Golden Age Spain Research Articles

The Valencian Dramatists of Spain's Golden Age

The Valencian Dramatists of Spain's Golden Age

El Antiguo Regimen: Los reyes catolicos y los Austrias

El Antiguo Regimen: Los reyes catolicos y los Austrias

Juan Ruiz de Alarcón (review)

life? (Hesse does not define "good.") These questions enter the area of philosophy , as all ultimate questions about the meaning of life and its record we call literature must do. Hesse makes clear (p. 11 and elsewhere) his desire to interpret the comedia for our own time, although he does not deny the need to see it as the seventeenth-century playgoer and reader saw it, insofar as this may be possible for our twentieth -century eyes. The plays chosen by Hesse for analysis are well known, and have had previous comment by scholars. Those by Calderón, the dramatist he most admires, are used more often than others. La devoción de la cruz is favored by two analyses (pp. 93-96 and 188-207. The second of the two is repeated in English translation on pp. 361-381 of the Revista de estudios hispánicos, vol. 7 [1973]. One may question the suitability of Calderón's plays as representative of the comedia as a genre if, as Parker observes (p. 51 of his article of reference), he is indeed "the most unrealistic of the Spanish dramatists." Margaret Wilson Borland seems to agree with Parker when, as Hesse recalls (p. 141) she finds that neither Lope nor Tirso follow the principles on which Calderón based his theater. It is apparent from even this brief review that Hesse has opened up for a fresh scrutiny many of the major and very difficult questions the study of the comedia engenders. Like all good books, his volume, explicitly or implicitly , poses many more questions than it — or any other book on the subject — can answer. Nashville, Tenn.gebald e. wade ^6.3^ POESSE, WALTER. Juan Ruiz de Alarcón. New York: Twayne, 1972. 185 pp. $5.95. Ruiz de Alarcón, by conventional wisdom one of Golden Age Spain's four greatest dramatists, spent only some ten years writing for the stage and his posthumous fame rests on La verdad sospechosa and a handful of other successes . Professor Poesse's recent book for TWAS brings together with commendable concision and clarity the sum of our present knowledge of the playwright 's life, as well as individual studies of all the authentic comedias in the two partes (1628 and 1634), thus directing overdue attention to the residual merits of Alarcón's neglected works. Professor Poesse's five chapters begin with the life, a particularly strong section that welds the (customarily!) scanty facts of the playwright's life into a highly readable and absorbing biography. The heart of the book — one lengthy chapter devoted to each parte and taking the plays in their printed sequence — offers a succinct account of every comedia, including problems of dating and sources, together with an excellent exposition of plot, characterization and motivations (Alarcón's strong points). Here Poesse freely uses and acknowledges the past contributions of Fernández - Guerra, Castro Leal and Millares Carlo in matters both critical and aesthetic. "His fourth chapter discusses questionable attributions (the majority rejected, correctly one feels) and the sparse minor works. The final chapter surveys some ninteen individual topics covering Alarcón's craft, style, favorite themes and intellectual complexion. Dr. Poesse argues that Alarcón was an unimaginative versifier, perhaps not always as careful a craftsman as he is held to be, but justly renowned for his 36 powers of character drawing. The main motivating forces in Alarcón, Poesse views as being, in descending order: honor, loyalty, friendship and love. The writer also deemphasizes Alarcón's moralist leanings, hints at his misogyny, and shows that his interest in the occult was stronger than his rather conventional Catholicism. Poesse, while conceding La verdad sospechosa its due, offers the stimulating view in his Conclusion that La prueba de las promesas was structurally and thematically Alarcón's masterpiece. As one would expect of a bibliographer of Professor Poesse's distinction, the critical apparatus and notes are thorough and much more extensive than is usual in this series (some 25% of the total pagination). However, could not all footnotes consisting merely of a page reference have been incorporated into the text itself? One also wonders at the bibliographical...

Did Tirso Send to Press a Primera Parte of Madrid (1626) Which Contained El condenado por desconfiado?

