In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:

with regard to the fate of the tragic character : peripecia, or unexpected outcome, and reconocimiento, or unsuspected personality) ; even the element of spectacle, which was developed by Calderón, had its place in the Aristotelian formula. Professor MacCurdy began by recalling Rojas Zorrilla's predilection for tragedy but cautioned that quantity is no measure of quality. He referred to the dramatist's personal misfortunes and observed that for Rojas there is no resolution in religion. Rojas' characters tend to reject outside influence in order to follow their personal motivation . They refuse to bow to superior odds; they exhibit a tragic lack of perception and are led to their own destruction by their headstrong impulsiveness. For MacCurdy, Rojas is essentially Senecan and represents a return to the Spanish tragedy of fifty years earlier. Open discussion began with the conclusion of MacCurdy's paper, and dealt principally with the nature of tragedy in general and of the Spanish tragedy in particular. Wade, quoting Susanne K. Langer, volunteered that whereas the essence of comedy is the immediate sense of life, the feeling of tragedy is that of fate: progress toward death, either literal or figurative. Ortigoza suggested that Spanish tragedy is unique and hence requires evaluation by a separate set of standards, but Valbuena replied that the differences are mainly in technique, not in substance . Roaten intervened to suggest that the Spanish seventeenth century had created a new form, i.e., the tragicomedia. El castigo sin venganza was proposed as perhaps the only authentic tragedy, in the traditional sense, of the Golden Age, which prompted Hesse to wonder how many outstanding tragedies exist in any literature, and to mention a possible distinction between high and low tragedy. At this point the discussion meeting was adjourned, with many of the members reconvening for the combined luncheon and business meeting, which followed immediately . At the luncheon the members voted to accept Wade's proposal that this year's topic be continued next year, in order that some conclusions might be reached. It was also agreed to accept El príncipe constante as the specimen tragedy, and to take up the question of "La mujer en la comedia" at a later date. Hesse was unanimously re-elected editor of the Bulletin, and the following officers were elected for 1958: Chairman, Jack Parker; Secretary, Helen Sears; Third Member , John Lihani. Hesse presented the financial report as follows: Income ________________________$ 145.00 Expenses, Spring Issue: Printing _______________$56 Mailing ----------------------- 5 Directory ______________ 6 $67 67.00 Balance as of September, 1957 ____$78.00 No decision was reached concerning continuation of the bibliography in the Bulletin. That question was deferred until it can be determined whether the PMLA bibliography will fill the needs of the Comediantes. The Editor invited articles to be submitted for forthcoming issues of the Bulletin. Chairman Rozzell was applauded for his handling of the proceedings, and the 1957 meeting was adjourned. Robert J. Bininger, Sec'y. Northwestern University A New Book on Women In Male Disguise by Gerald E. Wade, University of Tennessee Much has been written here and there on la mujer vestida de hombre, but not a great 19 deal of a systematic sort. Among those who have discussed the subject are M. RomeraNavarro (Hisp. Rev., 1934, 269-286) and J. H. Arjona (BuI. Hisp., 1937, 120-145); their excellent studies, however, were not concerned with the literary sources of the device. The consideration of this aspect of the matter makes of the recent book by Carmen Bravo-Villasante (La mujer vestida de hombre en el teatro español, Madrid, 1955) a real contribution to the subject. The author argues that woman in male disguise in the comedia was not a manifestation of a living reality, although a few instances of real persons (most of them already known to students of the comedia) are documented. The source of the mujer disfrazada de hmnbre lies in Italian literature (Boiardo, Aristo, Tasso, Boccaccio, Bibbiena) ; it is not probable that Italian life furnished real persons for the rôle. The roots of the device go back into Classical literature and into oriental tales. Its direct entrance into Spanish literature, Miss Bravo-Villasante thinks, is through...

pdf

Share