Why was Sismondi’s ‘Historical View of the Literature of the South of Europe’ so important for Catalan literature?

On 30 March, a Translation, Transmission and Cultural Transfers Seminar, organised in association with the Centre for Nineteenth Century Studies was held under the title “Sismondi, Roscoe and Comparative Literature in English”.

Rachel Bryant-Davies, Angus Nicholls, Galin Tihanov, John London and James Chow-Thomas expressed their views on the importance of Sismondi’s De la littérature du midi de l’Europe, and Roscoe’s English translation Historical View of the Literature of the South of Europe. This work was especially decisive for Catalan literature, since it introduced, among others, Ausiàs March’s work and gave translated examples of some of his poems.