Refiguring the Hero: From Peasant to Noble in Lope De Vega and Calderon (Penn State studies in Romance literatures) [Hardcover]

Dian Fox (Author)

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Book Description

Publication Date: July 1991 | Series: Penn State studies in Romance literatures

Refiguring the Hero reassesses the social significance of several of the most widely read plays of Spain's Golden Age in light of then-contempory ideas about heroism.The Spanish dramatists Lope de Vega and Pedro Calderon de la Barca, near contemporaries of Shakespeare, are hailed by Hispanists as democrats at heart for making heroes, in both the literary and the positive moral sense, of peasants. Spanish drama is alleged to be the first literature in the Western world to find the common man worthy of heroic status. Refiguring the Hero reevaluates the place of the canon of Spanish Golden Age drama within its European context.The book discusses European literary heroism through the seventeenth century,with particular attention to the Spanish or moral enlightenment were essential characteristics of a hero. However, the protagonists of Spanish "peasant honor" plays do not fit into this heroic tradition. The peasant often murders a nobleman who has offended his honor, and is rewarded by the reigning monarch. The peasants gain official approval by misrepresenting the events leading up to the murders. The generous kings, in their turn, are historical figures known for their failures.While most scholars approaching Spanish Golden Age drama regard these plays a s socially subversive or revolutionary, Dian Fox contends that they are consistent with other contemporary European national dramas in reserving heroism in serious works for socially superior characters. She challenges the "democratic" view of the peasant triumphing over the nobleman as heroic and shows that political and social developments since the seventeenth century have enhanced the sympathy with which modern readers regard the violent acts of the peasants in these plays.

--This text refers to the Paperback edition.

#outer_postBodyPS { display: none; } #psGradient { display: none; } #psPlaceHolder { display: none; } #psExpand { display: none; } Refiguring the Hero reassesses the social significance of several of the most widely read plays of Spain's Golden Age in light of then-contempory ideas about heroism.The Spanish dramatists Lope de Vega and Pedro Calderon de la Barca, near contemporaries of Shakespeare, are hailed by Hispanists as democrats at heart for making heroes, in both the literary and the positive moral sense, of peasants. Spanish drama is alleged to be the first literature in the Western world to find the common man worthy of heroic status. Refiguring the Hero reevaluates the place of the canon of Spanish Golden Age drama within its European context.The book discusses European literary heroism through the seventeenth century,with particular attention to the Spanish or moral enlightenment were essential characteristics of a hero. However, the protagonists of Spanish "peasant honor" plays do not fit into this heroic tradition. The peasant often murders a nobleman who has offended his honor, and is rewarded by the reigning monarch. The peasants gain official approval by misrepresenting the events leading up to the murders. The generous kings, in their turn, are historical figures known for their failures.While most scholars approaching Spanish Golden Age drama regard these plays a s socially subversive or revolutionary, Dian Fox contends that they are consistent with other contemporary European national dramas in reserving heroism in serious works for socially superior characters. She challenges the "democratic" view of the peasant triumphing over the nobleman as heroic and shows that political and social developments since the seventeenth century have enhanced the sympathy with which modern readers regard the violent acts of the peasants in these plays.

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About the Author

Dian Fox is Associate Professor of Spanish and Comparative Literature at Brandeis University and author of Kings in Calderon: A Study in Characterization and Political Theory (Tamesis, 1986). --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

Product Details

Hardcover: 256 pages
Publisher: Pennsylvania State Univ Pr (July 1991)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0271007370
ISBN-13: 978-0271007373
Product Dimensions: 9.5 x 6.5 x 1 inches
Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds
Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #4,085,652 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Key Phrases - Statistically Improbable Phrases (SIPs): (learn more)
Fern�n G�mez, peasant honor plays, honor drama, peasant protagonists, auto sacramental

Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
Refiguring the Hero, Pedro Crespo, Juan Labrador, The Villano, Don Tello, Golden Age, Luis P�rez, Lope's Peasant Honor Plays, The Greatest Alcalde, The Alcalde of Zalamea, Don Fadrique, Don Quixote, Don Alvaro, Poem of the Cid, Juan Crespo, Lope de Vega, King Enrique, Middle Ages, Sancho Panza, Ciudad Real, Comendador of Oca�a, Don Lope, Secret Insult, Comendador de Oca�a, King Felipe

Citations (learn more)

7 books cite this book:

Public Theater in Golden Age Madrid And Tudor-stuart London: Class, Gender And Festive Community (Studies in Performance and Early Modern Drama) by Ivan Canadas on page 108, and Back Matter
Spanish Dramatists of the Golden Age: A Bio-Bibliographical Sourcebook by Mary Parker on page 241
Premodern Sexualities by Louise Fradenburg on page 68
Adulterous Alliances: Home, State, and History in Early Modern European Drama and Painting by Richard Helgerson in Back Matter
Discourses of Empire: Counter-Epic Literature in Early Modern Spain by Barbara Simerka in Front Matter

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