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Articles 121 - 132 of 132
Full-Text Articles in Modern Languages
The Comic Récit: Les Plaideurs, Nina Ekstein
The Comic Récit: Les Plaideurs, Nina Ekstein
Modern Languages and Literatures Faculty Research
Récits are a standard feature of the French classical theater. While normally associated with tragedy (e.g. the famous "récit de Théramène"), seventeenth-century comedy adopted the use of dramatic narrative and adapted it for its own ends. In an examination of the comic récit, two questions arise immediately: how is the récit in comedy different from, first the tragic récit, and second other segments of a comedy?
Narrative Reliability And Spatial Limitations In Bajazet, Nina Ekstein
Narrative Reliability And Spatial Limitations In Bajazet, Nina Ekstein
Modern Languages and Literatures Faculty Research
Récits are a standard feature in the classical theater, commonly used to bring information to an onstage universe which is limited by the unities of time and place. Action which occurs before the opening of the play finds its natural expression, given the convention of beginning the play in medias res, in narrative form. These are the récits of exposition. Bajazet is unusually rich in such récits: Acomat recounts Amurat's actions, Bajazet's youth, Acomat's own past, and how Roxane came to be able to see Bajazet (I, i, ll. 115-42, 145-56); and Atalide explains how she and Bajazet …
Some Practical Thoughts On Producing Calderón’S Court Plays, Matthew D. Stroud
Some Practical Thoughts On Producing Calderón’S Court Plays, Matthew D. Stroud
Modern Languages and Literatures Faculty Research
Calderón's comedias de tramoyas present special problems to a modern producer attempting an authentic stage presentation. This article discusses possible answers to questions relating to staging (the theater itself, sets, the length of the performance, funding, etc.), direction, special effects, costumes, hairstyles, and text (cuts, versions, the use of loas and entremeses, etc.). In addition, court plays also require decisions about the music—tessitura, pitch, instrumentation, and orchestration—most of which must rely on conjecture rather than on concrete knowledge of the original. For each problem, it quickly becomes apparent that absolute authenticity is quite impossible. Stated generally, one must simply …
The Comedia As Potboiler: Juan De Cabeza’S Matar Por Zelos Su Dama, Matthew D. Stroud
The Comedia As Potboiler: Juan De Cabeza’S Matar Por Zelos Su Dama, Matthew D. Stroud
Modern Languages and Literatures Faculty Research
Of the hundreds of existing comedias, only a very small percentage has actually received critical attention. Those few that have been studied in greatest depth, such as La vida es sueño, El burlador de Sevilla, Fuenteovejuna, and the like, might be said to represent the most interesting, if not the best, plays in the entire body of comedias.1 Nevertheless, for every famous comedia, there are literally scores of lesser known and never read plays. Perhaps their lack of attention is mute testimony to their mediocrity, but they are nonetheless comedias and are of critical interest …
Tirso's Wife-Murder Play: La Vida Y Muerte De Herodes, Matthew D. Stroud
Tirso's Wife-Murder Play: La Vida Y Muerte De Herodes, Matthew D. Stroud
Modern Languages and Literatures Faculty Research
Tirso's La vida y muerte de Herodes is a curious play for a number of reasons. Dating most likely from 1620-21, it is one of several plays based on Herod's life both in Biblical accounts and in Josephus' Antiquities. Lodovico Dolce was the first Renaissance playwright to take advantage of the historical but very dramatic subject matter in his Marianna of 1565, and, closer to Tirso's era, Alexandre Hardy and Tristan l'Hermite created French versions; Hardy's dates from the period 1625 to 1632 and Tristan's was published in 1637. Of course, Calderón published in 1637 the version best known to …
The Functions Of The Récit In L'Ecole Des Femmes, Nina Ekstein
The Functions Of The Récit In L'Ecole Des Femmes, Nina Ekstein
Modern Languages and Literatures Faculty Research
Since L'Ecole des femmes was first performed in 1662, much mention has been made of the numerous récits in the play. In La Critique de l'Ecole des femmes, Lysidas criticizes the play because "dans cette comédie-ci, il ne se passe point d'actions, et tout consiste en des récits que vient faire Agnès ou Horace.'' Indeed, the entire love intrigue takes place offstage and is reported in the form of récits. Far from being tiresome recitals, these narratives are integrated into the structure of the play on numerous levels.
