Augustín Moreto (review)

The culmination of these stages is his downfall and death. Several parallel features are highlighted by the author. First, as Pedro is seen behaving more as a man than as a monarch, he enters further into a world of paranoia and is finally seen with none of the qualities of an effective ruler. Second, there is a gradual transfer of roles between Enrique , the ultimate conqueror, and Pedro, the loser. As Enrique is viewed progressing from self-centered actions and maturing, Pedro evolves toward a more immature and irresponsible mode of behavior. Chapter VII compares Lope's treatment of Pedro I with that accorded Alfonso VIII. The former is dramatized with sympathy because, among other reasons, he had been maligned by contemporaries , so "Lope concentrated upon possible reasons for Pedro's actions, offering a more detailed exposition of this king's inner fears" (p. 184). The latter, since he was historically a strong king, could be portrayed as a pleasureseeking tyrant because he was capable of exercising "his will in order to regain the divine favor he has lost . . ." (p. 183). A resumé of the study is followed by an Appendix listing historical personages and the chronology of Pedro's reign. An extensive Bibliography completes the text. The study is marred by a number of printing errors. The most prominent are: Albuquerque lost Pedro's favor in 1353, not 1363 (p. 20); Juan Núñez de Lara was the great-grandson of Alfonso X, not Alfonso XI (p. 22); Carlos of Navarra did not repudiate his alliance in 1934 (p. 27). Notwithstanding the criticism noted above, it is obvious that the author has compiled impressive and persuasive evidence showing that Lope did indeed plumb the depths of Pedro's psyche, both as man and king. Her insight and sensitive interpretation of the levels of Pedro's decline and fall, as seen in the plays studied, give us a valuable perspective in understanding and appreciating Lope's creative talents and dramatic techniques. California State University, Los Angeles Hugh W. Kennedy ít¿S** CASTAÑEDA, JAMES A, Augustin Moreto. New York: Twayne Publishers, Inc., 1974. 200 pp. $7.95. "The modest goal of this book," writes Professor Castañeda, "is to provide an up-to-date synthesis of available information on the life and works of this Golden Age dramatist whose talent and literary importance are far greater than indicated by the surprisingly scant scholarly comment which has been devoted to him" (p. 7). It is indeed a strange commentary on the neglect from which a comparatively important figure like Moreto has suffered both inside and outside Spain that Prof. Casta ñeda's book is only the fifth monographic study to appear on that dramatist ; of the other four, moreover ( R. L. Kennedy, Caldera, Casa, BennholdtThomsen ), two are also in English, one is in Italian and the last in German! The author has provided the usual biographical sketch and a survey of the Spanish stage in Moreto's time. A third chapter grapples with the problem of establishing a Moretian canon — never a simple task — and complicated by the abundance of spurious attributions bearing Moreto's name. This situation is not aided by Moreto's readiness as an author, to a greater degree than his 62 celebrated contemporaries, to collaborate on plays boasting up to as many as nine individual by-lines (e.g., La luna africana). Castañeda admits a total of 52 full-length plays penned either exclusively or partially by the dramatist. The heart of the book is a survey of these plays as to date, printing and plot summary. In view of the exigencies of space, some entries do not run beyond a handful of paragraphs. While in the interests of critical analysis it might have been preferable to expand the treatment of intrinsically superior works, reducing the rest to a sentence, it is hard to see what other method than that adopted Castañeda could have used. As things stand, we do gain a shrewd notion of Moreto's unevennesses , range, his obviously strong areas (well-wrought comedies with a strong moral-satirical flair) and his weaker efforts (religious allegory, hagiographical material, etc.). Prof. Castañeda has...