On the eighth of October, 1622, Lope de Vega finished "La nueva victoria de don Gonzalo de Córdoba." This "comedia" recounts a Spanish victory in the Battle of Fleurus, one of several military triumphs that encouraged hope and excitement during the early years of Philip IV's reign. The battle had occurred in late August of…

Hispanic Catholic liturgical ceremonies since the thirteenth century have drawn upon material-symbolic imagery of "Cristos articulados" [jointed Christ-figures] for staging episodes from the Passion of Christ during Holy Week, such as the "Veneration of the Cross," the "Holy Burial," the "Visit to the…

Juan Ruiz de Alarcón, a seventeenth-century writer and native of New Spain, so excelled at the craft of writing "comedias" that he is recognized as one of the great writers of early modern Spain. In his personal life Ruiz de Alarcón struggled with a significant bodily impairment, a large hump on both his back and front, which made him…

Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz (1648-1695) is a legend in her native Mexico and elsewhere in Latin America. She is esteemed for the artistic and intellectual quality of her wide-ranging poetry, plays, and prose writings. She is renowned for her defense of the right of women to study, to publish their scholarship, and to teach, all controversial claims…

"La gran Cenobia" deals with the war between Queen Zenobia of Palmyra and the Emperor Aurelian. Calderon de la Barca draws most of his information from historical sources; the dramatist, however, changes history and adapts it to his own dramatic purpose. The theme of Fortune gives unity to the play. Aureliano is portrayed as a tyrant who, to prove…

Hernan Perez de Oliva (1494?-1531) was a learned Spanish humanist who wrote his major works in the decades following the discovery of America. By articulating events of his career and literary life, my goal is to comprehend his contributions to the early literary production regarding the newly-found Americas. The thesis consists of three parts.…

This essay seeks to provide parallel and interchangeable approaches to teaching Ramon del Valle-Inclan's challenging play "Luces de bohemia". A greater understanding of the cultural and mental frameworks of the early twentieth-century Spanish spectator will permit students to penetrate the dense intertextuality that characterizes Valle's…

"Amor de Don Perlimplin con Belisa en su jardin" is one of Federico Garcia Lorca's shortest plays as well as one of his deepest. Its theme is love, particularly the interaction between spiritual longing and carnal desire, body and soul, humanity and divinity. These are aspects found in Roman Catholic Eucharistic theology which the…

Martin Gaite's only Franco-era play contests some fundamental Catholic and Francoist prescriptions for the female. The fact that it was not published or performed for nearly forty years is likely due at least in part to patriarchal censorship. The work dramatizes the personal development of two half-sisters who defy various gender norms and…

Special issue dedicated to Dr. Arnold Reichenberger, a well-known Hispanist. (DS)

Intended for use by those conducting research in Spanish literature, this guide lists selected reference materials in literature from Spain, in Spanish, Galician, and Catalan languages. Annotations in the guide are divided into the following sections: (1) General Encyclopedias (1 annotation); (2) Guides to the Literature (4 annotations); (3)…

Special issue as a tribute to Dr. Arnold Reichenberger, a well-known Hispanist, who has served as chairman of the Department of Romance Languages at Pennsylvania State University, University Park, Pennsylvania. (DS)