A LAN K. G. Paterson1 posited some years ago a Primera parte of Tirso's plays (Madrid, 1626), one which diflered notably from the Primera parte which Francisco de Lyra put out in Sevilla in 1627. He urged the existence of such a parte on the strength of a list of twelve comedias, found in a manuscript of Privar contra su gusto (no. 15X675, BNM). This intriguing list coincided in nine plays with those of the Sevillian edition, but difl ered in its others from those of that volume. Dr. Paterson suggested that the Sevillian printer, Francisco de Lyra, had pirated one of the copy-texts of Tirsos Primera parte, printed in Madrid in 1626 but never published, and that it was he who had substituted for the three plays of the volume, as Tirso originally constituted it, three others that he probably considered of less controversial nature. If Dr. Paterson should be right as to the original makeup of the Primera parte, his find is of tremendous interest to scholars working in Spain's Golden Age theater: it means that Tirso claimed for himself what is usually conceded to be the world's finest theological dramaX E1J condenado por desconfiado. Let us examine the thesis of Dr. Paterson in some detail, remembering that he himself was careful to point out (p. 67): There is no need to stress that this reconstruction of events is propped up by suggestion rather than conclusive evidence. Perhaps while Tirso was in Toledo2 in 1625-26, perhaps earlier, he revived a dream which he had held at least since early 1624 and possibly since 1621. In the Al bien intencionado which serves as prologue to his Cigarrales, he had promised his readers, among other things, a Primera parte of his comedias:

The Golden Age of Spain, 1516-1659

The Golden Age of Spain, 1516-1659

Spanish Comedias as Pot Boilers

The comedias of the Golden Age in Spain present a field of investigation that seems to be inexhaustible. The dramatic productions of that unbelievably exuberant period are so numerous that no one can hope to read them all. Even to try to keep up with the research based upon them is a task of the first magnitude. These plays have been studied from the point of view of sources, dramatic technique, versification, style, dates of the plays, authorship, and much, much else.

George Bernard Shaw: The Playwright as Producer

The Significance of the Playwright-Producer There are various ways of testing the health of a national drama at any given moment in its history. One of the best tests is simply this: whether or not the playwright is competent to assist in the directing of his play and whether or not he is permitted to do so. It is a significant fact that in the four great periods in the history of the European theatre-the Classical Period in ancient Greece, the Golden Age in Spain, the Elizabethan period in England, the Age of Louis XIV in France-there were major playwrights who helped to direct their own plays. In Greece, Aeschylus not only acted in his own tragedies, but devised masks and footwear for his players. In Spain, Calder6n directed the court productions of his plays, and we find Lope de Vega expounding a very practical stage-doctrine when he declares, 'Very seldom should the stage remain without someone speaking . . . besides its being a great defect, the avoidance of it increases grace and artifice.' This remark anticipates one of George Bernard Shaw's favourite principles as a director. In France, Moliere was a director as well as a dramatist; in L'Impromptu de Versailles he appears as a character and discusses the casting of parts and various points of technique. Inter alia, he invented a system of notation to train his players in proper accentuation. This, too, anticipates one of Shaw's main preoccupations as a director-playwright.

Constitutionalism and Statecraft during the Golden Age of Spain: A Study of the Political Philosophy of Juan de Mariana, S.J.Guenter Lewy

Previous articleNext article No AccessBook ReviewsConstitutionalism and Statecraft during the Golden Age of Spain: A Study of the Political Philosophy of Juan de Mariana, S.J. Guenter Lewy Donald F. LachDonald F. Lach Search for more articles by this author PDFPDF PLUS Add to favoritesDownload CitationTrack CitationsPermissionsReprints Share onFacebookTwitterLinkedInRedditEmail SectionsMoreDetailsFiguresReferencesCited by The Journal of Modern History Volume 33, Number 2Jun., 1961 Article DOIhttps://doi.org/10.1086/238793 Views: 2Total views on this site Citations: 1Citations are reported from Crossref Copyright 1961 The University of ChicagoPDF download Crossref reports the following articles citing this article:Antonio Enrique Pérez Luño Mariana, Juan de, (Nov 2020): 1–3.https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-6730-0_629-1

REVIEWS AND SHORT NOTICES

REVIEWS AND SHORT NOTICES

Constitutionalism and Statecraft during the Golden Age of Spain: A Study of the Political Philosophy of Juan de Mariana.

Constitutionalism and Statecraft during the Golden Age of Spain: A Study of the Political Philosophy of Juan de Mariana.

