El Arte Dramatico de Antonio Buero Vallejo by José Ramón Cortina (review)

456 l\;IODERN DRAMA February EL ARTE DRAMATICO DE ANTONIO BUERO VALLEJO, by Jose Ramon Cortina. Madrid:. Editorial Credos, S. A., 1969. 130 pp. Antonio Buero Vallejo (b. 1916), is, along with Alfonso Sastre, one of the two serious dramatists to appear in Spain since the Civil War. Otherwise, the stage has been monopolized by a group, Casona, Lopez Rubio, Mihura, and Ruiz Iriarte, who write competent, bright, amusing comedies, teatro de evasion. Largely because of the political situation (he spent six years in jail after the Civil War), Buero got a late start as a dramatist. His first play, Historia de una escalera (History of a Staircase)" was not produced until 1949, and since then. like so many writers in Spain, he has had constant difficulties with censorship. He has had some fifteen plays produced plus translations of Hamlet and Brecht's Mother Courage, but few of his books have been translated and he is virtually unknown outside of the Spanish.speaking world. A few articles have been written about him, but Jose Ramon Cortina's slim volume is the first attempt to study his theater as a whole. In the opening chapters, after giving a few biographical details, Cortina sum· marizes Buero's concept of tragedy, which is in the classical tradition. For him, tragedy is an ethical experience. Through catharsis, the characters and the audio ence should find a philosophical and moral significance to life. Buero is not in sympathy with the theater of the absurd and likewise rejects propaganda and social action as proper subject for drama. In the long third chapter Cortina divides the fourteen plays he studies (those produced up to 1967), into six categories according to theme: 1) man's efforts to develop his personality to the fullest-El concierto de San Ovidio (The Concept Of San Ovidio) and En la ardiente oscuridad (In the Blazing Darkness); 2) man's am· bitions to get ahead in the world-Historia de una escalera, and Las cartas boca abajo (The Cards Face Down); 3) man's search for a meaning in life-La serial que se espera (The Awaited Signal) and Hoy as fiesta (Today is a Holiday); 4) the relationship between the sexes--Las palabras en la arena (Words in the Sand), Casi un cuento de hadas (Almost a Fairy Tale), and Madrugada (Daybreak); 5) man's responsibility towards society-Un sofiador para un pueblo (A Dreamer for his Country), Las Meninas, and Aventura en 10 gris (Adventure in Gray); 6) the possibility of the existence of a transcendental reality-La tejedora de suefios (The Weaver of Dreams), and Irene 0 el Tesoro (Irene or the Treasure). His classifications are appropriate, although they tend towards oversimplification, as there is usually more than one facet to the plays. Cortina might, for example, have analyzed them according to subject matter. Four of them have realistic, lower middle-class settings; three are reworkings of legendary or literary themes; two are historical; and two deal with the blind. In the final and longest chapter Cortina takes up four aspects of Buero's dramatic technique. He comments extensively on his use of symbolism, especially light and darkness, which is present in almost all the plays. Particularly interesting are the two plays involving blind characters, En la ardiente oscuridad and El concierto de San Ovidio. His remarks on Buero's use of irony and of contrasting characters are more obvious. The final section is concerned with such visual and auditory stage effects as settings and music, which play integral roles in his theater. Cortina's book certainly fills a need. People interested in Buero can now get an over·all view of his work, but it is not the last word. There are aspects of Buero's dramatic technique such as structure and characterization which he slights, and he scarcely touches on the question of who influenced Buero or where he stands in relation to other contemporary dramatists. CYRUSC. DECOSTER, Northwestern University ...