The comedy of Bristo the Pimp (Comédia do Fanchono ou de Bristo) (review)

198 Reviews understanding of the period and so contribute to 'widening] the scope of feminist studies in general' (p. 16). Elizabeth Moors University of Queensland de Ferreira, Antonio, The comedy of Bristo the Pimp (Comidia do Fanchono ou de Bristo), trans. John R. C. Martyn, (Carleton Renaissance plays in translation, 20), Carleton, Dovehouse Editions, 1990; paper; pp. 126; 2 figures; R.R.P.?. The first play of the sixteenth century Portuguese playwright and poet Antonio de Feneira is made accessible to scholars through this translation with introduction and notes by John Martyn. The work is a comedy in the style of Plautus and Terence, characterized by elaborate plotting, verbal wit clever stage business, and stock characters. The introduction is considerably shorter than that provided by Martyn for his translation of Feneira's better-known drama The tragedy oflnes de Castro, and there is considerable cross-referencing between texts. This is probably sensible since Bristo is likely to be a fairly specialist interest and the small number of publications dedicated to Feneira studies are sure to be well known to the scholarly reader. In fact the comprehensive studies of Bristo and Ines de Castro by the French critic Adrien Roig (1971 and 1973) appear to be a major source of reference for both introduction and translation, regularly quoted, especiaUy in relation to thetext'slinguistic ambiguities and archaisms. Martyn's introduction to the play consists of sections on the life and career of Feneira, the setting for the Bristo, structure and characters, the influence of the Bristo on later drama, and edition and translation. The biographical section is a very condensed version of the writer's life, emphasizing the time he spent at the university in Coimbra where the play was composed and received its first production. This and the following two sections rely more than is usual, I believe, on speculation and reconstruction of events with a strong tendency to relatefictionalmaterial to the author's personal experiences. Dramatic characters are discussed in terms of real hfe models and some very formulaic material, such as the Preface, is apparently taken at face value. I would guess that Feneira's claim that he composed the play ' . . . to relieve himself from boredom during a few days of his vacation . . . ' (p. 29) owes more to Rojas' prefatory material to the Celestina (published in Lisbon in 1540) than to any personal experience. The importance of the play rests largely on the influence that it had on later European drama and this is discussed in relation to Odet de Turnebe's play, Les Contens, written in France in 1577. Turnebe apparendy bonows liberaUy from Bristo although without a knowledge of Turnebe's text it is difficult for the reader to evaluate the comparisons offered by Martyn. Reviews 199 The translation is described as 'literal but not word-for-word' (p. 22) and is clear and comprehensible, albeit somewhat stilted. There are some jarringly modem expressions throughout the text; such as, 'if m y father loses his cool' (p. 33), 'the old guy's a real die-hard' (p. 36), 'Itellthem all to get stuffed' (p. 48) and 'so his son doesn't go completely off the rails' (p. 80). The informal register established by these expressions (as well as the occasional use of 'dad' and 'mum' is not matched by the rather awkward literal rendition of the rest of the text. This volume of the Carleton Renaissance plays in translation is almost without enor in presentation, 'overhead' for 'overheard' on p. 15 and some unexplained superscripts in the bibliography apart. Altogether, this volume meets the objectives of the series in offering Bristo in m o d e m English translation for thefirsttime and presenting to the modem reader one of the more celebrated works of the Renaissance in Portugal. Jane Morrison School of Spanish and Latin American Studies University of N e w South Wales Fleming, Robin, Kings and lords in Conquest England, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 1991; cloth; pp. xxi, 257; 35 figures, 7 tables; R.R.P. AUS$99.00. Professor Fleming examines land holdings and land holders in England from the later Anglo-Saxon period until Domesday Book, thus covering the conquests of both...