«Carta en respuesta de otra que le había escrito un amigo…» by Benegasi y Luján: the Embodiment of the Authorial Self in an Anecdotal Epistle

Abstract

The «Carta en respuesta de otra que le había escrito un amigo…»  by José Joaquín Benegasi y Luján (1707-1770) is a paper dated around 1747. In this extensive composition, the poet recounts the vicissitudes he experienced after his transfer to Loja from the Madrid capital. He will settle in this town in Granada urged by his economic precariousness, which he will not hesitate to show off. This composition, of which we offer a modernized edition, is presented as an interesting dialectical game in which Benegasi vents his ills to an anonymous friend. The Madrid poet thus establishes an interesting epistolary game in which we recognize his usual literary marks: a strong self-referentiality, a notorious presence of the metaliterary, an intelligent use of dilogy and a marked «jocoserio» style.