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The Comedias bárbaras: Valle-Inclán and the Symbolist Theatre

1983; Liverpool University Press; Volume: 60; Issue: 4 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1080/1475382832000360293

1469-3550

Gwynne Edwards,

Spanish Culture and Identity

Click to increase image sizeClick to decrease image sizeBSS Subject Index: COMEDIAS BÁRBARAS [R. DE VALLE-INCLÁN]COMPARISONS IN LITERATURE & CULTUREMAETERLINCK, MAURICE (1862–1949)SYMBOLISM/SYMBOLSVALLE-INCLÁN, RAMÓN MARÍA DEL (1866–1936) Notes 1. For an informative discussion of Symbolism and Symbolist drama see J. L. Styan, Modern Drama in Theory and Practice 2: Symbolism, Surrealism and the Absurd (Cambridge: Cambridge U.P., 1981), 1–44; Mordecai Gorelik, New Theatres for Old (London: Dennis Dobson, 1940), 174–274; and Katharine Worth, The Irish Drama of Europe from Yeats to Beckett (London: Athlone Press, 1978), especially 11–47. 2. J. L. Styan, Modern Drama in Theory and Practice 2 …, 27–44, has a detailed account of the Parisian scene. 3. Maeterlinck's theory and practice are lucidly described by Bettina Knapp, Maurice Maeterlinck (Boston: Twayne, 1975). 4. There is an excellent account of Craig by Denis Bablet, The Theatre of Edward Gordon Craig, trans. Daphne Woodward (London: Eyre Methuen, 1981). 5. Particularly useful in relation to the trends in Spanish theatre at the time in question is the four-volume work by Enrique Díez-Canedo, Artículos de crítica teatral: el teatro español de 1914 a 1936 (Mexico City: Joaquín Mortiz, 1968). See too the relevant sections in Francisco Ruiz Ramón, Historia del teatro español, II: Siglo XX (4th ed.) (Madrid: Cátedra, 1980). 6. See Roberto Sánchez, ‘Gordon Craig y Valle-Inclán’, RO, 4 (1976), 27–37. Rafael Pérez de la Dehesa's ‘Maeterlinck, en España’, CHA, 225 (1971), 572–81, is unreliable. Much better are Graciela Palau de Nemes, ‘La importancia de Maeterlinck en un momento crítico de las letras hispanas’, RBPH, XL (1962), 714–28, and Lily Litvak, ‘Maeterlinck en Cataluña’, RLV, XXXIV (1968), 184–98. 7. J. L. Brooks, for example, has suggested that radio is the only suitable medium for the plays. See ‘Los dramas de Valle-Inclán’ in Estudios dedicados a Menéndez Pidal, VII, vol. I (Madrid: CSIC, 1957), 182. 8. On the different levels of meaning in one of Valle's short stories, see ‘Rosarito and the Novella Tradition’, in Ramón del Valle-Inclán: An Appraisal of his Life and Works, ed. A. N. Zahareas (New York: Las Américas Publishing Co., 1968), 286. There are useful studies of the Comedias bárbaras by Robert Salper de Tortella, ‘Don Juan Manuel Montenegro: the Fall of a King’, in Ramón de Valle-Inclán: An Appraisal of his Life and Works, 317–32; J. M. Alberich, ‘Cara de plata, fuera de serie’, BHS, XLV (1968), 299–308; and Alfredo Matilla Las ‘Comedias bárbaras’, Historicismo y expresionismo (Salamanca: Anaya, 1972). For an informative general study of Valle's approach to theatre, see J. E. Lyon, ‘Valle-Inclán and the Art of the Theatre’, BHS, XLVI (1969), 132–52. 9. ‘Las Comedias bárbaras: una sola obra dramática’, in Ramón del Valle-Inclán: An Appraisal of his Life and Works, 292. 10. ‘Las Comedias bárbaras: una sola obra dramática’, 292. 11. In the case of Romance de lobos, page references are to the text published in Colección Austral, 6th ed., (Madrid: Espasa-Calpe, 1977). In the case oí Águila de blasón and Cara de plata references are to the text published in the same series, 4th ed., 1976 and 2nd ed., 1964 respectively. Of the three plays only Romance de lobos is included in the Obras escogidas. 12. See the programme for Craig's performance of Ibsen's Rosmersholm in Florence, December 5 1906, reproduced in Denis Bablet, The Theatre of Edward Gordon Craig, 87–88. 13. On various sound effects in Maeterlinck, see Bettina Knapp, Maurice Maeterlinck, 43–49. 14. There are some perceptive comments on the broader significance of the characters by Alfredo Matilla, ‘Las Comedias bárbaras: una sola obra dramática’, 305–09. 15. HaldaneMacFall, ‘Some Thoughts on the Art of Gordon Craig’, The Studio, XXIII (1901), No. 102,82. 16. The Irish Drama of Europe from Yeats to Beckett, 12. 17. See Mordecai Gorelik, New Theatres for Old, 188.