The Manuscript Found in Saragossa
Encyclopedia
The Manuscript Found in Saragossa (original French
title: Manuscrit trouvé à Saragosse; also known in English
as The Saragossa Manuscript; and in Polish
as Rękopis znaleziony w Saragossie), is a frame-tale novel by the Polish
Enlightenment author
, Count Jan Potocki
(1761–1815). It is narrated from the time of the Napoleonic Wars
, and depicts events several decades earlier.
The novel was adapted into a 1965 Polish-language
film The Saragossa Manuscript
by director Wojciech Has, with Zbigniew Cybulski
as Alfonse van Worden.
, with a large and colorful cast of Gypsies, thieves, inquisitors, a cabbalist, a geometer, the cabbalist's beautiful sister, two Moorish
princesses (Emina and Zibelda), and others that the brave, perhaps foolhardy, Walloon
Guard Alphonse van Worden meets, imagines or reads about in the Sierra Morena
mountains of 18th-century Spain
while en route to Madrid
. Recounted to the narrator over the course of sixty-six days, the novel's stories quickly overshadow van Worden's frame story. The bulk of the stories revolve around the Gypsy chief Avadoro, whose story becomes a frame story itself. Eventually the narrative focus moves again toward van Worden's frame story and a conspiracy involving an underground — or perhaps entirely hallucinated — Muslim
society, revealing the connections and correspondences between the hundred or so stories told over the novel's sixty-six days.
The stories cover a wide range of genres and subjects, including the gothic, the picaresque
, the erotic, the historical, the moral, and the philosophic; and as a whole the novel reflects Potocki's far-ranging interests, especially his deep fascination with secret societies
, the supernatural
, and "Oriental
" cultures. The novel's stories-within-stories sometimes reach several levels of depth, and characters and themes — a few prominent themes being honor, disguise, metamorphosis, and conspiracy
— recur and change shape throughout. Because of its rich and varied interlocking structure, the novel echoes favorable comparison to many celebrated literary antecedents such as the ancient BCE Jatakas and Panchatantra
as well as the medieval Arabian Nights and Decameron.
Potocki composed the book entirely in French. Sections of the original French-language manuscripts were later lost, but have been back-translated into French from a Polish translation that had been made in 1847 by Edmund Chojecki
from a complete French-language copy, now lost.
The first integral French-language version of the work, based on several French-language manuscripts and on Chojecki
's 1847 Polish translation, was edited by René Radrizzani and published in 1989 by the renowned French publishing house of José Corti
.
Translations of the novel from the French rely, for the missing sections, on Chojecki's Polish translation. The most recent English-language edition, published by Penguin Books
in 1995, was translated by Ian Maclean.
The most recent and complete French-language version to date was edited by François Rosset and Dominique Triaire and published in 2006 in Leuven
, Belgium
, as part of a critical scholarly edition of the Complete Works of Potocki. Unlike Radrizzani's 1989 edition of the Manuscript Found in Saragossa, Rosset and Triaire's edition is based solely on Potocki's French-language manuscripts found in libraries in France, Poland (in particular, previously unknown autograph pieces that they discovered in Poznań
), Spain and Russia, as well as in the private collection of Potocki's heirs.
Rosset and Triaire identified two versions of the novel: one unfinished, of 1804, published in 1805; and the full version of 1810, which appears to have been completely reconceived in comparison to the 1804 version. Whereas the first version has a lighter, more skeptical tone, the second one tends toward a darker, more religious mood. In view of the differences between the two versions, the 1804 and 1810 versions have been published as two separate books; paperback editions were issued in early 2008 by Flammarion
.
adapted the novel into a Polish-language black-and-white film The Saragossa Manuscript
(Polish title
: Rękopis znaleziony w Saragossie), starring Zbigniew Cybulski
. The film was released in a full-length Polish version (180 minutes) and in shortened versions in other countries (152 minutes in the United States
, and 125 in the United Kingdom
).