Constitutionalism and Statecraft During the Golden Age of Spain: a Study of the Political Philosophy of Juan de Mariana, S. J

Constitutionalism and Statecraft During the Golden Age of Spain: a Study of the Political Philosophy of Juan de Mariana, S. J

Oxymora in Spanish Mystics and English Metaphysical Writers

jHETORIC and mystical philosophy spearheaded the assault of Neo-Latin Catholic zeal on post-Reformation England. Since that time much literal ink and some figurative blood have been spilled to determine why and how certain gifted writers of Spain's golden age of mysticism may have influenced the English metaphysical school. Yet there has been little attention to the common use of oxymora among the writers in question. An intellectual shock technique dating, perhaps from the original paradox of the fortunate fall, the oxymoron is notoriously adaptable. Half rhetoric and half philosophy, it was not ill placed among the grotesque images, puns, quibbling, Latinisms, allegory, and personifications of Gongorism, conceptism, and Marinism. Its spiritual summit was reached in the writings of ecstatic and downto-earth Spanish mystics who found such terms as dying life, sweet wounds of love, fire and water, and blind vision a subtle and exact means of defining the all-important body and soul relationships. Echoes of the rhetoric and the philosophy are to be found in English metaphysical literature. The oxymoron was a most natural way of expressing a core idea of Spanish mysticism: that the great unifying force of God's love blots out apparent contrarieties in the mind of the truly devout. As Diego de Estella explains with deceptively mild understatement: Very cold is that which God does not make hot, very hard that which He does not soften, and very ungrateful he who does not give space to His sacred

Book Review: Constitutionalism and Statecraft during the Golden Age of Spain: A Study of the Political Philosophy of Juan de Mariana

Book Review: Constitutionalism and Statecraft during the Golden Age of Spain: A Study of the Political Philosophy of Juan de Mariana

Pedro de Mexía and Spanish Golden Age Historiography

Those who study the humanities are continually reminded that great events do not always find historians of commensurate stature to record and interpret them. In this respect, however, Spain's Golden Age was exceptionally privileged. Names such as Pulgar, López de Gómara, Zurita, Mariana, Sandoval, and Diego Hurtado de Mendoza recall an era of diligent, conscientious historical scholarship combined with elegance and grace of expression. Publications in Spain once more have directed attention to this outstanding period of historiography. It will be recalled that in this field the pioneer investigations of Irving, Prescott, and Ticknor have been amply developed by Armstrong, H. Baumgarten, Konrad Häbler, Roger Bigelow Merriman, as well as other American and European scholars. A typical Golden Age historian is Pero (Pedro) de Mexía (1497?-1551), whose historical works are the object of new research.

Regionalism: Advantage or Handicap?

Most histories of Spanish literature laud regionalism as the outstanding contribution of Spain's nineteenth-century Golden Age of the novel. Few writers pause to wonder whether it might have been a handicap, likely to bring about a decline in the quality of Spanish fiction, as Spain's seventeenth-century Golden Age of drama preceded the eighteenthcentury Dark Age of its theatre. Why Spain should be a series of separate and non-cooperating regions is obvious historically as well as geographically. Various sections achieved their independence from the Moors at different periods throughout seven centuries. Lack of easy communication, differences in dialect, and the rugged individualism of their inhabitants kept them from any unity as it does today, so that it is easy to classify their differences, as Ortega y Gasset did in Idearium espaTol. Any student of Spanish literature can list the regional novelists whose chief inspiration was the patria chica, that tiny section of the Spanish peninsula each called home. Pereda dealing with mountainous Santander, Pardo Bhztin interpreting the countryside of Galicia, Alarc6n of Granada, Alas of Asturias, Blasco Ib6fiez of Valencia, all fall into an easy pattern. Most critics then add that P6rez Gald6s of the Canary Islands could interpret all of Spain because he was born far enough away not to be miopic toward any one region. But how much was regionalism a help, and how much a handicap to all these novelists? When people in any locality retain ancestral customs which separate them from the rest of the world and lead them along ancient paths of thought or action, we talk of provincialism. The term implies the criticism that people are unwilling to forsake the old days and strive for progress. The greatness of the U. S., we boast, lies in its ability to face and conform to ever-changing conditions. Photographers, aiming their lenses in some cluttered backwoods general store, call the result a documentary rather than art. Similarly authors who try to show social conditions at any one period are in danger of turning into informal historians rather than creative artists. It takes more than the recording of details to reveal and interpret life. There is always the danger of getting so bogged down in background as to forget the need for living people to carry the story forward. And the characters that interest the regionalist are often not individuals at all, but merely someone to portray society. Or they are unusual, selected because of their quaintness. Did the settlers of our country know they were early settlers? Did the fishermen in Sotileza's home town regard themselves as novelistic material?

