La niña de Gómez Arias by Luis Vélez de Guevara, and: El diablo está en Cantillana by Luis Vélez de Guevara, and: El cerco de Roma por el rey Desiderio by Luis Vélez de Guevara, and: El lego de Alcalá by Luis Vélez de Guevara (review)

Willam R. Manson and C. George Peale's voluminous research acquaints modern readers with Luis Vélez de Guevara's ingenious works of theatre. Born in 1579, the Andalusian dramaturge lives through the flourishing years of arts and literature in Spain. Contemporary of masters like Miguel de Cervantes and Lope de Vega, Vélez de Guevara writes over four hundred plays and several novels. Manson and Peale's editions of La niña de Gómez Arias, El lego de Alcalá, El cerco de Roma por el rey Desiderio, and El diablo está en Cantillana epitomize the finesse of Vélez de Guevara's pen and his excellent knowledge of various historical and contemporary figures and contexts. All four volumes follow a similar structure: the books open with introductory analyses written by a scholar in the field (María M. Carrión, Juan Matas Caballero, Alma Mejía González, and Luis González Fernández), followed by bibliographical or bibliometric analyses by Peale, the play, and final notes. Vélez de Guevara's comedies present various popular topics of the Golden Age theatre—love, honor, power, and justice among them. While La niña de Gómez Arias and El diablo está en Cantillana are mainly centered around contemporary culture and beliefs, El lego de Alcalá and El cerco de Roma por el rey Desiderio are more focused on historical facts and figures.

Possibly written around 1608–14, La niña de Gómez Arias offers a compelling story of love, betrayal, justice, and reconciliation. Doña Gracia accepts Gómez Arias's proposal of marriage unaware of his contrivance to sell her as a slave. Per Gracia's father Laureano's request, Queen Isabella intervenes to set Gracia free from slavery. As most comedies of the era, La niña ends with multiple marriages including Doña Gracia and Gómez Arias's reunion. Vélez introduces two households in the play: the Arias, represented by Doña María and Gómez Arias, and the Guevaras, represented by Doña Gracia and Don Juan. The images of the two families stand as juxtaposing metaphors for certain cultural paradigms such as history and mythology, love and chivalry. Doña Gracia represents the historical context of Andalusia and Andalusians of her era. As a woman, she was objectified and considered property of men; and her treacherous enslavement recapitulates the perturbed relationship between Muslims and Christians notably present in Andalusia (La niña 19). Furthermore, Gómez Arias's personification of a Tenorio—embodied in a nonconformist and recusant masculine image—illustrates the mischievous nature of contemporary love and chivalry (40). La niña de Gómez Arias can lend itself to a reading of a comedy of capa y espada (through Gómez Arias), or a morisco novel (through Doña Gracia) (49).

El diablo está en Cantillana was published in Parte dieciséis de comedias nuevas y escogidas de los mejores ingenios de España (1662) by Melchor Sánchez. However, little is known about when it was written, and there...