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180BCom, Vol. 54, No. 1 (2002) that found in the other renditions of the Joseph story. Like the first play in the collection, El perseguido dichoso has a unique structure (three parts, the first two consisting of three acts, and the third of two) and also a secular final axiom that Ya'akob voices : "Study both night and day without rest, even when you walk by the way. This is what man must do until he dies" (314). In short, The Story of Joseph in Spanish Golden Age Drama is a magnificent collection of superbly translated Spanish classical masterpieces based on a common theme. It presents a coherent , optimistic, and universal worldview of the triumph ofjustice and the human spirit over arduous circumstances. Several plays in this collection also propound an enlightened vision of tolerance that is timely, refreshing, and unique. Michael McGaha's anthology, in addition to being a unique contribution to Hispanism , should fruitfully challenge our evaluation of the Comedia. Robert Lauer University of Oklahoma Lesbianism and Homosexuality in Early Modern Spain: Literature and Theater in Context. Ed. María José Delgado and Alain Saint-Saéns. New Orleans: UP of the South, 2000. 423 pp. Comedia studies and conservatism. One only needs to point to the abundance of well-researched, highly theoretical works in English and French to take stock ofthe fact that our field has fallen somewhat short in the study of difference, particularly in the areas of gender, class, and ethnicity. Feminists, Marxists, and a handful of critics studying "subalterns" (i.e., conversos, moriscos, and black Africans in Iberia) have made headway in this regard, but conservatism continues to prevail, with less than laudatory consequences for the exploration of alternative sexualities in drama of the early modern period. It is thus somewhat ironic that now, just as critics in other fields have begun to ask, "Is queer studies dead?," comedia scholars have finally started to wonder out loud, "What is 'queer studies'?" Enter Maria José Reviews181 Delgado and Alain Saint-Saëns with an edited volume that begins to answer precisely this question. Lesbianism and Homosexuality in Early Modern Spain joins an all too brief list ofworks dealing with same-sex desire and the Golden Age. Until recently, one might find a token article about the early modern era in a volume dedicated primarily to modernday lesbian and gay Hispanism or a stray essay influenced by queer theory in a broad-based anthology about the Golden Age. We can thank the editors for setting the stage for others who wish to pursue queer studies, drama, and the early modern period in Spain and Latin America. Themes and theoretical approaches of the volume are far ranging , and it offers a useful balance between the different genres studied, gay and lesbian topics, male and female authors, and junior and senior scholars of the Golden Age—with outstanding contributions by José Cartagena-Calderón, Adrienne Martín, Robert ter Horst, and the volume's editors. Among the best is an essay by Daniel Heiple, in whose memory the volume is dedicated . From a New Historicist position, Heiple traces Góngora's poetic use of the myth of Ganymede and links it to seventeenthcentury speculation about the sexual habits of the son of the Duke of Medina-Sidonia. Written with great subtlety and humor, the article establishes irrefutably the centrality of homoerotic desires to the thought and work of Spain's intellectuals of the time period. In this context, Heiple's article also serves as the collection 's centerpiece, and essays by Frederick de Armas and Christopher Weimer complement his work thematically. Rosario Ramos Gonzalez's article also implicitly responds to Heiple's belief that subtextual codes in the Golden Age provide alternative readings for those who were familiar with the homoerotic intertext . Her analysis of the curious blend of imperial politics and lesbian seduction in Sor Juana's "Neptuno alegórico" highlights the fact that a well-worded, playful caress between women in the early modern period had the potential of rubbing the dominant culture the wrong way. Such friction serves as a unifying trope throughout much of the collection, since many contributors address resistance to the use...

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