Spanish Literature, 1500-1700: A Bibliography of Golden Age Studies in Spanish and English, 1925-1980 (review)

Abstract

258BCom, Vol. 38, No. 2 (Winter 1 986) how Juan de Horozco's career problems were due solely to his converso background. In another context the 26 questions and the witnesses' answers pertaining to Horozco's eligibility to the See of Agregento would make fascinating reading. It would be hard not to see this book as a disappointment to its potential readers. Those who are still looking for thematic studies will find instead lengthy synopses of plays supported by overly frequent footnotes and followed by a surprisingly summary conclusion. For those seeking pointers for their own further research, the bibliographic references are not always apposite to the text (cf. p. 69, notes 2 & 3) or are absent, as in the case of the provenance of documents transcribed in chapter 7. Other references are given by name of author and page number in the body of the text, a practice that can only be justified when the reader can easily trace the full reference. In this respect, they would also keenly regret the absence of any bibliography either at the end of each chapter or at the end of the book. In this collection of essays, Dr. Weiner has offered us a great deal of information which, if developed, would have been put to better purpose in separate articles. Louise Fothergill-Payne University of Calgary Moseley, William W., Glenroy Emmons, and Marilyn Emmons, comps. Spanish Literature, 1500-1700: A Bibliography of Golden Age Studies in Spanish and English, 1925-1980. Westport, CT. and London, England: Greenwood Press, 1984. $75. The present volume is intended as a research tool «for the generalist and the advanced student rather than the specialist» (p. ix) . While the first two intended users will find this bibliography helpful in beginning their background research, the specialist will also find it useful, though l'mited. The reason for including only material published or translated into English or Spanish is that these two languages will be ordinarily the languages of the intended users. Therefore, the specialist or student conversant with German, French, Italian, etc., would be well advised to continue careful perusal of the PMLA's Annual Bibliography. Moreover , the bibliography does not include material on La Celestina, work Reviews259 primarily in the area of New World interest, nor editions of works. Though space limitations are a major concern for the editors, the omission of critical and scholarly editions is surely a regrettable decision, especially in view of the fact that their introductions normally provide the generalist and student an excellent framework from which to begin their own critical work. The Bibliography is organized in the following major sections: General ; General Bibliography; Drama; Picaresque; Poetry; Prose; Romancero ; and Individual Authors and Anonymous Works. This last category comprises three-fifths of the entries. The volume concludes with an Author Index (of scholarly contributors); a Subject Index; and an Index of Individual Authors and Anonymous Works. Those familiar with W.T. McCready's Bibliografía temática de estudios sobre el teatro español antiguo will find this present bibliography a useful update. It also approximates McCready's organizational model. The section on individual authors and anonymous works is further subdivided alphabetically by critical contributor. In this manner one has ready access to what individuals have written on Spanish authors of interest. The starting date for this publication, 1925, though arbitrary, is not without significance, since it marks the publication of Americo Castro's El pensamiento de Cervantes, and what the editors consider «a new approach to the problem of the Renaissance in Spain» (p. ix). No closing date could ever be satisfactory or conclusive, and therefore we look forward to periodic updates of this reference tool. Pressed within the fiftyfive years covered here one finds much of what constitutes and defines modern Hispanism's réévaluation of the Baroque and Golden Age. Though I have not used the bibliography in a theater course, I did find it useful in a course on the Quijote and the Novelas ejemplares. But here once again the limitations of its organizational format become clear. While the cervantista could mine the almost twenty-one-hundred items with interest and profit, the student gets easily lost in the myriad...