Perspectivas de la comedia (review)

REVIEWS EBERSOLE, ALVA V., editor. Perspectivas de la comedia. Valencia: Estudios de Hispanófila, 1978. Paper. 143 pp. This volume of essays, sixth in Hispanófila's Colección Siglo de Oro, presents several subjects and approaches to the comedia, reflecting Professor Ebersole's desire to offer many different perspectives on seventeenth-century drama. More attention is given to Lope de Vega; yet there are also studies on Tirso, Calderón, Guillen de Castro and Andrés de Claramonte. In general, traditional critical methods—examination of meter, genre and symbolism— are employed to analyze relatively unknown works and to make fresh observations on famous plays. In «The Structural Function of Polymetry», Vern Williamsen stresses the frequently overlooked theatrical dimensions of the comedia. Contending that contemporary audiences were attuned to the rhymes and rhythms of the changing verse, he demonstrates how crucial moments in the plays are disclosed and accentuated by metrical devices. Renato Rosaldo's «Lope as a Poet of History» not only shows how Lope viewed the mixture of historical fact and legend which he found in medieval chronicles, but also how he used his skill to convey the ritual nature of the source material to his audience. Joining an archetypal approach to El testimonio vengado with perceptive observations on stagecraft, Rosaldo points out how costume, properties, gestures and meter intensify the motif of death and rebirth which underlies this play about a corrupt Castile, its maligned queen and a wronged prince. Water imagery, which A. Ebersole finds in Claramonte's Desta agua no beberé, concerning Pedro I the Cruel, also suggests a ritual death and renewal. In order to justify abuses of power the tyrant king likens himself to a river which must keep flowing. When civil war threatens his kingdom and his life, Pedro is forced to take refuge in a wood near a stream. Here he repents of his misdeeds, a form of conversion which leads to his new life as Pedro the Just. Another aspect of the transformation of history into drama is seen in George Shivers' study of La cisma de Inglaterra by Calderón. Centering three separate intrigues on King Henry VIII —Henry's heretical schism from Rome, his repudiation of Queen Catherine for Ann Boleyn and Boleyn's temporary flirtation with a French ambassador— the playwright is able to maintain a strong dramatic unity which, in turn, supports the austere mood of the play. 75 76Bulletin ofthe Comediantes Themes and symbols in Lope's drama are explored by means of comparison in this volume of essays. B. Brancaforte's interpretation of El villano en su rincón is based on the concept of majesty and of the sacred, as described by Mircea Eliade in The Sacred and the Profane: TheNature ofReligion (New York, 1961). Arguing that the play depicts the historical passage from the Old to the New Testament, Brancaforte views the king as a Christ figure who attempts to convince Juan Labrador to participate in the mystical body of Christ. E. Michael Gerli's investigations indicate that the romance «En Paris está doña Alda» might have been one source of El caballero de Olmedo. Doña Alda dreams of an eagle killing a goshawk and fears that her love Roldan is dead. Although comforted and cheered initially by her ladies-in-waiting, she soon learns that her premonition was correct. Similarly, hope and love destroyed by violent death are foreshadowed in the comedia by Don Alonso's dream of the goldfinch and the hawk. Association of the popular narrative poem with the dream sequence in the play would have heightened the audience 's awareness of the tragedy to come. Comparison of a work with its source or with a later play it may have influenced can reveal significant features. Studying three plays by Guillen de Castro based on Don Quijote (Don Quijote de la Mancha, El curioso impertinente and La fuerza de la sangre), Ebersole demonstrates the playwright's technique of adding amorous intrigues, jealousies and conflicts of honor to the Cervantine episodes and relegating Don Quijote to a secondary role as buffoon . Sister Marie Immaculée Dana examines Molière's L'Ecole des Femmes and its possible source...