Correspondencia Victor Hugo-Arrigo Boito (1864-1880)Edición, estudio y traducción.

Abstract

The thesis proposes the unpublished edition of the correspondence between Victor Hugo (1802-1885) and Arrigo Boito (1842-1918) and its corresponding study to analyse the flow of artistic influences that occurred between both nineteenth-century artists. The French writer and the young Italian poet had a brief epistolary exchange during which they shared opinions not only on literature and art but on the political-social situations that surrounded them. The study of private documentation thus makes it possible to establish a parallel between the artistic productions of both authors as well as between French Romanticism and the Italian movement of the Scapigliatura milanese; without forgetting the importance of their political thought. The letters, mostly written in French, stand as the fundamental source of information for the study of the artistic influence that Victor Hugo, forty years older than Boito, exerted on the latter. Literary criticism has mentioned the importance of the French movement for the development of Scapigliatura’s literature; however, the weight of the German influence has kept the French giant away from the throne of the master of this romantic-realist movement of the second half of the 19th century. Thereby, the unpublished critical edition of this correspondence, its study and its translation into Spanish, offer a new perspective in the comparative study of the literary production of both authors