Tirso, Lope, Claramonte. La autoría de las comedias más famosas del Siglo de Oro (review)

Reviews189 de la loa muestra la influencia de la teoría musical de Athansius Kircher, especialmente la explicación dada en su libro Musurgia Universalis. En la obra en sí se presenta la rivalidad entre Atenas y Creta, así como el esfuerzo de liberación. Lo subversivo de este texto lo constituiría el cuestionamiento de la libertad, pues se alude a un concepto similar al de la democracia. La ironía se manifiesta en la dicotomía entre el tiempo infinito y el medible, puesto que se sugiere la extensión del período vigente del virrey, a la vez que se hace evidente el deseo de igualdad y libertad. El libro de Schmidhuber constituye así uno de los grandes aportes a los estudios sorjuaninos: se delinea la teoría dramática de la Décima Musa a la vez que se sugiere el contradiscurso de la epistemología medieval-renacentista por medio de los personajes femeninos. Patricia Saldarriaga Middlebury College Rodríguez López-Vázquez, Alfredo. Tirso, Lope, Claramonte. La autoría de las comedias más famosas del Siglo de Oro. Kassel: Reichenberger, 1999. 314 pp. Comedia scholars interested in questions of attribution are no doubt familiar with López-Vázquez's work on Andrés de Claramonte, given the many efforts to convince us that Claramonte is the author of Tan largo me lofiáis, El burlador de Sevilla, El condenado por desconfiado, and other plays of doubtful provenance (for example, El Rey Don Pedro en Madrid, Dineros son calidad, and Pusóseme el sol, salióme la luna). This most recent installment in Claramonte's defense consists of an introduction and 13 essays written by López-Vázquez, all but two of which had been published previously ("Sobre el soneto del Tan largo me lofiáis," and "La repetición léxica en posición de rima: Tan largo me lofiáis y La Dorotea de Lope" appear to be new as no publishing information is provided for them). The topics , besides the Burlador, include Claramonte's El tao de San Antón and El valiente negro en Flandes. The opening 190BCom, Vol. 54, No. 1 (2002) "Introducción" and closing "Sobre la argumentación en torno a la autoría de El Burlador" are López-Vázquez's way of framing his book with overlapping arguments. One of the author's ostensible justifications for this volume is the difficulty he has encountered of limited distribution of his works (in the journal Cauce, for example) and mis-citation, as he indicates on p. 15. However, López-Vázquez himself is not as careful as he could be in citing both his own and others' work. For example, the collection of essays on La estrella de Sevilla edited by Frederick de Armas lacks complete publication information (Bucknell UP) and is listed as being published in Louisiana (16); a reference to Molière's having played the role of his character Sganarelle carries no citation (81n5); one thesis and one article "de difícil acceso" pass without any bibliographic information whatsoever (195nnl 1-12); and the same holds true for the overview of Valiente negro. The arguments López-Vázquez advances concern, time and again, versification similarities among Burlador, Tan largo, and Claramonte's plays; imagery common to many of these comedias ; similar vocabulary in rhyming positions in several texts; and repeated character names. Each essay returns to one or more of these themes, regardless of the principal focal point; for example, in "El valiente negro en Flandes Andrés de Claramonte" [sic], after a good articulation of Claramonte's concept of staging, López-Vázquez approaches what he calls Claramonte's "teoría estética" and how the vocabulary of seduction , fleeing, debts, and promises ofmatrimony found in Valiente are further support for Claramonte authorship of Burlador. Unfortunately, López-Vázquez consistently relies on and claims proof growing out of circumstantial evidence, but cumulative data alone do not a proof make. A one-note theme repeats itself in multiple variations. While this reviewer admires López-Vázquez for his tenacity and strength of his convictions, he tends...