Modern Psychology In Lope de Vega

Modern Psychology In Lope de Vega J. H. Arjona, University of Connecticut In the last number of The Comediantes Professor Joseph G. Fucilla called attention to the fact that in the presentation and development of the character Finea in La dama boba, Lope had anticipated by more than three hundred years some of the most recent findings of our psychologist specialists. This is not surprising. It is not the first time that the artist has intuitively discovered what science has verified many years after. In El capellán de la Virgen Lope gives us an even more striking example of his divining powers. The gracioso, Mendo, tells us of the many sufferings he endured in the convent and the penances imposed upon him by Saint Ildefonso. Ildefonso me reñía, Mil penitencias me daba, En el suelo me sentaba Y con los gatos comía Mae eran tan socarrones, Que en viéndome en penitencia Me quitaban la paciencia Comiéndome las porciones, Porque allí no hay que tratar De decirles: "¡Zape aquí!" Ana. IAy, Mendo, Mendo, que allí No te supiste enmendar! Mendo.¿Cómo piensas, madre mía, Que á los gatos castigué Y mis comidas gocé Cuando en el suelo comía? Ana. Déjate de esas locuras. Mendo. Metilos en un costal Por engaño, y á un portal Los llevé una noche á escuras. No hacía más de toser Y á palos los deshacía; Gruñían, que parecía Organo de Lucifer. Dejábalos decansar, Y luego otra vez tosía, Con que á pegarlos volvía, Hasta que vi, sin dar, Sólo con verme toeer Gruñían como cochinos: Soltélos. Ana.¡ Qué desatinos ! Mendo. Y en mandándome comer En el suelo, estaba alerta. Acercábanseme al plato, Y en tosiendo, no había gato Que no tomase la puerta. (Acad., IV, 493-94) Any college Freshman would recognize in this comic narrative the famous experiments performed by I. P. Pavlov upon dogs, which led to the formulation of the principle that learning is the formation of conditioned responses . Who knows whether Pavlov ever read Lope's play! In El castgo sin venganza the gracioso Barin makes the following daring confessions : Dices bien; que alguna vez Entre muchos caballeros Suelo estar, y sin querer Se me viene al pensamiento Dar un bofetón á uno Y mordelle del pescuezo. Si estoy en algún balcón, Estoy pensando y temiendo Echarme del y matarme. Si voy en algún entierro, Me da gana de reír Si estoy en la iglesia oyendo Algún sermón, imagino Que Ie digo que está impreso ; Y si dos están jugando, Que les tiro un candelero. Si cantan, quiero cantar; Y si alguna dama veo, En mi necia fantasía Asirla del moño intento, Y me salen mil colores, Como si lo hubiera hecho. (Acad., XV, 248a-b) These phobias, obsessions and compulsions have always been universally felt, but they were not admitted until modern psychology took away from them the taboo of serious abnormalities. It takes the gracioso to unmask man. As I read Professor Fucilla's note I just happened to recall these two other instances of Lope's penetrating artistic intuition that led him so far afield. I am certain, however, that a careful scrutiny of his plays would reveal many more instances in which he foreshadowed our modern psychological findings, because in Lope "hay de todo como en botica." Two Important Spanish Comedia Collections Arnold G. Reichenberger University of Pennsylvania In December 1954 the Library of the University of Pennsylvania was fortunate enough to purchase at an auction in Munich, Germany, two precious collections of Spanish comedias. The first acquisition consists of forty-two volumes or partes of the forty-eight volume series, generally known under the title of Comedias nuevas escogidas de los mejores ingenios de España, 1652-1704, or briefly the Escogidas collection. The other addition is represented by twenty-four volumes of comedias sueltas, i.e. texts of single plays, somewhat comparable to opera libretti, which were bound together arbitrarily by the owner. Not much information is available about the provenience of these splendid collections. Some volumes of...