Observations on the Dramatic Art of Tirso de Molina

also proved fertile ground for exploration, to the further detriment of the analysis of his drama. Occasionally, critical dicta are advanced, but they are often unconvincing, at times, contradictory. To the despair of the reader, some critics may claim that Tirso's graciosos and his sense of humor are superior to Lope's,' while others are sure that it is in Tirso's figuras del donaire where his excellence is least apparent and that they do not have the traits of humanidad y poder de invenci6n propio2 found in Lope's. This point of contention is offered only as an example of a phenomenon which, although not peculiar to the criticism of Tirso, seems enhanced in this case by the confused biography and by either unrestrained praise or consistent denigration of his major achievements. For instance, there is probably no other work of the historical importance of El Burlador de Sevilla that has ever been found so lacking: La facture en est gauche; I'intrigue confuse, sans suite, coupee sans raison et mal a propos d'incidents et de digressions qui interrompent l'action et la ralentissent sans motif.3 Side by side with censure and misunderstanding, we find also the most unswerving, almost uncritical, devotion in such scholars as Blanca de los Rios or I. L. McClelland. Censure or praise, obviously, will neither erase the imprint left in Spanish culture by Tirso's drama nor explain away its defects. The task before us is rather to find reasons for its persistence and for the misunderstandings of its values. To return to a definite point of contention, it is possible that critics have been talking about different things: one may have had in mind a few graciosos created .at the peak of Tirso's career while another critic may have examined numerous attempts of his years of apprenticeship, when Tirso was not yet able to delineate his characters or to use them effectively in the complex system of a play. For a clearer view of his art, then, we need to trace a line of development from Tirso's beginning to his mastery. It is impossible though to follow play by play, in chronological order, the history of his growth, since, while it is believed that Tirso wrote over three hundred plays, only eightyeight are extant, including a few autos and some plays of doubtful authenticity, and counting separately different versions of the same play. The date of Tirso's birth has recently been established by a document: according to a register of his travel to Santo Domingo, he must have been born in 1583 or 1584.4 He was in his early twenties when he started writing for the theatre. Furthermore we know that Tirso was ordained in

Art · Early Modern Spanish Literature · Historical and Literary Analyses · Spanish Literature and Culture Studies

• Some Observations on tragedia and tragicomedia in Lope

  Edwin S Morby•Hispanic Review•1943

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