Genesis, Numbers, Exodus, and Genetic Literary History: Luis Vélez de Guevara's Don Pedro Miago—The Missing Link between Gongorism and the Comedia

GENESIS, NUMBERS, EXODUS, AND GENETIC LITERARY HISTORY: LUIS VÉLEZ DE GUEVARA'S DONPEDRO MIAGO-TRK MISSING LINK BETWEEN GONGORISMAND THE COMEDIA* C. GEORGE PEALE California State University, Fullerton In the Bible, the book of Genesis speaks of beginnings—the beginnings of Nature, of Man, of human values, of society and civilization, of art, craft, and industry. It is also a book about relationships—relationships between God and Nature and Man. Numbers deals with conflict— conflict among men, and conflict between Man and God. Numbers also deals with transition, recounting the passing of authority from one generation to the next—those whom God uses to establish Israel die before that nation comes into its own. In Exodus the foundational theology, ethics , and morality of the Judeo-Christian heritage are laid, and their rationale and consequences are exemplified in the account of Moses' life, the liberation of Israel from Egyptian bondage, and the inauguration of God's earthly kingdom among the Israelites by means of a special covenant . In this study I propose to discuss the Genesis, Numbers and Exodus of Gongorism in the Spanish comedia, focussing on Gongorism's beginnings and early relationships with the comedia, as manifested in plays— one play, actually, Don Pedro Miago, by Luis Vélez de Guevara—and not in commentaries. I shall not deal, therefore, with the polemics which swirled around Góngora's culterano style, but I shall take up the matter of transition between Lope's generation and Calderón's to show how Vêlez de Guevara figured importantly in the accretion of Gongorism to 219 220BCom, Vol. 45, No. 2 (Winter 1993) the theatre of Spain's Golden Age. I shall refer to the poetic principles and consequences of Gongorism in the theatre. And, I shall take up one important issue of our "theology" as students of Spanish classical theatre , insofar as historical understanding informs the way we read, understand , and practice the "religion" that we call literary criticism. My methods will include some literary gene splicing as well as some oldfashioned source criticism. Even though I shall be dealing with an obscure play of inferior poetic quality, I believe that these findings will raise fundamental questions about how the stylistic development of the comedia has been treated in historical criticism, and, consequently, in comedia pedagogy and scholarship. Luis de Góngora's Fábula de Polifemo y Galatea and Soledades are probably the most important watershed of Spanish literature. No work by any author before or since has so sharply delineated a mode of literary thinking and practice. Góngora's manipulation of syntactical and rhetorical devices spatialized literary signification in a radically concentrated and different way, and he substantiated and texturized the literary spaces of his poems with a lush palette of images and metaphors of theretofore unprecedented daring and difficulty. Although Góngora had aired his masterpieces at private readings in 1612, the "official entry" of Gongoristic culteranismo into Spanish letters was on May 11, 1613. On that date, one of the two copies of the Polifemo and the Soledades that Góngora had sent to Madrid was received by his friend, Pedro de Cárdenas, who in turn gave it to the reknowned humanist, Pedro de Valencia. That copy circulated among a circle of academics which included Don Enrique Pimentel and Fray Hortensio de Paravicino. The other copy went to Andrés de Almansa y Mendoza, who circulated the poems in the royal palace and on the streets.1 Fragments and the complete text of both poems were copied profusely. Góngora became the only lyric poet whose works were commercially exploited by booksellers in manuscript form. In fact, Antonio Rodríguez-Moñino (34) has even speculated on the existence of a workshop that specialized in copying Góngora's poetry. The proliferation of manuscript copies likewise produced a huge critical response in letters, commentaries, and academic debates. The reaction to Góngora's style was violently polemical—the watershed produced two very stormy oceans ofopinion.2 The Genesis account of the Creation abstracts empirical truths to such a high degree that its validity is an article of faith. Likewise, as we consider the stylistic...