Approaches to Teaching Early Modern Spanish Drama (review)

This volume is the latest in the Approaches series published by the Modern Language Association. As the series editor points out,

The principal objective of the series is to collect within each volume different points of view on teaching a specific literary work, a literary tradition, or a writer widely taught at the undergraduate level.

Indicative of its title, then, this volume is an assortment of teaching methodologies and perspectives on the early modern comedia by many of the field's most well-known scholars.

Part One, written by the editors, Laura R. Bass and Margaret R. Greer, is dedicated to "Materials" and highlights the tools available to university instructors who teach the comedia: "Editions of Comedias" (anthologies, editions in Spanish, and bilingual editions), "The Instructor's Library" (background studies, critical and scholarly studies, journals and series), and "Aids to Teaching" (illustrated books, films, internet resources). Though not intended to be comprehensive, this overview provides a fairly complete accounting of the principal resources available today.

Part Two is dedicated to "Approaches" with an introduction by the editors that offers a brief commentary on the corral and the court, and takes up questions of authorship before moving on to the genre's original socio-historical context. The introduction also discusses key questions (some might say "debates") in early modern drama, many of which are featured in subsequent essays: gender studies and otherness, performance, the honor code, women authors, the "Golden Age" vs. "Early Modern" designation for the period, historicity, and transatlantic perspectives, among others.

The first section of Part Two, "The Past in the Present: Historical Framework and Visual Contexts," features essays on historical contextualization (Melveena McKendrick), the Spanish code of honor (Renato Barahona), Italian Renaissance Art and the comedia (Frederick A. de Armas), geography and theories of space (Enrique García Santo Tomás), costume and dress (Laura R. Bass), and cinematic adaptations of popular comedias (Carmen García de la Rasilla). McKendrick's essay, "Communicating the Past," does a formidable job of contextualizing the comedia within its socio-historical moment by discussing such key questions as "honor" and "limpieza de sangre." Barahona's contribution, "Between Ideals and Pragmatism: Honor in Early Modern Spain," is a highly localized and research-oriented study of honor and litigation in the Basque Country which resists some of McKendrick's views.

The second section, "Language, Theory, and (Teaching) Philosophy," includes very good essays on theoretical approaches: using polymetric analysis (Mary Malcolm Gaylord), theories on the comedia and graduate education (Edward H. Friedman), Golden Age Women dramatists (Teresa S. Soufas), and moral philosophy and the concept of "desengaño" (Manuel Delgado). Friedman's essay, "The Comedia and the Theoretical Imperative," provides a "checklist" of topics for instructors to consider when teaching early modern drama to graduate students, and how that list can be transported to the undergraduate classroom. He then goes on to espouse an approach that studies the comedia "as a progression that reflects literary history, the theoretical present, and a faith in the critical (and metacritical) skills of graduate students" (85). Whether you advocate Friedman's approach or not, he provides an excellent road map for teaching drama from the very first day.

In the third section, "Theater History, Practice, and Comparative Contexts," essays are dedicated to performance and performance theory (Bruce R. Burningham), teaching non-comedia festive drama such as jácaras and entremeses (Vincent Martin), and comparative approaches: the comedia and Shakespeare (Susan L. Fischer), the comedia and French theater (Leah Middlebrook), and contrasting the Don Juan figures (James Mandrell). Burningham's essay, "Placing the Comedia in Performative Context," provides a brief, but concise, overview of theater from the Greeks through the Medieval period, before encouraging a class performance of a single play. His suggestion is a good one, but some instructors might not agree to putting so much time into one play at the expense of so many others.

In the Fourth section, "Cross-Cultural Approaches," essays take up issues of race and...