El último godo and the Dynamics of Urdrama (review)

236BCom, Vol. 41, No. 2 (Winter 1989) There is much more suelta investigation to be done, but at least we have Bainton 's work as a guide—and 1 thank him for it. Karl C. Gregg University of Arizona Niehoff McCrary, Susan. El ultimo godo and the Dynamics of Urdrama . Potomac, MD: Scripta Humanística, 1987. Cloth. 116 pp. $27.50 In this monograph Susan Niehoff McCrary employs an approach derived from Erich Auerbach's essay on figura to illuminate Lope's early history play, El último godo. The methodology is expounded in a brief, but adequate introduction of seven pages. Also fundamental to Niehoff McCrary's approach are E. Kantorowicz's study of the king's two bodies, Aristotle's notions of plot and action , and certain assumptions about history plays related to the concept of metatheatre. The background material for Lope's play is treated in a twentypage chapter that includes the historical and literary sources, as well as an exposition of the fundamental ideas regarding historiography in the Middle Ages and Renaissance that informed the creation of Lope's play. In particular Niehoff McCrary has consulted three "representative' chronicles dealing with the Rodrigo material (p. 15). While it is most likely correct that "no one specific [historical] account can be cited as the exact source for the work" (p. 20), the reader might be bothered by this statement in light of the limited number of chronicles consulted for this study. This reviewer would have liked to have seen included more bibliography from the present decade relating to MedievalRenaissance historiography in Spanish and the history play as a genre of the Comedia. There is no bibliography per se, but rather an index of authors and works cited. If this format was followed due to the publisher's requirements, it is a norm that should be changed. In consulting the bibliography as presented in the footnotes, I noticed that the works cited stopped with material from the late 1970's, perhaps because the monograph is a revision of Niehoff McCrary's Ph.D. dissertation completed in 1978. Chapters II, III and IV carefully analyze the respective Acts of El último godo in light of Rodrigo's temptation and transgression in Act I, his alienation and reconciliation with the Maker in Act II, and the catharsis and regeneration of Spain through the deeds of Pelayo in Act III. In chapter V Niehoff McCrary capably demonstrates with reference to key elements in the Christian tradition that Lope imitates the Urdrama—the story of Adam and his fall from Paradise, Reviews237 with the subsequent redemption of Man through Christ. The two-page conclusion summarizes the major points of the monograph. Niehoff McCrary has brought attention to a neglected play by Lope and, as a consequence of her methodology, has suggested a possibly fruitful approach to other history plays of Spain's Golden Age. In my opinion she would have made a greater contribution to Comedia scholarship had she applied this methodology to the study of several history plays by Lope and perhaps several other dramatists. To my mind El último godo, although a neglected play, does not warrant a monographic study dedicated to it alone. Finally it puzzles me to observe that Niehoff McCrary bases all textual references on the edition of Sáinz de Robles, since that edition appears to reproduce Menéndez y Pelayo's 1897 text and takes no account of the problematic textual tradition of the play. Presumably the complexity surrounding this text had some impact on both the language and content of El último godo and such matters should have been treated in Niehoff McCrary's analysis. The play appeared in two of Lope's Partes, as El ultimo godo in the Pane XXV perfecta y verdadera (Zaragoza 1647) and as El postrer godo in the Parte Vili (Madrid and Barcelona 1617). It is unmethodical and contradictory to base a probing literary analysis on a substandard text like that of Sáinz de Robles. The fundamental soundness of Niehoff McCrary's study is called into question because of her decision to ignore the textual transmission of El ultimo godo. As a result of this methodological flaw, her...