Renaissance drama in England and Spain: topical allusion and history plays (review)

134 Reviews This collection (which dso includes essays on Christ as Warrior, fourteenthcentury 'poUticd' poems, Arthur, 'penance as poetry', anchorite Uterature, books of comfort, "The Didoges of Creatures Moralysed' and John Colet) prompts m e to ask not 'why do we still vdue Uterary history over literary interpretation?' but rather 'can we afford to pretend that literary interpretation in not a process, and a long-drawn-out process at that?' If we write as though where we have arrived now were indeed our god, our metaphor may be read all too literally and our journey brought to an abrupt end. Perhaps we should be better advised to adopt theratherridiculousposture advocated by Alfred in another age when learning was in crisis and bow down willingly with our hearts to the footprints of scholars like George RusseU. Mary Dove Department of EngUsh University of Melbourne Loftis, J., Renaissance drama in England and Spain: topical allusion and history plays, Princeton, P.U.P., 1987; R.R.P. A U S $78.00. John Loftis has produced another important, scholarly work on the cdtural, historic and dramatic relationships between Europe's two greatest politicd powers of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. Fourteen years after the publication of his The Spanish Plays of Neoclassical England, Professor Loftis tackles the Rendssance — a period characterized by the most outstanding achievements in the dramatic output of both countries. This book does much more than trace the influence of the writers of one theatricd tradition on another. In fact, it is made quite clear from the outset that the traditions of writing and performance in England had very little impact on the Spanish comedia. The direct influence of the comedia in England was slight as well. Both countries developed independently a new nationd form of drama which only selectively took account of the neoclassicd precepts. History plays, particularly dramas of nationd history, were an important sub-genre in the Rendssance theatre of both countries. The acknowledged lack of direct and important links between Spanish and English drama suggests some difficulty for the Uterary comparativist Loftis focuses his scholarly interest on the major politicd rather than Uterary relationships, and produces a socio-historicd study of the two rivd societies. As the subtitle suggests, the book contains an examination of the English dramatists's views of the Spaniard in the context of contemporary historicd events (and vice versa). The study is not strictly literary criticism, although there are some very interesting new readings of a number of plays. Neither is it Reviews 135 purely history, as the events studied are chosen on the basis of literary treatment. It is most nearly 'literary history' but in the most literal sense of the phrase. Historicdratherthan Uterary chronology determines the structure of the book, as Loftis introduces the historicd background of an event and follows this with a study of the plays of Spanish and/or English origin that treat it In five central chapters, Loftis deals with the Spanish war in the Netherlands, the period of conflict with Spdn during the reign of Queen Elizabeth I, politicd manoeuvres of King James I and Prince Charles and the Spanish politicd and military victories of 1625. Each chapter contains condensed accounts of the complex politicd and miUtary events of the period interspersed with explications of the literary treatment of the events in the dramatic texts of Lope, Cdder6n, Jonson, Middleton, Fletcher, Massinger, Shirley, Tirso, Shakespeare and others. Particular attention is given to the different perspectives on the event produced by the predominately catholic or protestant societies on either side of the Channel. The best example is perhaps thefirstextended andysis of plays by Cdderdn and Shakespeare on the EngUsh schism provoked by the divorce of King Henry VIII. Loftisrightlyemphasizes the importance of religious doctrine in the determination of the socid vdues which arereflectedin the plays. Unlike the earlier book on the neoclassicd period, the reader constantly finds that in examining thetexts,historicd considerations take precedence over literary ones. The works are often expUcitly measured agdnst history and castigated for inaccuracies or omissions. Elements in a number of the plays are expldned in historicd terms with scarcely a nod in the direction of artistic consideration. A sort...