The beginnings of Spanish Children’s Literature: José de Viera y Clavijo

Abstract

Arnaud Berquin, a key figure in the development of children’s literature, published L’ami des enfants (1782-1783) following the editorial line and even the title of Der Kinderfreund (1776-1782), by Christian Felix Weisse. The dramatic and narrative pieces contained in the publication were almost exclusively translations of texts by German, Dutch, and English authors, often extracted from Campe’s the Kleine Kinderbibliothek (1779-1784) or from  Weisse’s collection. Around 1784, Enlightenment-era intellectual José de Viera y Clavijo translated some of the pieces in Berquin’s collection, along with other by M. de Genlis and Salomon Gessner, and started publishing them in 1803 under the title Cuentos de niños que instruyen divirtiendo. Berquin’s work, its importance, and its sources are well known, buth little has been said about the contributions of Viera y Clavijo to children’s literature, in which he should be regarded as a prominent figure during the beginings of Spanish Children’s literature.