The film was admired by many 1960s counterculture
figures, notably Grateful Dead
guitarist Jerry Garcia
, who financed a complete print, as well as Martin Scorsese
, Francis Ford Coppola
, and Luis Buñuel
. Neil Gaiman
has referenced the book and film, in passing, in at least three different works. The film was shot near Częstochowa
and in Wrocław, Poland
.
A later adaption is the Romanian-language
play Saragosa, 66 de Zile (Saragossa, 66 Days), written and directed by Alexandru Dabija in 1999 at the Odeon Theatre Bucharest, and first represented at The Theater der Welt Festival in Berlin.
Christine Mary Dunford adapted an English-language stage version from Ian Maclean's translation of the novel.
French language
French is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts...
title: Manuscrit trouvé à Saragosse; also known in English
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
as The Saragossa Manuscript; and in Polish
Polish language
Polish is a language of the Lechitic subgroup of West Slavic languages, used throughout Poland and by Polish minorities in other countries...
as Rękopis znaleziony w Saragossie), is a frame-tale novel by the Polish
Poland
Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...
Enlightenment author
Enlightenment in Poland
The ideas of the Age of Enlightenment in Poland were developed later than in the Western Europe, as Polish bourgeoisie was weaker, and szlachta culture together with the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth political system were in deep crisis...
, Count Jan Potocki
Jan Potocki
Count Jan Nepomucen Potocki was a Polish nobleman, Polish Army Captain of Engineers, ethnologist, Egyptologist, linguist, traveler, adventurer and popular author of the Enlightenment period, whose life and exploits made him a legendary figure in his homeland...
(1761–1815). It is narrated from the time of the Napoleonic Wars
Napoleonic Wars
The Napoleonic Wars were a series of wars declared against Napoleon's French Empire by opposing coalitions that ran from 1803 to 1815. As a continuation of the wars sparked by the French Revolution of 1789, they revolutionised European armies and played out on an unprecedented scale, mainly due to...
, and depicts events several decades earlier.
The novel was adapted into a 1965 Polish-language
Polish language
Polish is a language of the Lechitic subgroup of West Slavic languages, used throughout Poland and by Polish minorities in other countries...
film The Saragossa Manuscript
The Saragossa Manuscript (film)
The Saragossa Manuscript is a 1965 Polish film directed by Wojciech Has, based on the 1815 novel The Manuscript Found in Saragossa by Jan Potocki. Set primarily in Spain, it tells a frame story containing gothic, picaresque and erotic elements...
by director Wojciech Has, with Zbigniew Cybulski
Zbigniew Cybulski
Zbigniew Cybulski was a Polish actor, one of the best-known and most popular personalities of the post-World War II history of Poland.-Life:...
as Alfonse van Worden.
Plot summary
The Manuscript Found in Saragossa collects intertwining stories, all of them set in whole or in part in SpainSpain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
, with a large and colorful cast of Gypsies, thieves, inquisitors, a cabbalist, a geometer, the cabbalist's beautiful sister, two Moorish
Moors
The description Moors has referred to several historic and modern populations of the Maghreb region who are predominately of Berber and Arab descent. They came to conquer and rule the Iberian Peninsula for nearly 800 years. At that time they were Muslim, although earlier the people had followed...
princesses (Emina and Zibelda), and others that the brave, perhaps foolhardy, Walloon
Walloons
Walloons are a French-speaking people who live in Belgium, principally in Wallonia. Walloons are a distinctive community within Belgium, important historical and anthropological criteria bind Walloons to the French people. More generally, the term also refers to the inhabitants of the Walloon...
