Ebook: Fuenteovejuna
Author: Racz Gregary Joseph, Vega Lope de
- Tags: Spanish literature, Drama, History, Fuenteovejuna (Spain) -- History -- Drama, Spain -- Fuenteovejuna
- Series: Margellos world republic of letters book
- Year: 2010
- Publisher: Yale University Press
- City: Fuenteovejuna (Spain);New Haven;Spain;Fuenteovejuna
- Language: English
- epub
Lope de Vega "single-handedly created the Spanish national theatre," writes Roberto González Echevarría in the introduction to this new translation of Fuenteovejuna. Often compared to Shakespeare, Molière, and Racine, Lope is widely considered the greatest of all Spanish playwrights, and Fuenteovejuna (The Sheep Well) is among the most important Spanish Golden Age plays.
Written in 1614, Fuenteovejuna centers on the decision of an entire village to admit to the premeditated murder of a tyrannical ruler. Lope masterfully employs the tragicomic conventions of the Spanish comedia as he leavens the central dilemma of the peasant lovers, Laurencia and Frondoso, with the shenanigans of Mengo, the gracioso or clown. Based on an actual historical incident, Fuenteovejuna offers a paean to collective responsibility and affirmation of the timeless values of justice and kindness.
Translator G. J. Racz preserves the nuanced...