Humanities: Drama

410 LE'ITERS IN CANADA: 1965 The appendix shows how Acolastvs is different from and better than five plays about the Prodigal Son which preceded it. But to say that all the other sixteenth-century Latin plays except Acolastvs are ·~of minor historical importance" seems unnecessarily harsh to writers such as Buchanan, Grimald, and Macropedius; whose plays are surely in the same category as Acolastvs. Most modem critics, as Dr. Atkinson readily admits, "unite in treating Acolastvs as a comedy of the temporal world, with certain religious overtones" and take T. W. Baldwin's viewpoint that "the sequence of the play is a . .. chronological one, and its connecting thread an assumed moral, which is extraneous to the machinery of the play." Yet it is tempting to agree with Dr. Atkinson when he writes about "the poetic logic" of the structure with its "error, reversal and recognition" and about the affinity Gnapheus saw between Acolastvs and The Praise or Folly; on the other hand it is hard to be convinced about the LutherErasmus allegory, which of course adds an interesting dimension to the discussion but seems to be only tenuously linked to the play. Though the translation is only meant to be a "crutch," it is readable and actable, for Dr. Atkinson clearly understands the theatre and has caught the spirit of the original. It is not too literal; some readers might object to "I have been endowed with a certain remarkable talent" for "Est istuc datum mihi." Some might also wonder why the lines are numbered by scenes rather than consecutively as in the Loebs; others will think nostalgically of Palsgrave's delightful phrases such as "wamblynges about the stomake" for "nausea." And there are a few typographical errors such as quaerendi for querendi (IV. 6. 2). But on the whole this Acolastvs will be a stimulating work for scholars and the lively translation may induce some company to stage it. (C. C. LoVE) Lope de Vega Studies, 1937-1962: A Critical Survey and Annotated Bibliograph-y. (A Project of The Research Committee of the Comediantes [Spanish Group Three of the Modern Language Association of America]·in observance of the Quadricentennial Year. General Editors, JACK H . PARKER and ARTHUR. M. Fox. University of Toronto Press, 1964, pp. xii, 210.. $5.00) is produced by a group of fifteen compilers, each of whom has been responsible usually ·for two years, working under the general editorship of Professors Parker and Fox, provides essential material for anyone interested in the special field of Lopean studies. A continuation of the bibliography published by Professor William L. HUMANITIES 411 Fichter ("The Present State of Lope de Vega Studies," Hispania, XX (1937), 327-52), it consists of a page or more of useful discussion of the main works which appeared in each two year period since 1937. An annotated bibliography follows under the headings of Editions: General; Drama: A General, B. Individual Plays; Poetry: A General, B. Individual Poems; Prose, Individual Prose Works. Then comes ·a separate section entitled Studies: General, Including Biography; Drama: A General, B. Individual Plays; C. The Arte nuevo; D. The Peregrina Lists; Poetry: A General, B. Individual Poems; Prose: A General, B. Individual Prose Works. The numerous and often lengthy annotations are informative and interesting. The Quadricentennial Year, 1962, is dealt ·with under similar headings but with few annotations. The editors point out that this is due to lack of space. It is regrettable that this section is not as fully annotated as the former since this would have added considerably to the usefulness of the volume. Naturally scholars are most interested in the latest items to appear. Although there is no general index, once a reader understands the system used, it appears to be easy to find quickly any desired item, but section headings at the top of the page might have been helpful. While the editors do not claim completeness, it seems unlikely that they have missed any item of importance, indeed they include many doctoral dissertations , often hard to track down for the ordinary student, and urge the publication of such rare items. It is to be hoped that this advice may be followed in many cases. Reproduced...