Modo de predicar y Modus concionandi. Estudio doctrinal y edición crítica by Pío Sagüés Azcona, O.F.M. (review)

Book Reviews¦%£> St. Francis in Italian Painting. By George Kaftal. (London: George Allen and Unwin Ltd., Ruskin House.) TWs volume is a part of a series of publications the avowed purpose of which is "to place the cWef ethical and religious masterpieces of the world, both Christian and non-Christian, within easy reach of the intelligent reader who is not an expert— the undergraduate, the ex-service man, the adult student, the intelligent public generally ." It consists of two parts: An introduction which undertakes to give a short description of St. Francis' life and personality, a somewhat sketchy retrospect of medieval Italian art connected with the Saint and his legend, and, finally, an abridged survey of early Italian literature concerned with Ws biography; the second part consists of 39 reproductions of works of art representing St. Francis and stories from his life, each of them accompanied by a quotation from one of the literary sources. Some mistake happened in "scene" 4, where the editors inserted the wrong picture, a reproduction of the first instead of the second fresco of the series in the Upper Church of Assisi as obviously intended by the author. To this a bibliography and a topographical list of the most important cycles of scenes from the life of St. Francis in early Italian painting are added, both of which do not pretend to be in any way complete or comprehensive. The choice of the illustrations aims "to illustrate the wealth and importance of the Franciscan cycles in Italian painting from the thirteenth to the fifteenth century." Attempting this the editors bring a group of illustrations from only one artistic monument of the thirteenth century, the well-known Berlinghieri altarpiece from Pescia; a larger group standing for the fourteenth century shows examples from Giotto's fresco series in Sta. Croce and from the series of Assisi; a few examples from the fifteenth century were chosen from the series by Gozzoli, GWrlandaio, and Sassetta. As the great cycles by Giotto and his school in Santa Croce and Assisi are, or at least should be, generally and intimately known not only by "experts" but by every educated person, inasmuch as reproductions of all these frescoes are easily available in numerous well-known publications, and since there are also many serious and conscientiously written works dealing with the phenomenon of St. Francis in practically every European language; and since, furthermore, at least one of the literary sources, the Fioretti, belongs to the treasures of world literature, educated people will profit little from a booklet like this. For one or the other person belonging rather to the "undergraduates" of school and life it might provide a glimpse into another and nobler orbit than his busy world of material success and failure. Harrv B. Gutman New Yor\, N. Y. Modo de predicar y Modus concionandi. Estudio doctrinal y edición crítica. By Pío Sagüés Azcona, O.F.M. (Madrid: Instituto Miguel de Cervantes, 1951. 2 Vols. Pp. xxxvi, 294; i, 480. 85 pesetas.) In her account of the dedication of St. Teresa's second foundation at Salamanca, Venerable Ana de Jesus describes Fray Diego de Estella—preacher on the occasion at the request of the great Carmelite Reformer—as "one of the most famous preachers we have." As she reports, since he was preaching, the greater part of the city attended . Philip II also paid tribute to Fray Diego's greatness as a sacred orator by appointing him predicador de corte, and this at a time when such men as St. Thomas 236Book Reviews of Villanova, Juan de Avila, St. Francis Borgia, Luis de León, St. John of the Cross and Luis de Grenada were preaching from the pulpits of Spain. Modern critics too have been generous in their praise of Padre Estella as a preacher and have highly recommended the Modus concionandi, his little book on the art of preaching. Professor Peers describes this work as "one of the most important works on sacred oratory published during the Golden Age in Spain." Menéndez y Pelayo likewise gives it his commendation. Nevertheless, Diego de Estella is usually thought of as a literary figure or as an ascetical...

