The Situational Drama of Tirso de Molina (review)

has joined this small chorus; I would call attention to my colleague Jackson Cope's chapter on La vida es sueño in The Theater and the Dream (see: BIBLIOGRAPHY , this issue). Whereas Honig and Eric Bentley stress contemporaneity , Cope emphasizes the venerable and widespread Hterary tradition of which La vida es sueño forms a smaH but significant part. For all three, universaHty is preponderant over uniqueness. Minor errata occur on pp. 39, 71, 165, 190, 202, and 267. On p. 17, Cervantes, Mira de Amescua, and Rojas Zorrilla are Hsted among the "leading Spanish dramatists of the time," but Ruiz de Alarcón is conspicuously absent. On p. 103, there is a failure to distinguish between two "codes" of honor, that of the nobiHty and that of the common man. Aside from these quibbles, I have no reservations to attach. This is an important study, not only for the psychomythic approach to interpretation it advocates and for the successful appHcation of that method to selected plays, but also for the distinction it implicitly makes between imaginative and discursive writing and for its conception of poetic drama as theater, not cautionary tales. Univ. of Southern California James A. Parr ^€3^v AGHEANA, ION TUDOR. The Situational Drama of Tirso de Molina. Madrid : Plaza Mayor, 1972. Paper. 135 pp. Professor Agheana examines three aspects of Tirso's works: "The presence of singularly intelHgent characters, the experimental utilization of dialogues and a metaphorical system underlying traits of human behavior." By far the most interesting and useful sections of the book deal with the latter two themes. Agheana states that one of Tirso's contributions to Golden Age drama is the introduction of dialogues and dialogic monologues in which the speaker is, or pretends to be, asleep. He says that this dramatic device frees the character from the normal social, moral bonds that his role imposes on him so that he can express his innermost thoughts and feelings. The importance of Tirso's innovative step can be seen in El vergonzoso en palacio, La mujer que manda en casa, La santa Juana, II, La mejor espigadera. In the same chapter on "Dialogue and Situation" there is a most interesting review of the function of voice impersonation in Tirso. Agheana underscores the uniqueness of the device and the ingenuity of the Count of Pénela in El vergonzoso en palacio. He points out the dramatic possibilities of imitation and the guile with which some characters can manipulate others. He also emphasizes Tirso's craft and his "understanding ... of man's dependence on communication." The function of night in Tirso's works is analyzed in the third chapter of the book. In contrast with Lope's lyrical nights and with the symboHc, imagistic ones of Calderón, in Tirso there is just darkness, a stage for actions: "night becomes a stage for honest and dishonest passions, for unabashed pursuit of sensual enjoyment, for intrigues, conspiracies and duels, for the materialization of all those human inclinations that are curbed by society, by conventional moraHty, and even by common sense" (105). Agheana sees night as a means to evade the constrictions of society, as a Hberating element and as a leveling agent that eHminates social barriers. The first chapter of the book deals with "intelligence in action." As other critics have done, Agheana makes the 87 point that Tirso's characters react more swiftly to given and changing situations than do characters created by other dramatists, and that Don Juan and Finea, in comparison to other characters in the same plays, are definitely superior. Although this chapter has some good textual commentary, it also contains unnecessarily long plot summaries of El burlador de Sevilla and La prudencia en la mujer. It is uneconomic to spend so much space on the plots of plays that are surely wellknown to the intended reader. It would have been more effective to move directly to the comments on the characters ' abilities to handle situations requiring fast thought and action. The tendency toward inessential plot summary is a constant in this book. Several times in the book, Agheana compares Tirso to both Lope and Calder ón and, invariably, concludes that the...