| An
analysis of the political theater of the Spanish dramatist Calderón,
emphasizing his allegorical treatment of kingship and statecraft and
his attention to the changing conditions of monarchical rule in the
seventeenth century.
"An important addition to the critical literature on the relationship
of drama to kingship in Golden-Age Spain. Its consistently clear
elucidation of Calderón's political theatre deserves a wide readership."—MLR
This study examines issues in politics and political theory in
selected works of Pedro Calderón de la Barca (1600-1681), the major
dramatist of the middle and later decades of the seventeenth century
in Spain. By analyzing secular dramas (comedias) and religious
plays (autos sacramentales), Stephen Rupp demonstrates Calderón’s
awareness of the ideas and institutions of power in Hapsburg Spain
and explores the terms of his intervention in the long debate over
the principles of Christian statecraft. Through references to Rivadeneira,
Saavedra Fajardo, and Quevedo, Rupp describes the anti-Machiavellian
theory of kingship that informs Calderón's political theater.
Rupp's argument proceeds from abstract principles of political
theory to particular institutions and events at the Hapsburg court.
Discussion of two comedias (La vida es sueno and La cisma
de Inglaterra) and five autos (La vida es sueno, A Dios por
razon de Estado, El maestrazgo del Toison, El nuevo palacio del
Retiro, and El lirio y la azucena) demonstrates Calderón’s
assimilation of true reason of state to providence, his attitudes
concerning the conciliar system and the regime of the royal favorite
or valido, and his allegorical treatment of significant state occasions.
Published with the aid of a subvention from the Spanish Ministry
of Culture. |
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