Women Playwrights of Early Modern Spain

Nieves Romero-Díaz, Professor of Spanish at Mount Holyoke College, has published on Early Modern prose, women writers, and the bilingual edition of Maria de Guevara’s works, also in the Other Voice series (Chicago, 2007).Lisa Vollendorf, Dean of Humanities and the Arts and Professor of Spanish at San José State University, has published five edited volumes and two monographs on women’s literaryand cultural history in Spain and the Ibero-American Atlantic.Harley Erdman, Professor of Theater at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, is playwright, translator, and dramaturg, and the author or editor of four books, including translations of Tirso de Molina’s plays.

• Acknowledgments xiIntroduction 1A Note on the Translations 27Four Comic Interludes to The Tragicomedy of the Sheban Gardens and Fields 29Count Partinuplés: A Comedia 89Four Loas and a Spiritual Coloquio 193Bibliography 261Index 269

This timely edition of three women playwrights of Spain’s Golden Age fills a gap in the study of early modern Spanish theater. The plays have never been translated in any language and they have the potential to be taught in undergraduate and graduate courses. A biographical sketch and plot summary introduce each of the three authors, while the introduction elaborates on the varied experiences of these playwrights and their works. An overview of the different sites of theater and performance (corral, palace, and convent) effectively contextualizes the whole.Sarah OwensProfessor of Spanish, Department of Hispanic Studies, College of Charleston