“Una historia breve y antigua”. El “Alexis” virgiliano de Luis Antonio de Villena

Abstract

Reception of Virgil’s “Second Eclogue” by Luis Antonio de Villena’s “Alexis” (1981) is studied here following his own aesthetic principles. To do so, we firstly point out the importance of Virgil’s poem within the history of its own reception in Antiquity and Modernity, as well as the discomfort traditionally associated with its reading and translation. Then, the elements that modernize Virgilian poetic message are analyzed. Lastly, we recall Villena’s choice of Agustín García Calvo’s translation (1976) and its significance for an in-depth understanding of the poem.