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REVIEWS Amezcua, José. Lectura ideologica de Calderón: 'El médico de su honra '. México: Universidad Autónoma Metropolitana, 1991. Paper. 343 pp. José Amezcua's Lectura ideológica de Calderón is an ambitious and thorough dilation of a play that has held Hispanists in thrall over many generations. His close reading of Calderón's El médico de su honra, indebted to psychoanalysis, philology, cultural anthropology, and semiology , leads him to "la secreta lógica del texto" (14), which he sets out here to explicate. It is a laudable undertaking, and succeeds in so many ways that its conclusion, which is quite flimsy, can be rejected even as the book is deemed a "must" read for anyone planning to write about the play in the future. A discourse of keen intuition guided by visual components of Calderón's play, Lectura ideológica is divided into two parts, "El espacio y los objetos," and "Los personajes." Without going into the complexities of the theoretical framework, I would like to note some of the kinds of observations that result from Amezcua's eclectic approach. The author, who is exquisitely sensitive to the poetry of El médico, finds it a densely masculine world, replete with recurring references to images like the Have, the camino, the horse (it is significant that Gutierre offers his yegua to Enrique). Compatible with the language of male domination is the subtle and telling "contaminación semántica" (89) that Amezcua detects between Mencia and the slave woman Jacinta. Interestingly, Jacinta can also be seen as an extension of Enrique's appetites (170), as she facilitates his incursions into Gutierre's household. The author is especially perceptive in his treatment of Leonor as she contrasts with Mencia. Gutierre's wife is, in essence, a "mujer-niña" (262) imprisoned in her own house, toward whom Gutierre acts first as a "padre clemente," and then a "padre tiránico." Her imprudent actions result from panic and terror. Leonor, on the other hand, is constantly on 149 150BCom, Vol. 45, No. 1 (Summer 1993) the move and never at home. Because she has no man to oversee her honor, she internalizes that masculine function and sets out to repair it herself. She is assertive, and outspoken as no other character in the play, delivering a heroic and violent speech to the King demanding satisfaction from Gutierre—who is by comparison a reverential mouse when in the royal presence. But for Amezcua, Leonor is, finally, disappointing, since all her exertions are aimed toward restoring her honor as defined by the patriarchal society which so limits her options. While Calderón is regarded as a consummate craftsman in the construction of his comedias, Amezcua discovers what he calls a spatial anomaly in El medico's dénouement. Late in Act III, Gutierre, Diego, Coquin, Leonor, and the King converge in the street. With no apparent movement, they find themselves witness to the horrifying discovery of Mencia's body—inside Gutierre's house. How to account for such an inconsistency ? Amezcua's exploration of space and character leads him to propose that the irregularity is symbolic: during the course of this play, the home—the private place, where honor resides—becomes as public and degraded as the streets of Seville. Indeed, entropy is a general trend throughout the work, so that at the last we are left with a sick, debased society, a world ofhopelessness and loss. By association, Amezcua concludes, the play constitutes "una decidida oposición a la sociedad del XVII" (324). It is a little disconcerting to encounter such a provocative assertion, which pleads for a chapter of corroboration, on the very last page ofthe book. Logically, if the dramatist really were flatly condemning his own society, we would find evidence of it in other plays and in his biography. It is also my sense that the strong and intimidating presence of King Pedro on stage would remind few playgoers ofFelipe IV—in whose court Calderón served. However, Amezcua's unsubstantiated closing remarks should in no way diminish the cumulative force of his astute and illuminating examination ofEl médico de su honra. Dian...

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