Guard Alphonse van Worden meets, imagines or reads about in the Sierra Morena
Sierra Morena
The Sierra Morena is one of the main systems of mountain ranges in Spain.It stretches for 400 kilometres East-West across southern Spain, forming the southern border of the Meseta Central plateau of the Iberian Peninsula, and providing the watershed between the valleys of the Guadiana to the...
mountains of 18th-century Spain
Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
while en route to Madrid
Madrid
Madrid is the capital and largest city of Spain. The population of the city is roughly 3.3 million and the entire population of the Madrid metropolitan area is calculated to be 6.271 million. It is the third largest city in the European Union, after London and Berlin, and its metropolitan...
. Recounted to the narrator over the course of sixty-six days, the novel's stories quickly overshadow van Worden's frame story. The bulk of the stories revolve around the Gypsy chief Avadoro, whose story becomes a frame story itself. Eventually the narrative focus moves again toward van Worden's frame story and a conspiracy involving an underground — or perhaps entirely hallucinated — Muslim
Muslim
A Muslim, also spelled Moslem, is an adherent of Islam, a monotheistic, Abrahamic religion based on the Quran, which Muslims consider the verbatim word of God as revealed to prophet Muhammad. "Muslim" is the Arabic term for "submitter" .Muslims believe that God is one and incomparable...
society, revealing the connections and correspondences between the hundred or so stories told over the novel's sixty-six days.
The stories cover a wide range of genres and subjects, including the gothic, the picaresque
Picaresque novel
The picaresque novel is a popular sub-genre of prose fiction which is usually satirical and depicts, in realistic and often humorous detail, the adventures of a roguish hero of low social class who lives by his wits in a corrupt society...
, the erotic, the historical, the moral, and the philosophic; and as a whole the novel reflects Potocki's far-ranging interests, especially his deep fascination with secret societies
Secret society
A secret society is a club or organization whose activities and inner functioning are concealed from non-members. The society may or may not attempt to conceal its existence. The term usually excludes covert groups, such as intelligence agencies or guerrilla insurgencies, which hide their...
, the supernatural
Supernatural
The supernatural or is that which is not subject to the laws of nature, or more figuratively, that which is said to exist above and beyond nature...
, and "Oriental
Orientalism
Orientalism is a term used for the imitation or depiction of aspects of Eastern cultures in the West by writers, designers and artists, as well as having other meanings...
" cultures. The novel's stories-within-stories sometimes reach several levels of depth, and characters and themes — a few prominent themes being honor, disguise, metamorphosis, and conspiracy
Conspiracy (crime)
In the criminal law, a conspiracy is an agreement between two or more persons to break the law at some time in the future, and, in some cases, with at least one overt act in furtherance of that agreement...
— recur and change shape throughout. Because of its rich and varied interlocking structure, the novel echoes favorable comparison to many celebrated literary antecedents such as the ancient BCE Jatakas and Panchatantra
Panchatantra
The Panchatantra is an ancient Indian inter-related collection of animal fables in verse and prose, in a frame story format. The original Sanskrit work, which some scholars believe was composed in the 3rd century BCE, is attributed to Vishnu Sharma...
as well as the medieval Arabian Nights and Decameron.
Textual history
The first several "days" of The Manuscript Found in Saragossa were initially published apart from the rest of the novel in 1805, while the stories comprising the Gypsy chief's tale were added later. The novel was written incrementally and was left in its final form—though never exactly completed—at the time of the author's suicide in 1815.Potocki composed the book entirely in French. Sections of the original French-language manuscripts were later lost, but have been back-translated into French from a Polish translation that had been made in 1847 by Edmund Chojecki
Edmund Chojecki
Edmund Franciszek Maurycy Chojecki was a Polish journalist, playwright, novelist, poet and translator. Originally hailing from Warsaw, from 1844 he resided in France, where he wrote under the pen name Charles Edmond....
from a complete French-language copy, now lost.
The first integral French-language version of the work, based on several French-language manuscripts and on Chojecki
Edmund Chojecki
Edmund Franciszek Maurycy Chojecki was a Polish journalist, playwright, novelist, poet and translator. Originally hailing from Warsaw, from 1844 he resided in France, where he wrote under the pen name Charles Edmond....
