In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:

Reviewed by:
  • "El rey planeta:" Suerte de una divisa en el entramado encomiástico en torno a Felipe IV by Julio Vélez Sainz
  • Julia Farmer
Vélez Sainz, Julio. "El rey planeta:" Suerte de una divisa en el entramado encomiástico en torno a Felipe IV. Madrid & Frankfurt: Iberoamericana & Vervuert, 2017. 198 pp.

Literary works produced in connection with the court of the Spanish Habsburgs have long provided fodder for scholarly debate. Questions abound as to what extent latent criticism of the monarchs lies beneath the surface of otherwise seemingly encomiastic texts, or when, if ever, we should take at face value the praise that such texts lavish on the monarchs in whose court they were produced. With "El rey planeta," Julio Vélez Sainz adds another layer to the discussion of such topics, but in so doing declines to stake a clearly delineated position on the matter. Rather, he builds on previous work by Víctor Mínguez and others to take a narrowly focused yet ultimately fruitful approach to these sorts of questions by homing in on the multivalent image of the sun in texts linked to the court of Philip IV. While Vélez Sainz is the first to admit that the list of works he studies is not exhaustive, the author does an admirable job of covering texts by both canonical writers (Lope de Vega and Calderón de la Barca, for example) and those by authors who have received less recognition, such as Feliciana Enríquez de Guzmán and Ana Abarca de Bolea. [End Page 422]

"El rey planeta" explores encomiastic poetry as well as theatrical works produced in connection with celebrations at the court of Philip IV, with the latter receiving the emphasis. Of the four main chapters focused on analysis of texts linked to that court, three are dedicated to theater. The chapter on poetry first explores texts by Lope de Vega in which solar imagery appears connected to Habsburg monarchs as far back as Philip II. It then looks at a series of poetic texts by Aragonese women writers, including Ana de Bolea and María Fernández, exploring the ways in which the writers at issue mention the sun in connection with not only the monarch but also his wife, Mariana of Austria.

From here, the study moves into the realm of theater, the exploration of which is divided into three sections. In chapter six, the author explores sun imagery in theatrical works based on novels of chivalry, focusing on the Count of Villamediana's La gloria de Niquea, Antonio Hurtado de Medoza's Querer solo por querer, and El velloncino de oro, by Lope de Vega. In his analysis of Villamediana's work, Vélez Sainz insightfully traces the complex connections between Philip IV and his grandfather Philip II established through references to the genealogy of Amadís de Grecia and attendant associations with the sun god Apollo. In another section of the chapter, he highlights what he views as parallels between El velloncino de oro and the Flemish tapestry La fama (part of the series of tapestries called Los Honores created in honor of Charles V). This portion of the study is somewhat less convincing, in that a number of the parallels that Vélez Sainz claims to find between text and tapestry seem a bit forced.

In the following chapter, the author explores the figure of Apollo to an even greater extent than he did in his study of La gloria de Niquea. He begins with Feliciana Enríquez de Guzmán and her Tragicomedia de los jardines y campos sabeos, focusing on her representations of Philip IV, particularly in connection with the image of the sun god Apollo. The analysis shows how the Sevillian author's attempts at maintaining a classically-inspired, learned courtly theater (referenced through the myth of the competition between Apollo and Pan) ultimately fails. Other works examined in this chapter include Lope de Vega's El amor enamorado and Calderón's El laurel de Apolo, both of which involve the use of the myth of Apollo and Daphne as portrayed in Ovid's Metamorphoses. Vélez Sainz deftly traces the...

pdf

Share