La vil quimera de este monstruo cómico (review)

77??BCom, Vol. 46, No. 1 (Summer 1994) to create a script for performance from various sources and to appreciate this complex social process when dealing with the comedia. A handy list of "Sources ofInformation on Golden Age Actors and Actresses" supplements her study. The many problems posed by sueltas are enumerated and discussed by Don W. Cruickshank who provides a very helpful list of books, pamphlets and articles on the subject. The thorny issue of attribution of plays is introduced by Constance H. Rose. Although a great variety of strategies have been employed, many Golden Age plays have remained unassigned. Therefore the very last sentence : "Each play and each author has his own demands, and each requires patience" (p.133) is very valid. For those who are considering using microcomputers to edit comedia texts, Charles Ganelin provides an introduction to the Macintosh computer and appropriate software, explaining its suitability for this type ofwork. Finally, John B. Wooldridge has appended a list ofpublications on editing comedia texts. This practitioner oícomedia editing wishes he had studied some ofthese suggestions before embarking on his chore. It may not, however, be too late for many who are new to the field to learn from the valuable experience of their learned colleagues. Florian Smieja University ofWestern Ontario Profeti, Maria Grazia. La vil quimera de este monstruo cómico. Estudios sobre el teatro del Siglo de Oro. Kassel: Edition Reichenberger, 1992. Maria Grazia Profeti offers, in this collection, nineteen of her articles on Golden Age drama published since 1980 (with the exception of one published in 1976) encompassing a wide range of critical methodologies. The essays are a testament to the breadth and depth ofProfeti's critical and editiorial acumen. They offer the broadest possible view of the trajectory of her scholarship—from the theater of Juan del Encina to Alberto Arbasino's twentieth-century rendering oí Elprincipe constante (?principe costante); from Golden Age plays as literary texts to texto espectáculo and the attendant impact of location, audience preferences, actors, music and patronage on the evolution of the latter. Each study is enhanced by meticulous docu- Reviews119 mentation and bibliography which include references to a number ofProfeti 's other equally oustanding pieces not included in this volume. Drawing on Lope's Arte Nuevo for her title, Profeti explains in the "Premessa" that the selection corresponds to a "quimera" in that its arrangement is episodic rather than systematic; that its "montruosità" derives from the fact that some essays are in Italian and others in Spanish; and, lastly, that despite the frailty and transience of all critical endeavors (the "vil" of the title) she takes heart in the community of spirit which characterizes Golden Age drama scholarship. Profeti views her editorial concerns as paralleling those of John E. Varey; her interpretation of the nucleo scenico (1976) as being consonant with those of Marc Vitse; and, her article on "Ruido/sonido/consonante...," an analysis ofsound in the comedia, as a precursor for a recent volume of Cuadernos de teatro clásico [3 (1989), on "Musica y Teatro"]. The last essay of the collection, on ordering Golden Age drama texts for publication, anticipates volumes such as Editing the Comedia (Ann Arbor, 1985) as well as conferences devoted to that topic (Pamplona, 1986 and the initial Asociación Internacional Siglo de Oro conference , 1987). The collection is divided into four areas ofinvestigation: "Teatro y escritura /Teatro e scrittura" (nine articles); "El juego intertextual/Il gioco intertestuale " (five articles); "El texto literario para el teatro/ Il testo letterario per il teatro" (three articles); and, "La comedia y la crítica/ La commedia e la critica" (two articles). The final pages of the volume, prepared by Eva Reichenberger, allow the reader to place the essays in the larger context of Profeti's on-going contributions to the study of Golden Age drama: nine books and monographs, eighteen editions, one hundred and ten articles, ten translations and fifty-one book reviews, including works in press. Profeti's essays are penetrating and provocative. Several call attention to areas of investigation which she believes have yet to be plumbed thoroughly . Profeti points to the scarcity of serious philological studies of the siglo de...