's 1847 Polish translation, was edited by René Radrizzani and published in 1989 by the renowned French publishing house of José Corti
José Corti
José Corti is a book shop and publishing house located in Paris, France, and was founded in 1925.It is named after its founder, José Corticchiato ; it is one of France's most prestigious and low-profile independent publishing houses...
.
Translations of the novel from the French rely, for the missing sections, on Chojecki's Polish translation. The most recent English-language edition, published by Penguin Books
Penguin Books
Penguin Books is a publisher founded in 1935 by Sir Allen Lane and V.K. Krishna Menon. Penguin revolutionised publishing in the 1930s through its high quality, inexpensive paperbacks, sold through Woolworths and other high street stores for sixpence. Penguin's success demonstrated that large...
in 1995, was translated by Ian Maclean.
The most recent and complete French-language version to date was edited by François Rosset and Dominique Triaire and published in 2006 in Leuven
Leuven
Leuven is the capital of the province of Flemish Brabant in the Flemish Region, Belgium...
, Belgium
Belgium
Belgium , officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a federal state in Western Europe. It is a founding member of the European Union and hosts the EU's headquarters, and those of several other major international organisations such as NATO.Belgium is also a member of, or affiliated to, many...
, as part of a critical scholarly edition of the Complete Works of Potocki. Unlike Radrizzani's 1989 edition of the Manuscript Found in Saragossa, Rosset and Triaire's edition is based solely on Potocki's French-language manuscripts found in libraries in France, Poland (in particular, previously unknown autograph pieces that they discovered in Poznań
Poznan
Poznań is a city on the Warta river in west-central Poland, with a population of 556,022 in June 2009. It is among the oldest cities in Poland, and was one of the most important centres in the early Polish state, whose first rulers were buried at Poznań's cathedral. It is sometimes claimed to be...
), Spain and Russia, as well as in the private collection of Potocki's heirs.
Rosset and Triaire identified two versions of the novel: one unfinished, of 1804, published in 1805; and the full version of 1810, which appears to have been completely reconceived in comparison to the 1804 version. Whereas the first version has a lighter, more skeptical tone, the second one tends toward a darker, more religious mood. In view of the differences between the two versions, the 1804 and 1810 versions have been published as two separate books; paperback editions were issued in early 2008 by Flammarion
Groupe Flammarion
Groupe Flammarion is the fourth largest publishing group in France, comprising many units, including its namesake, founded in 1876 by Ernest Flammarion, as well as units in distribution, sales, printing and bookshops . Flammarion became part of the Italian media conglomerate RCS MediaGroup in 2000...
.
Film, TV, theater
In 1965, director Wojciech HasWojciech Has
Wojciech Jerzy Has was a Polish film director, screenwriter and film producer.-Early Life & Studies:...
adapted the novel into a Polish-language black-and-white film The Saragossa Manuscript
The Saragossa Manuscript (film)
The Saragossa Manuscript is a 1965 Polish film directed by Wojciech Has, based on the 1815 novel The Manuscript Found in Saragossa by Jan Potocki. Set primarily in Spain, it tells a frame story containing gothic, picaresque and erotic elements...
(Polish title
Polish language
Polish is a language of the Lechitic subgroup of West Slavic languages, used throughout Poland and by Polish minorities in other countries...
: Rękopis znaleziony w Saragossie), starring Zbigniew Cybulski
Zbigniew Cybulski
Zbigniew Cybulski was a Polish actor, one of the best-known and most popular personalities of the post-World War II history of Poland.-Life:...
. The film was released in a full-length Polish version (180 minutes) and in shortened versions in other countries (152 minutes in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
, and 125 in the United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
).
