Space, Drama, and Empire

Mapping the Past in Lope de Vega's Comedia

Javier Lorenzo

• Publisher: Bucknell University Press
• Year: 2023
• Print ISBN: 9781684484911, 9781684484928
• eBook ISBN: 9781684484935
• Topic: Literature
• Subtopic: European Literary Criticism
• Index: Literature

Spanish poet, playwright, and novelist Félix Lope de Vega (1562–1635) was a key figure of Golden Age Spanish literature, second only in stature to Cervantes, and is considered the founder of Spain's classical theater. In this rich and informative study, Javier Lorenzo investigates the symbolic use of space in Lope's drama and its function as an ideological tool to promote an imagined Spanish national past. In specific plays, this book argues, historical landscapes and settings were used to foretell and legitimize the imperial present in Hapsburg Spain, allowing audiences to visualize and plot, as on a map, the country's expansionist trajectory throughout the centuries. By focusing on connections among space, drama, and empire, this book makes an important contribution to the study of literature and imperialism in early modern Spain and equally to our understanding of the role and political significance of spatiality in Siglo de Oro comedia.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half Title
• Series Page
• Title Page
• Copyright
• Dedication
• Contents
• List of Illustrations
• Note on Translations
• Half Title
• Introduction
• 1. Space and the Imperial Appropriation of the Past in the Lopian Comedia
• 2. “Que los reyes nunca están lejos”: Empire and Metatheatricality in El mejor alcalde, el rey
• 3. Born to Expand: Space, Figura, and Empire in Las famosas asturianas
• 4. Endangered from Within: Space and Difference in Las paces de los reyes y judía de Toledo
• 5. Atlantic Conquests, Transatlantic Echoes: Space, Gender, and Dietetics in Los guanches de Tenerife y conquista de Canaria
• Conclusion
• Acknowledgments
• Notes
• Bibliography
• Index
• About the Author