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This study explores a number of early modern comedias that deal with historical siege or military episodes in the history of the Iberian peoples. Cervantes's La Numancia, Lope de Vega's El asalto de Mastrique and his lesser known La nueva victoria de don Gonzalo de Córdoba, Calderón de la Barca's El sitio de Bredá, and Vélez de Guevara's El Hércules de Ocaña are key texts examined here. Taking the distinction between history and fiction in Neo-Aristotelian literary theory as a point of departure, this book considers the intellectual and historical conditions that affect the ways in which early modern dramatists interpret historical events according to their own literary and ideological purposes. The interplay of history and fiction demonstrates uses and discontents of legitimizing fiction in the early modern period. Parallel themes of epic and siege intermingled with romance and carnivalesque humour, provide alternative perspectives to early modern representations of empire and war on the Spanish stage.
List of contents
Contents: Between History and Fiction: Early Modern Practices - The Early Modern History Play - Epic under Siege: The Classic Siege Play of La Numancia - The Siege Play of the comedia nueva - Romancing the Enemy: Generic Ambiguity in La Numancia - Romantic Comedy in the comedia nueva.
About the author
The Author: Tracy Crowe Morey received her Ph.D. from the University of Toronto and currently teaches at Brock University, Canada. She is a contributing author in
Monstrous Deviations in Literatures and the Arts and her current research deals with counter-histories and censorship in both the Latin American and Iberian contexts.
Report
"'Between History and Fiction' provides scholarship with a valuable comparative study of siege plays written by Spain's most important Golden-Age playwrights. The book demonstrates that the stage was widely used as a means of commenting on military events of the time period; 'Between History and Fiction' represents an important contribution to Golden-Age Spanish studies." (Aaron M. Kahn, Bulletin of Spanish Studies)