The film was admired by many 1960s counterculture
Counterculture
Counterculture is a sociological term used to describe the values and norms of behavior of a cultural group, or subculture, that run counter to those of the social mainstream of the day, the cultural equivalent of political opposition. Counterculture can also be described as a group whose behavior...
figures, notably Grateful Dead
Grateful Dead
The Grateful Dead was an American rock band formed in 1965 in the San Francisco Bay Area. The band was known for its unique and eclectic style, which fused elements of rock, folk, bluegrass, blues, reggae, country, improvisational jazz, psychedelia, and space rock, and for live performances of long...
guitarist Jerry Garcia
Jerry Garcia
Jerome John "Jerry" Garcia was an American musician best known for his lead guitar work, singing and songwriting with the band the Grateful Dead...
, who financed a complete print, as well as Martin Scorsese
Martin Scorsese
Martin Charles Scorsese is an American film director, screenwriter, producer, actor, and film historian. In 1990 he founded The Film Foundation, a nonprofit organization dedicated to film preservation, and in 2007 he founded the World Cinema Foundation...
, Francis Ford Coppola
Francis Ford Coppola
Francis Ford Coppola is an American film director, producer and screenwriter. He is widely acclaimed as one of Hollywood's most innovative and influential film directors...
, and Luis Buñuel
Luis Buñuel
Luis Buñuel Portolés was a Spanish-born filmmaker — later a naturalized citizen of Mexico — who worked in Spain, Mexico, France and the US..-Early years:...
. Neil Gaiman
Neil Gaiman
Neil Richard Gaiman born 10 November 1960)is an English author of short fiction, novels, comic books, graphic novels, audio theatre and films. His notable works include the comic book series The Sandman and novels Stardust, American Gods, Coraline, and The Graveyard Book...
has referenced the book and film, in passing, in at least three different works. The film was shot near Częstochowa
Czestochowa
Częstochowa is a city in south Poland on the Warta River with 240,027 inhabitants . It has been situated in the Silesian Voivodeship since 1999, and was previously the capital of Częstochowa Voivodeship...
and in Wrocław, Poland
Poland
Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...
.
A later adaption is the Romanian-language
Romanian language
Romanian Romanian Romanian (or Daco-Romanian; obsolete spellings Rumanian, Roumanian; self-designation: română, limba română ("the Romanian language") or românește (lit. "in Romanian") is a Romance language spoken by around 24 to 28 million people, primarily in Romania and Moldova...
play Saragosa, 66 de Zile (Saragossa, 66 Days), written and directed by Alexandru Dabija in 1999 at the Odeon Theatre Bucharest, and first represented at The Theater der Welt Festival in Berlin.
Christine Mary Dunford adapted an English-language stage version from Ian Maclean's translation of the novel.
Characters
- Alphonse van Worden, the narrator
- The Sheikh Gomelez, mysterious focus of conspiracy
- The twin sisters Emina and Zubeida
- The hermit
- Pacheco, demoniac servant of the hermit
- Don Pedro Uzeda, a cabbalist
- Donna Rebecca Uzeda, the cabbalist's sister
- Ahasuerus, the Wandering JewWandering JewThe Wandering Jew is a figure from medieval Christian folklore whose legend began to spread in Europe in the 13th century. The original legend concerns a Jew who taunted Jesus on the way to the Crucifixion and was then cursed to walk the earth until the Second Coming...
- Don Pedro Velasquez, a geometer
- Don Avadoro, a gypsy chief
- Don Toledo, an amorous knight
- Busqueros, a nuisance
- Zoto's brothers, a pair of bandits hanging from the gallows. Zoto himself is hiding somewhere in the nearby mountains.
See also
- Back-translation of The Saragossa Manuscript
- Polish literaturePolish literaturePolish literature is the literary tradition of Poland. Most Polish literature has been written in the Polish language, though other languages, used in Poland over the centuries, have also contributed to Polish literary traditions, including Yiddish, Lithuanian, Ukrainian, Belarusian, German and...
Further reading
- Comparative Criticism, volume 24, part II: Jan Potocki and The Manuscript Found in Saragossa: Novel and Film, E.S. Shaffer, ed., 2003.