The Resocialization Of The Mujer Varonil In Three Plays By Vélez, Matthew D. Stroud
The Resocialization Of The Mujer Varonil In Three Plays By Vélez, Matthew D. Stroud
Modern Languages and Literatures Faculty Research
When Arnold Reichenberger writes of the tendency in the comedia toward a restored society, he refers to the conservative, patriarchal, ideal society represented by the dramatic works. Characters who exhibit eccentric social behavior are not allowed to remain marginally attached to the society; they are either resocialized into the fabric of the comedia's society or they are expelled. This pattern not only allows for the possibility of an implicit moral lesson, as Alexander A. Parker would assert, but it also creates dramatic tension the resolution of which results in exciting reversals in the plot. As might be expected, the …
Andromaque. V,V: Disorder, Irony, And Progression, Nina Ekstein
Andromaque. V,V: Disorder, Irony, And Progression, Nina Ekstein
Modern Languages and Literatures Faculty Research
The denouement of Andromaque (V,v), as is the case in most tragedies, brings with it a return to order, but the impression of order lies off stage with Andromaque's ascension to the throne rather than on stage with Oreste and Pylade. On stage, disorder reigns, and this disorder is a result of several factors: the pressing necessity of a quick departure, Oreste's madness, and, significantly, the ironic instability of language in this scene. This instability takes the form of statements whose meaning later changes in the light of some subsequent action or information. Such shifts in meaning are not uncommon …
Stylistic Considerations Of Calderón’S Opera Librettos, Matthew D. Stroud
Stylistic Considerations Of Calderón’S Opera Librettos, Matthew D. Stroud
Modern Languages and Literatures Faculty Research
The two plays of Calderón that were set to music in their entirety have a number of common characteristics beyond those associated with the mythological plays as a whole. Both of the plays were performed in 1660, La púrpura de la rosa on January 17 to celebrate the marriage of the Infanta María Teresa to Louis XIV of France, and Celos aun del aire matan on December 5 to celebrate the third birthday of the Infante Felipe Próspero. Presented in the Palacio del Buen Retiro, set to music by Juan Hidalgo, staged with the appropriate elaborate machinery, and performed by …
Los Comendadores De Córdoba: Realidad, Manierismo Y El Barroco, Matthew D. Stroud
Los Comendadores De Córdoba: Realidad, Manierismo Y El Barroco, Matthew D. Stroud
Modern Languages and Literatures Faculty Research
Aunque el problema del uso de los términos «barroco» y «manierismo» ha sido sujeto de varios estudios sobre el arte y la literatura, sigue cierta confusión y vaguedad al aplicar estos términos a la comedia. Helmut Hatzfeld y Emilio Orozco Díaz han delimitado muy bien algunas diferencias entre los dos términos, llegando a la conclusión general de que el barroco es lo que combina las técnicas y fórmulas verbales renacentistas con situaciones apropiadas al «realismo» del contexto literario, mientras que el manierismo es el uso de las mismas técnicas para adorno del texto sin que tenga ninguna conexión expresa con …
La Numancia Como Auto Secular, Matthew D. Stroud
La Numancia Como Auto Secular, Matthew D. Stroud
Modern Languages and Literatures Faculty Research
Si por «tragedia» en la Numancia entendemos la situación patética de la destrucción del pueblo numantino, no puede haber duda de que el drama es trágico, y que el patético pueblo numantino es el protagonista trágico. Hay también quien ve a Cipión como el protagonista, pero aun estos críticos están de acuerdo en que hay sufrimiento de parte de los numantinos. Lo que no está de acuerdo con la idea de la obra como tragedia es el énfasis del drama en Ia resurrección del pueblo en los siglos que siguen a una catástrofe tan total. Casalduero, quien expresó por primera …
Social-Comic Anagnorisis In La Dama Duende, Matthew D. Stroud
Social-Comic Anagnorisis In La Dama Duende, Matthew D. Stroud
Modern Languages and Literatures Faculty Research
La dama duende has become quite a puzzle. Barbara Mujica, in her article, "Tragic Elements in Calderón's La Dama Duende," discusses several elements of Calderonian tragedy in a work which she ultimately defines as "comedy in its highest sense," (p. 328) and she finds implicit social criticism in its vaguely happy ending. Robert ter Horst refutes the idea of comedy and tragedy as leading a double life by saying, in effect, that comedy is potential tragedy which is averted by "anticipating or delaying the conclusions to which tragedy leaps," but then he goes on to claim that Don Manuel …