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Women and Society in the Spanish Drama of the Golden Age: A Study of the Mujer Varonil

1975; Auburn University; Volume: 27; Issue: 2 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1353/boc.1975.0028

1944-0928

John G. Weiger,

Historical and Modern Theater Studies

Sancho Niño, ed. Roberto J. Bininger y Ricardo L. Landeira (Vigo: Faro de Vigo, 1970); Los hijos de h barbuda, éd. M. G. Profeti (Pisa: Univ. di Pisa, 1970); Comedia famosa del Rey Don Sebastián, ed. Werner Herzog, BRAE, Anejo 24 ( Madrid: Real Academia Española, 1972). Desde 1965 también se han publicado varias ediciones de El Diablo Cojuelo, de las cuales se destacan la de Enrique R. Cepeda y Enrique RuIl (Madrid: Alcalá, 1968), y la de Inmaculada Ferrer, con prólogo de Francisco Rico (Madrid: Salvat, 1970). Además, ediciones de varias obras de Vélez de Guevara se han presentado como tesis doctoral en universidades norteamericanas: Harold Earl Rosen, "A Critical Edition, with Introduction and Notes, of Vélez de Guevara's El amor en vizcaíno, los celos en francés y torneos de Navarra (Oregon, 1966), DAI, 27:3062-A; Marjorie Virginia Reas, "Three Thematically Similar Plays Attributed to Luis Vélez de Guevara, together with a Critical Annotated Edition of La obligación a las mvgeres" (Wayne State, 19T8), DAI, 32:452-A; James Stone Rambo, "Annotated Critical Edition of También el sol tiene menguante, by Luis Vélez de Guevara and Francisco de Rojas Zorrilla" (New Mexico, 1972), DAI, 33:2948-A; Frank J. Bianco, "A Critical Edition, with Notes and Analysis, of Luis Vélez de Guevara's Más pesa el rey que la sangre" (Pittsburgh, 1973), DAI, 34:6625-A. Conviene añadir aquí las indispensables "Note critiche sull' opera di Vélez de Guevara," de Maria Grazia Profeti, publicadas en Miscellanea di Studi Ispanici, 10 (1965), 46-147; y la tesis inédita de Mary Garrett Hauer, "Luis Vélez de Guevara: A Criticai Bibliography" (Louisiana State, 1971), DAI, 32-.6939-A. 2 Véase Emilio Cotarelo, "Luis Vélez de Guevara y sus obras dramáticas," BRAE, 3 (1916), 621-52, IV (1917), 131-71, 269-308, 414-44. 3 IV, 161-63. 4 Forrest Eugene Spenser y Rudolph Sollevili , The Dramatic Works of Luis Vélez de Guevara, Publications in Modern Philology, 19 (Berkeley: Univ. of California, 1937), pp. 261-65. 5A este respecto las anotaciones del texto dejan mucho que desear, pues advertencias como "Notice the use of epithets" (11. 11720 ), "Notice the anastrophe" (1. 349), "A chiasmus" (11. 476-77), etc. esclarecen poco o nada del texto o estilo de Vélez. Por lo dem ás, son muy oportunas las notas que describen el manuscrito, aclaran las construcciones sintácticas anticuades y, cuando necesario, explican el valor simbólico de las imágenes. 4*¿%9> McKendrick, Melveena. Women and Society in the Spanish Drama of the Golden Age: A Study of the Mujer Varonil New York and London: Cambridge University Press, 1974. 346 pp. $19.50 When one pores through more than 150 plays to trace the development of a dramatic type as well as to seek its relationship to historical reality, the result in 330 pages may likely produce a limited view of the forest for all the trees. Professor McKendrick has elected to concentrate on the mujer varonil, as this type appears from the early sixteenth to the late seventeenth centuries. In addition, a 42-page opening chapter ( as well as part of the concluding chapter ) is devoted to emphasizing the distinction between literary reflections of reality and historical fact. Another 35page chapter is devoted to sources and influences (ranging from history, mythology and classical literature to romances , contemporary figures and other contemporary comedias). This leaves slightly more than 250 pages in which to study the mujer varonil in the 150 plays specifically dealt with and the "many more [that] have been scoured for relevant material" (p. xii). Professor McKendrick has found an admirable solution to part of this problem by avoiding a play-by-play analysis , substituting instead a typological format in six of her eleven chapters. Nonetheless, she does not completely evade the trap of seeing some of the trees while failing to notice how the roots are interconnected, as in her reasoning for dealing with Tárrega, Aguilar and Castro apart from the main 141 body because "as Valencians, they fall outside the main stream of...