El Mentidero

EL MENTIDERO The annual Comediantes' banquet for 1998 was held at 7:00 p.m. on Monday, December 28 at the Thirsty Bear Brewing Company, 661 Howard Street, San Francisco, in conjunction with the meeting of the Modem Language Association. An open, hosted bar, beginning at 6:00 p.m., preceded the dinner, which consisted of a variety of cold and hot tapas, followed by two paellas, valenciana and hortelana, coffee and dessert. Dinner was followed by numerous heart-felt expressions of gratitude to Jim Parr, who will soon be ending his twenty-six year tenure as editor of the Bulletin of the Comediantes. The following Comediantes (and their guests) were in attendance : Emilie Bergmann, Bob Blue, Catherine Connor, Fred de Armas, Denise DiPuccio, Tom Finn (and spouse), Meg & Bob Greer, Juergen Hahn, Dan Heiple, Susana Hernández Araico, Michaela Heigl (and guest), Patricia Kenworthy, Edgar Knowlton, Robert Lauer, Eric Naylor, Tom & Rae O'Connor, Julián Olivares, Charles Oriel & Julia Simon, Jim & Patricia Parr, George Peale (and daughter), Don Schmiedel (and spouse), Anita Stoll, Matt Stroud, Ronald Surtz, Szilvia Szmuk, Robert ter Horst, Alisa Tigchelaar, Barbara Weissberger, Constance & Heanon Wilkins, Amy WiIliamsen & Salvador Cerón (and child). Several others would have attended had there not been a Golden-Age session scheduled from 7:15-8:30. Respectfully submitted, Charles Oriel, Washington University, St. Louis Readers may find the following addresses useful. Edition Reichenberger, which has published a great many titles dealing with the Comedia, can be found at http://www.reichenberger.de/ The other is Pegasus Press, of Asheville, North Carolina, which continues to add to its collection of Spanish classical texts, the most recent being that rara avis, an edition of Don Quijote published in this country with text, critical commentary and notes entirely in Spanish. Their editions of El burlador de Sevilla and El encanto 475 476BCom, Vol. 50, No. 2 (Winter 1998) es la hermosura /La segunda Celestina are reasonably priced and are ideal for classroom use. Their website is http://www.pegasuspress.org/ An intriguing website is the one posted by Dante Medina of Zapopan, Jalisco, México: http://www.don-juan.com/ Medina writes that he has devoted the last fifteen years to compiling a list of versions, editions, essays, critical commentary, and references dealing with the Don Juan myth. He has compiled a bibliography of 6,848 annotated entries which is available on compact disk. Information is available on the website, and he can also be contacted by e-mail at: dmedina@udgserv.cencar.udg.mx Since this is the last issue that will list the current editor's name at the top ofthe masthead, it seems appropriate to make a few parting comments. The first volume for which I was responsible was number 25, bound appropriately in silver-colored paper. This one is bound in gold-colored paper, symbolizing our 50th anniversary. In a sense, then, I have gone the alchemists one better by turning one precious metal into a more precious one. When I assumed the position, it was with the understanding that my role was to be that ??primer galán. I realize now, twenty-six years later, that I was misled. The role is obviously, unless my mirror does me no good service , that ??primer barba. I cannot help reflecting on two other matters. First, the journal has evolved in many ways. The bibliography is now a sine qua non for Comediantes worldwide. Szilvia Szmuk has built upon the work of Vem WiIliamsen and John J. Reynolds, and has set up an international team of collaborators . I am delighted that Szilvia will continue as bibliographer. Charlotte Stem has developed the book review section into something truly remarkable . Sad to say, she informed me of her intention to step down well before I made my own decision. It pleases me to add, however, that Thomas A. O'Connor will be taking her place. Second, the changes that have occurred in the ways we process words have been truly striking between the publication of volumes 25 and 50. When I began, we were still using typescripts prepared with real typewriters, which arrived, naturally, by snail mail, liberally endowed with correction fluid or giving good evidence...