The hagiographic «comedia» of the «Siglo de Oro» rewritten in Catalan: new textual problems in the theatre of Albert Borguny

Abstract

The hagiographic comedias of baroque affiliation written in Mallorca during the 18th century have received little critical attention and often with editions that need to be updated in the light of new advances in the field. This study analyses Comèdia gloriosa del famós sant Caietano, written by Albert Borguny from the edition of Ramon Díaz i Villalonga (1997), taking into account its apparatus of variants, the divergences between manuscripts and, above all, the link with the previous Spanish comedia: Vida y muerte de san Cayetano. Having previously located all the copies of all the testimonies of the Spanish source, we have analysed their loci critici in the light of the text in Catalan and we have compared the versions to solve dark lessons trans­mitted by the manuscripts that contain the dramatic work of Borguny. These operations reveal completely original features of the Mallorcan writer, as well as a set of new data that fill several critical gaps and that, in short, allow to revise and restore a unique piece of the old theatrical heritage in Catalan language.