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

Reviews223 book contains very little information about any other aspect of his life. The only one of his works examined in any detail is the ballad on the death of don Lope de Vera, a Christian convert to Judaism martyred by the Inquisition in Valladolid in 1644. The attribution of this poem to Enriquez remains doubtful, since it is based entirely on statements by the notoriously unreliable Miguel de Barrios, and the poem reads suspiciously like the work of Barrios himself. What makes this book interesting and worthwhile is the archival documents , which are published verbatim in a 114-page appendix. There is also a very useful annotated bibliography of Enriquez's own works. The bibliography of works cited by Révah is in alphabetical order, but a supplementary bibliography of works on Enriquez that appeared later is unfortunately arranged in chronological order, which makes it very cumbersome to try to locate the works of a particular scholar. Michael McGaha Pomona College Strother, Darci L. Family Matters: A Study of On- and Off-Stage Marriage andFamily Relations in Seventeenth-Century Spain. New York: Peter Lang, 1999. 222 pp. What attitudes does the comedia express with regard to the contraction of marriage, alternatives to marriage, and parent-child relationships? To what extent do dramatizations of such issues reflect the reality of seventeenth -century Spain? Darci Strother explores these questions in this socio-historical analysis which draws upon thirteen plays and numerous historical sources to "assess the relationship between the 'social drama' of changing family life, and 'stage drama' during this period" (4). Strother maintains that the concept that literature is both product and producer of society is particularly apt with regard to the Comedia, since dramatists both influenced the masses and allowed the public's taste to define the limits of their artistic freedom. She adopts Lewis Coser's methodology of studying society through literature, but also considers historical data to gauge the verisimilitude ofthe plays' circumstances. In this undertaking, she follows the formidable work of José María Diez Borque, José Antonio Maravall, Bartolomé Bennassar, and Everett Hesse, 224BCom, Vol. 57, No. 1 (2005) among others, but often contests their assertions, particularly those concerned with the representation ofwomen. Strother considers the debate over the prevalence of love-based as opposed to arranged marriages in Golden Age Spain. She gives some deference to Diez Borque's opinion that arranged marriages were probably the norm, but concedes that there is not enough evidence to confirm what the prevailing practice was. She demonstrates how playwrights reject the concept of forced marriage while idealizing love and choice in Lope's Peribáñez y el comendador de Ocaña and Fuenteovejuna, Ruiz de Alarcón's El examen de maridos and La verdad sospechosa, Rojas Zorrilla's Entre bobos anda eljuego, Caro's El conde Partinuplés, and Calderón's El pintor de su deshonra. Though this conclusion affirms a tendency commonly observed in the Comedia, her commentary is novel in its privileging ofthe question of female agency. She finds that women in comic plays display initiative and ingenuity in gaining their chosen partner, while those in dramatic works involving honor are relegated to passive roles as men contend on their behalf. She also provides informative historical insight by showing how the works reflect marriage ideas decreed in the Siete Partidas and the Council of Trent. The former, for example, protected the interests ofboth children and parents by prohibiting arrangement ofmarriages without the child's consent while affirming a father's right to disinherit a child that marries against his will. The plays reflect a similar ambivalence by favoring youthful freedom ofchoice, but also chastising adolescent lack of discipline in love matters. The final chapters focus on unmarried women characters as exceptions to the matrimonial imperative. Strother cites interesting historical data to dispel the notion that marriage was universal in Golden Age Spain. She offers nuanced revisionist readings ofVêlez de Guevara's La serrana de la Vera, Zayas's La traición en la amistad, and Lope's El alcalde de Zalamea, maintaining that we find in all three "a subversive discourse encouraging réévaluation of the universal necessity to marry" (127-28...

pdf

Share