Spanish drama before Lope de Vega

By James Pyle Wickersham Crawford and James Pyle Wickersham

Book Overview

Spanish theatre did not begin with its greatest star. Before Lope, the stage stirred. What came before the revolution matters. In this lucid theater history monograph, J. P. Wickersham Crawford follows the long prelude to Spanish Golden Age theater, charting how performance in late medieval Spain matured into the daring, popular art that would flourish in 16th century Spain. Crawford keeps his eye on forms, audiences, and the shifting idea of what a play could be. Written as a critical study rather than a chronology of names, it connects medieval Spanish drama and renaissance Spanish theater to the pressures that shaped them: faith and festival, court and city, learned imitation and vernacular energy. From devotional staging to secular entertainment, the through-line is clear: a tradition testing its limits. He brings bibliographical rigour and readable judgement, weighing evidence without bluster. Crawford clarifies the comedia nueva roots with a scholar's restraint and a storyteller's sense of momentum, making the book an academic reference that still reads with purpose. For Lope de Vega scholarship, it offers essential bearings on what Lope inherited, resisted, and transformed. Republished by Alpha Editions in a careful modern edition, this volume preserves the spirit of the original while making it effortless to enjoy today - a heritage title prepared for readers and collectors alike. Ideal for the curious browser of Spanish drama history, and equally for the classic literature shelf, it also serves as a dependable student research guide for anyone tracing the pathways into Spain's theatrical century.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 9353800854
• ISBN13: 9789353800857
• Release Date: July 2019
• Publisher: Alpha Edition
• Length: 200 Pages
• Weight: 0.66 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.5" x 6.0" x 9.0"