Del dominio de los fundamentos de la comedia de buenas costumbres a la práctica exitosa: Contigo pan y cebolla (1833) de Manuel Eduardo de Gorostiza

Abstract

Until now, eighteenth-century Spanish theater scholars and critics have considered Manuel Eduardo de Gorostiza (1789-1857) a minor playwright. In the present collaboration we intend to demonstrate that such an assertion does not conform to the truth. Through a contrastive study between El señorito mimado (1787) by Tomás de Iriarte and Contigo pan y cebolla (1833) by Gorostiza, we mean to show that the latter one became a renowned author of comedies of good manners on his own merits and not for being a mere follower of the guidelines of the neoclassical comedy established by Nicolás Fernandez de Moratín and consolidated by Tomás de Iriarte. In essence, the contents and arguments set forth in this article are clear evidence that Gorostiza conceived comedies that achieved a public and critical acclaim and made him worthy of occupying a relevant position both among the enlightened liberals of Hispanic origin as well as among the authors of comedies of good manners.