The Limits of Illusion: A Critical Study of Calderon by Anthony J. Cascardi (review)

374Comparative Drama whom the theatre of his time could not deal (much less understand). Like Craig, Meyerhold, and Reinhardt, Barker began as an actor, but fled the traditional theatre as soon as he could. If he was perhaps also the son Shaw never had (to point to another key friendship of his life) , he was indeed the onUe begetter of the modern British theatrical renaissance . His moral courage and valiant industry (also quite Shavian in their own way) are reminders of what dreamers in the playhouse can accomplish. Unhonored (and probably forgotten) as a prophet today, he is still a bright example of one who understood the theatre's deep responsibilities to the community. His sadly truncated career marks him as a perplexing figure at a thrilUng time in theatre history. To call him flawed, strange, secretive (as many have done) is to be reminded of the difficulties of genius. His legacy today is the work of the companies bred in his dreams more than eighty years ago, his writings a source of inspiration to those who continue the theatre's artistic and spiritual mission. Future editions should correct the juxtaposed type (p. xiii), and Louis (not Lewis) Calvert in the caption (p. 69), plus other bothersome typographical tics and infelicities which mar this otherwise admirable study. JAMES COAKLEY Northwestern University Anthony J. Cascardi. The Limits of Illusion: A Critical Study of Ca'derón. New York: Cambridge University Press, 1984. Pp. 181. $39.50. The theater of Pedro Calderón de la Barca encompasses a considerable number of religious, moral, and social themes whose relation to Spanish society is not always easily discernible. Cascardi seeks to illuminate these dark areas and proposes as a working thesis the interplay between reality and illusion evident in the dramatist's greatest work, La vida es sueño, and supported by his equally important auto sacramental, El gran teatro del mundo. Cascardi holds that although Calderón was inherently opposed to the use of illusion as a guiding principle for Ufe, he came to the conclusion that a proper understanding of the meaning of existence could be achieved only by passing through illusion rather than by circumventing it. Caught between illusion and reality, man risks remaining frozen in skepticism. The theater, itself a purveyor of illusion, can help spectators absorb this paralyzing skepticism and transform it into the means by which they can deal with their illusory world while learning to recognize its definite Umitations. The author takes the reader through a discussion of illustrative plays, from La vida es sueño to the dramatist's last work, Hado y divisa de Leonido y Marflsa, to unfold Calderón's early position as well as the changes that develop with the passage of time. According to Cascardi, Calderón's plays concern themselves with the dilemma between the reaüty that surrounds his personages and their doubts about its permanence . The theater, by providing a mirror in which illusion is balanced by Reviews375 reality, becomes the vehicle through which self-criticism is engendered. However, not all the characters that inhabit Calderón's plays are capable of achieving self-awareness. Indeed, they oscillate between Segismundo's critical acceptance of man's limitations and Gutierre's failure to separate himself from the deceptions that dominate him. Cascardi argues his point well and approaches the question that bedevils us all: if we grant that our existence is an illusion, how are we to deal with this deceptive reaüty? One begins to appreciate the complexities inherent in the dilemma when the author moves away from the ontological discussion of La vida es sueño to the sphere of social life where the Augustinian dualities are not so apparent. Throughout the book, Cascardi underscores the importance of the self-affirmation contained in the words "soy quien soy" (I am what I am). The personages who utter them are under great pressure and must summon from within energies that wiU help them survive the supreme challenge to their identity. This often-repeated formula, as a consequence, comes to express an overriding principle, an absolute reaUty that controls the very existence of the personage. It is difficult, therefore...