Good Fortune and Tragedy with the Comediantes

Bulletin Of The Comediantes Vol. Ill April, 1951 No. 1 Thornton Wilder and Lope's Peregrino Lists by Courtney Bruerton, Harvard University For the Comediantes the high point of the MLA meeting was the brilliant and dynamic address of Thornton Wilder in the General Romance Section. Before a large and enthusiastic audience Mr. Wilder described his solution of the mystery of the order of titles in Lope's Peregrino lists. Lope listed them, with an occasional exception , according to the autores to whom he sold them—for example, a series of plays sold to Porres, another series to Granados, etc. Thus when, in the midst of the Porres list, some titles are found for which the autor is not known, the indication is that they too were first played by Porres. When physical descriptions of some of the characters in the plays correspond to those of similar roles in known Porres plays, the evidence is ree'nforced, for Mr. Wilder has found evidence that Lope definitely tailored his characters in many plays for the actors who were to portray them. There is reason to believe that Lope listed the plays of each autor chronologically . Therefore, when we find a play of uncertain date listed between one of 1600 and another of 1602, it may be assumed, subject to further possible confirmation, that its date is 1600-1602. In the second Peregrino list Lope, or another , selects from each published Parte, in order, the plays sold to one autor and then returns to Parte I to start the list sold to another manager. Mr. Wilder also announced his discovery of the names of Micaela and Diego Diaz in the refarto on the Gálvez copy of El blasón de los Chaves de Villalba in the possession oí Señor Amezúa. This is the first document discovered which bears witness to Micaela de Luián's activity as an actress: it also shows that her husband was in Spain some years after he has been supposed to have left for Peru. Judging from the first license, the play was first performed in January, 1600. Good Fortune and Tragedy with the Comediantes by Ramon Rozzell, Ohio State University At New York, on December 28, the Comediantes experienced both sorrow and pleasure. The sorrow came at the afternoon meeting with the announcement of the sudden death of Harry C. Heaton of New York University. The pleasure had been initiated in the morning at the Romance Section held in the Statler. There, in a paper that will remain unique in the annals of MLA, Thornton Wilder, the celebrated novelist and dramatist, had given a blood transfusion to academic investigation everywhere and had impressed a diversified audience with the vitality of Spain's Golden Age theater. It was fitting, indeed, that one of the world's foremost Hispanists, Americo Castro, left his seat to shake the speaker's hand before the applause had died away. It was now noon, and—to paraphrase Cervantes —the Comediantes went to Bonat's for BULLETIN OF THE COMEDIANTES Published in April and November by the Comediantes, an informal, international group of all those interested in the comedia. Editor Everett W. Hesse University of Wisconsin Madison, 6 luncheon, accompanied by their jubilant spirits and two distinguished guests, the aforementioned speaker of the morning and Angel Valbuena Prat. (To further identify the latter would be gratuitous and impertinent .) It was the good luck of a few, including this scribe, to be seated within earshot of Mr. Wilder's comments about Lope and the comedia in general. For the benefit of those who were seated at the other end of the long table in a rather noisy room, as well as for those who could not attend, it seems in order to jot down several impressions gathered from his remarks. Mr. Wilder has read widely in Spanish drama from Lope to Lorca, and with amazing facility-he can cite character, scene, and passage from a vast repertory of Lope and his school. -Mr, Wilder 's knowledge of countless details, to which that special competency that is. his imparts a vital significance, would alone give him preeminence among us—but there is...

Some Forms of Derogatory Address during the Golden Age

The powerful hierarchies of Church and State in Golden-Age Spain placed great emphasis on the proper form of address, since the form used was indicative of>a person's rank within his own group. The lesser nobility and the lower classes were likewise meticulous in the choice of the proper pronoun of address in view of the fine gradations of social status indicated by vuestra merced, 6l, vos, and tzi. In general the rules established by society for the use of these forms of address were accepted without question. But since some forms, especially alteza, excelencia and merced, could imply that the recipient was equal to or superior to the speaker, some people, motivated by jealousy or haughtiness, resorted to subterfuges to avoid showing a person due respect. A favorite device was the use of an impersonal form whose studied artificiality was clearly evident. In Tirso's La Vida de Herodes, two of the characters, Mariadnes and Salom6, are princesses. But the haughty Mariadnes, believing that she has better claims to the title than Salom6, pointedly snubs her. Salom6 complains to her husband over this lack of courtesy:

Francisco de Aldana: A Neglected Poet of the Golden Age in Spain

Francisco de Aldana: A Neglected Poet of the Golden Age in Spain