An assessment of the life, work and reputation of Spain's leading Golden Age dramatist A Companion to Lope de Vega brings together work by leading international scholars on the life and writing of Lope de Vega Carpio, the 'fenix de los ingenios', a 'monstruo de la naturaleza', as he was described by his rival, Miguel de Cervantes. Spain's foremost Golden Age playwright was in addition a major artist in prose and poetry, genres also covered by the Companion. The contributions evaluate current critical debates and issues in Lopede Vega studies, as well as providing new readings of key texts. The volume attempts to do justice to the variety, profusion and originality of Lope's output, and to outline the contours of his reputation as an artist in literaryhistory, as well as firmly contextualising his life and work. The variety of critical perspectives reflects the liveliness of debate surrounding this enduringly popular figure whose drama has recently enjoyed a renaissance in theatres around the globe. ALEXANDER SAMSON lectures in Golden Age literature at University College London and JONATHAN THACKER is a Fellow in Spanish at Merton College, Oxford. Contributors: Frederick De Armas, ElaineCanning, Geraldine Coates, Victor Dixon, Geraint Evans, Tyler Fisher, Edward H. Friedman, Alejandro Garcia Reidy, Esther Gomez, David Johnston, Arantza Mayo, David McGrath, Barbara Mujica, Ali Rizavi, Jose Maria Ruano de la Haza, Alexander Samson, Jonathan Thacker, Isabel Torres, Xavier Tubau, Duncan Wheeler.

The first comprehensive study of Calderon in English Pedro Calderon de la Barca (1600-1681) is one of the most important dramatists - many would say the single most important dramatist - of the Spanish Golden Age. Spain's dominant and most prestigious playwright for much of the seventeenth century, his work is still regularly staged and translated, influential in more recent times on writers as diverse as Schiller, Shelley and Lorca. The author of around 120 plays (not counting his numerous Corpus Christi autos) in a variety of styles, Calderon is most famous for his stirring dramas, characterized by rhetorically powerful poetry, dramatic structures carefully calibrated to produce poignant echoes, and the fizzing intellectual energy they apply to the age's ontological, eschatological and political preoccupations. His plays succeed in combining these perennial concerns with compelling plots subtle enough to defy definitive interpretation. As this volume seeks to show, however, Calderon's comedies deserve equal recognition. Too long stereotyped as a dour, cerebral conservative, this playwright's comic works are as amusing as they are clever. This Companion is the first comprehensive study of Calderon in English. It provides a rigorous but readable introduction to the man, his work and its legacy. Its chapters - written by leading international comedia specialists - provide an overview of his life, explain his intellectual, social, moral, and literary contexts, and examine his stagecraft, his corpus, and his reception both within and without the Hispanic world up to the twenty-first century. Specific chapters are devoted to La vida es sueno, his most famous work, which appears on many a university syllabus, and to his infamous wife-murder plays.

This Companion is a readable and up-to-date guide to all aspects of the extraordinary flowering of theatre in Early-Modern Spain. Spain's artistic Golden Age produced Cervantes's great novel, Don Quijote, the sublime poetry of Quevedo and Gongora, and nurtured the prodigious talent of Velazquez, and yet it was the theatre that captured the imaginationof its people. Men and women of all social classes flocked to the new playhouses to see and hear the latest offerings of their favourite dramatists, and to be seen and heard. As well as dealing with the lives and major works of the most significant playwrights of the period - Lope de Vega, Tirso de Molina, Miguel de Cervantes, Calderon de la Barca - the Companion focusses on other aspects of the growth and maturing of Golden Age theatre, reflecting the interests and priorities of modern scholarship. These include: the sixteenth-century origins of the comedia nueva; the lesser-known dramatists, including women playwrights; life in the theatre; the Corpus Christi street theatre and minor genres; performance studies; and the critical reception of the drama. The Companion also contains a guide to comedia versification, a full bibliography and advice on further reading. JONATHAN THACKER is a Fellow of Merton College, Oxford.

An assessment of the life, work and reputation of Spain's leading Golden Age dramatist A Companion to Lope de Vega brings together essays by leading international scholars on the life and works of Lope de Vega Carpio, the 'fenix de los ingenios', or, as his rival Miguel de Cervantes dubbed him, 'monstruo de la naturaleza'. Spain's foremost Golden Age playwright excelled in all literary genres, including prose and poetry, also covered here. The contributors evaluate current critical debates and issues in Lope de Vega studies, as well as providing new readings of key texts. It has been the aim of the editors to do justice to the variety, profusion and originality of Lope's work, placing the writer and his output firmly in their historical context as well asassessing his reputation in literary history. The wide variety of critical perspectives found in the volume reflects the liveliness of the debate surrounding this enduringly popular figure whose drama is enjoying a renaissance intheatres around the globe. Alexander Samson lectures in Golden Age literature at University College London. Jonathan Thacker is Fellow in Spanish at Merton College, Oxford. Other Contributors: Elaine Canning, Geraldine Coates, Frederick A de Armas, Victor Dixon, Geraint Evans, Tyler Fisher, Edward H. Friedman, Alejandro Garcia Reidy, David Johnston, Arantza Mayo, David McGrath, Barbara Mujica, Ali Rizavi Jose Maria Ruano de la Haza,Isabel Torres, Xavier Tubau, Duncan Wheeler.