Secure A Copy Hieroglyphic Tales Depicted By Horace Walpole Ready In Digital Version

el nonsense literario suele ser identificado con la Inglaterra decimonónica Lewis Carroll, Edward Lear o el surrealismo francés, estos Cuentos jeróglíficos son un delicioso antecedente de esas obras literarias que cuestionan el realismo literario y las unidades aristotélicas.
Aún más que la fantasía desaforada de El castillo de Otranto, su obra más conocida, estos cuentos inspirados por Las mil y una noches, leyendas celtas y el mundo mediterráneo son desvaríos caprichosos en los que Walpole explaya sus aficiones literarias en relatos que resultaría difícil resumir, ya que su trama llega a ser un mero pretexto para la explosión de imágenes descabelladas y fantásticas.
El libro está complementado por una introducción en la que se resalta el papel de estas historias como antecedente del surrealismo y un epílogo en que se nos ofrece una introducción general, pero precisa, de la literatura gótica inglesa.


En una segunda lectura, estos cuentos demuestra que su encanto va más allá de ser pulidos divertimentos literarios.
Walpole sería un diletante privilegiado, pero también era un escritor plenamente comprometido con sus aficiones artísticas, incluso las más frívolas y triviales.
“Estava a nação neste estado de distracção quando chegou ao reino o príncipe de Quifferiquiminim, que teria sido o maior herói daquela época se não estivesse já morto, se fosse conhecedor de qualquer outra língua que não o egípcio e se não se desse o acaso de ter três pernas.

O Rei e Suas Três Filhas

Diz Horace Walpole no posfácio desta edição que data de: “Existe infinitamente mais imaginação na História, que não tem qualquer mérito se não for verdadeira, do que nos romances e novelas, que não pretendem conter verdade alguma”.
Esse problema, porém, não se aplica a Walpole, que tem uma imaginação fulgurante à qual dá asas em seis contos estapafúrdios e alucinantes, onde o absurdo não parece descabido e as ideias que parecem uma autêntica salada russa acabam por dar origem a histórias coesas.


“Ao mesmo tempo, a pata enfiouse de tal modo na passagem de ar que a bloqueou, asfixiando todos os maridos da bruxa.
Ora como esta era uma colecção de maridos que ela reunira com mil cuidados, esforços e custos, imaginese a frustração e a fúria.
Em retaliação, fez desabar uma tempestade medonha de raios e trovões que durou oitocentos e quatro anos.

A Caixinha dos Dados: Um Conto de Fadas

Uma Nova História das Mil e Uma Noites
O Rei e as suas Três Filhas
A Caixinha dos Dados: Um Conto de Fadas
Um Pêssego em Calda de Brandy, Conto Irlandês
Mi Li: Um Conto de Fadas Chinês
Uma Verdadeira História de Amor
GR describes these stories as surreal.
Yep, that works. Imagine Robin Williams and Jonathan Winters getting together, riffing on all sorts of topics as only they could.
These stories of Walpole's could have come from an improv session with those two great goofy comedians, Walpole would have been right at home with them and more than able to keep up, too!

Naturally not everyone likes such manic goingson, but I can handle a little of it, and these six stories were just the right dose.
I often had the feeling that there was more going on than I was aware of, though, Sly social commentary and erudite opinions transformed into farce, to protect either the target or the author, maybe On the other hand maybe Walpole just felt like letting his imagination run a bit wild.
Which he certainly did!

The first tale, called A New Arabian Nights Entertainment takes the story of Scheherazade and gives it not only a new twist but

quite a few new wrinkles that I never saw coming.


The King And His Three Daughters was a little like listening to Ray Stevens sing that song about being his own Grandpa.
Walpole starts off this way:
There was formerly a king, who had three daughtersthat is, he would have had three, if he had had one more, but some how or other the eldest never was born.
She was extremely handsome, had a great deal of wit, and spoke French in perfection, as all the authors of that age affirm, and yet none of them pretend that she ever existed.
It is very certain that the two other princesses were far from beauties the second had a strong Yorkshire dialect, and the youngest had bad teeth and but one leg, which occasioned her dancing very ill.

There arrives a prince who is dead and, well, "surreal" definitely fits here, but the tale still gave me a giggle fit,

Story three, titled The DiceBox, A Fairy Tale was written "for the entertainment of Miss Caroline Campbell" and was the first of the stories with a note from the author explaining how they came to be created.
I felt a little sorry for the elephant in this story! Walpole heaped all kinds of dramatic events onto him.
This was also a little creepy towards the end, because of the way King Solomon reacts to the merchant's daughter when he sees her.
The Queen Of Sheba didn't care for that too much either, which also explains a lot!

The Peach In Brandy was written for the wife of Walpole's good friend John Fitzpatrick, the Earl of Ossory.
Their daughter Anne was transformed into the little girl who became queen at the age of five, But, oh, my, the things that happen next! I wonder if Walpole based this story on Anne's actual behavior! This story had footnotes from the author explaining a few of the inside jokes involved.


Mi Li A Chinese Fairy Tale also had footnotes, telling that various features mentioned in the story were real and where to find them.
Mostly they were 'follies' at something called Park Place, which turned out to be an estate in Berkshire.
I suppose Walpole visited at some point and decided to use the area for this story, which has Mi Li searching for the one woman he will be allowed to marry.
But how did he get from China to England I'm not telling!

The sixth story and my favorite was A True Love Story, where we visit Venice and hear the romantic story of Orondates and the beautiful slave Azora, very much like that of Romeo and Juliet, but with a Walpole twist at the end.
Here is the beginning:
"In the height of the animosities between the factions of the Guelfs and Ghibellines, a party of Venetians had made an inroad into the territories of the Viscontis, sovereigns of Milan, and had carried off the young Orondates, then at nurse.
His family were at that time under a cloud, though they could boast of being descended from Canis Scaliger, lord of Verona.
The captors sold the beautiful Orondates to a rich widow of the noble family of Grimaldi, who having no children, brought him up with as much tenderness as if he had been her son.
"

Finally, a statement from the author's postscript at the end of the book:
"The foregoing Tales are given for no more than they are worth: they are mere whimsical trifles, written chiefly for private entertainment, and for private amusement half a dozen copies only are printed.
They deserve at most to be considered as an attempt to vary the stale and beaten class of stories and novels, which, though works of invention, are almost always devoid of imagination.
"

I was entertained as much by the stories as by the idea of how much fun Walpole had writing them.
Whether or not anyone else would get such a kick out of them, I cannot say, But I think they could also serve as an example for wouldbe writers to not be afraid to follow wherever their imagination leads, even if someday some 'expert' calls their work 'surreal'.
.