalists, brigands, knights and voluptuous ladies, they make fascinating reading.
But the enthusiastic critics also complained. Boucher wrote: "Readers should besiege the publishers with requests for the promptest possible release of the remaining Days." Starrett said, "At this moment, one is waiting a little breathlessly . . . Surely Miss Abbott and the Orion Press are not going to let us down now," and Lerman asked, "When, Orion Press, are we to have the remaining Days?"
This volume contains the remaining tales from THE SARAGOSSA MANUSCRIPT, a marvelous collection of stories--witty, erotic and often terrifying. Peopled with sheiks, hermits, cabalists, brigands, knights and voluptuous ladies, they make fascinating reading.
433 pages, hardcover
First published January 1, 1805
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About the author
Jan Potocki
68 books113 followersJan Potocki was born into the Potocki family, an aristocratic family, that owned vast estates in Poland. He was educated in Geneva and Lausanne, served twice in the Polish Army as a captain of engineers, and spent some time on a galley as a novice Knight of Malta. He was probably a Freemason and had a strong interest in the occult.
Potocki's colorful life took him across Europe, Asia and North Africa, where he embroiled himself in political intrigues, flirted with secret societies, contributed to the birth of ethnology — he was one of the first to study the precursors of the Slavic peoples from a linguistic and historical standpoint.
In 1790 he became the first person in Poland to fly in a hot air balloon when he made an ascent over Warsaw with the aeronaut Jean-Pierre Blanchard, an exploit that earned him great public acclaim. He also established in 1788 in Warsaw a publishing house named Drukarnia Wolna (Free Press) as well as the city's first free reading room.
Potocki's wealth enabled him to travel extensively about Europe, the Mediterranean and Asia, visiting Italy, Sicily, Malta, the Netherlands, Germany, France, England, Russia, Turkey, Spain, Tunisia, Morocco, Egypt, and even Mongolia. He was also one of the first travel writers of the modern era, penning lively accounts of many of his journeys, during which he also undertook extensive historical, linguistic and ethnographic studies. As well as his many scholarly and travel writings, he also wrote a play, a series of sketches and a novel.
Potocki married twice and had five children. His first marriage ended in divorce, and both marriages were the subject of scandalous rumors. In 1812, disillusioned and in poor health, he retired to his estate at Uladowka in Podolia, suffering from "melancholia" (which today would probably be diagnosed as depression), and during the last few years of his life he completed his novel.
Potocki committed suicide in December 1815 at the age of 54, though the exact date is uncertain — possibly November 20, December 2 or December 11. There are also several versions of the circumstances of his death; the best-known story is that he shot himself in the head with a silver bullet — fashioned from the strawberry-shaped knob of a sugar bowl given to him by his mother — which he first had blessed by his castle priest. One version of Potocki's suicide suggests that he gradually filed the knob off the lid, a little every morning.
Potocki's most famous work is The Manuscript Found in Saragossa. Originally written in French as Manuscrit trouvé à Saragosse, it is a frame tale which he wrote to entertain his wife. On account of its rich interlocking structure and telescoping story sequences, the novel has drawn comparisons to such celebrated works as the Decameron and the Arabian Nights.
Potocki's colorful life took him across Europe, Asia and North Africa, where he embroiled himself in political intrigues, flirted with secret societies, contributed to the birth of ethnology — he was one of the first to study the precursors of the Slavic peoples from a linguistic and historical standpoint.
In 1790 he became the first person in Poland to fly in a hot air balloon when he made an ascent over Warsaw with the aeronaut Jean-Pierre Blanchard, an exploit that earned him great public acclaim. He also established in 1788 in Warsaw a publishing house named Drukarnia Wolna (Free Press) as well as the city's first free reading room.
Potocki's wealth enabled him to travel extensively about Europe, the Mediterranean and Asia, visiting Italy, Sicily, Malta, the Netherlands, Germany, France, England, Russia, Turkey, Spain, Tunisia, Morocco, Egypt, and even Mongolia. He was also one of the first travel writers of the modern era, penning lively accounts of many of his journeys, during which he also undertook extensive historical, linguistic and ethnographic studies. As well as his many scholarly and travel writings, he also wrote a play, a series of sketches and a novel.
Potocki married twice and had five children. His first marriage ended in divorce, and both marriages were the subject of scandalous rumors. In 1812, disillusioned and in poor health, he retired to his estate at Uladowka in Podolia, suffering from "melancholia" (which today would probably be diagnosed as depression), and during the last few years of his life he completed his novel.
Potocki committed suicide in December 1815 at the age of 54, though the exact date is uncertain — possibly November 20, December 2 or December 11. There are also several versions of the circumstances of his death; the best-known story is that he shot himself in the head with a silver bullet — fashioned from the strawberry-shaped knob of a sugar bowl given to him by his mother — which he first had blessed by his castle priest. One version of Potocki's suicide suggests that he gradually filed the knob off the lid, a little every morning.
Potocki's most famous work is The Manuscript Found in Saragossa. Originally written in French as Manuscrit trouvé à Saragosse, it is a frame tale which he wrote to entertain his wife. On account of its rich interlocking structure and telescoping story sequences, the novel has drawn comparisons to such celebrated works as the Decameron and the Arabian Nights.
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December 2, 2024
Respecto al contenido y a la adscripción genérica del Nuevo Decamerón, no es nítido: ¿es una novela gótica, oriental, filosófica, cabalística, masónica, picaresca, erótica o de aventuras? ¿O todo a la vez?
Puede ser una "summa" narrativa. Una obra tan hermética y laberíntica que se inscribe en una cultura históricamente determinada, desde el lenguaje hasta las ideas. Como es la crisis europea de las Luces que dió lugar a la génesis de la modernidad con sus tres temas principales, el crimen, la sexualidad y lo sobrenatural. Pueden verse las relaciones entre literatura, el mundo imaginario, las mentalidades y prácticas culturales; las múltiples fibras que unen una obra concreta con su tiempo, desde el uso de una lengua que refleja y, a la vez, es determinada por la historia o las propias formas literarias que remiten al juego subterráneo de la intertextualidad histórica, hasta el imaginario marcado por temas, figuras y mitos que dependen íntimamente de los códigos culturales de una época.
Puede ser una "summa" narrativa. Una obra tan hermética y laberíntica que se inscribe en una cultura históricamente determinada, desde el lenguaje hasta las ideas. Como es la crisis europea de las Luces que dió lugar a la génesis de la modernidad con sus tres temas principales, el crimen, la sexualidad y lo sobrenatural. Pueden verse las relaciones entre literatura, el mundo imaginario, las mentalidades y prácticas culturales; las múltiples fibras que unen una obra concreta con su tiempo, desde el uso de una lengua que refleja y, a la vez, es determinada por la historia o las propias formas literarias que remiten al juego subterráneo de la intertextualidad histórica, hasta el imaginario marcado por temas, figuras y mitos que dependen íntimamente de los códigos culturales de una época.
Displaying 1 of 1 review