Dictating Aesthetic and Political Legitimacy through Golden Age Theater: Fuente Ovejuna at the Teatro Español, Directed by Cayetano Luca de Tena (1944)

Emboldened by their success in the Spanish Civil War (1936–1939), Nationalist ideologues sought to revitalize the stagnant Spanish theater and promote values associated with the newly formed authoritarian regime. The memory and restaging of seventeenth-century comedias became a crucial part of this project that focused particularly on Lope de Vega\u27s Fuente Ovejuna, a history play that dramatizes a village\u27s fifteenth-century rebellion against a tyrannical overlord. The definitive performance of Fuente Ovejuna during the early years of Franco\u27s dictatorship, a production directed by Cayetano Luca de Tena at the Teatro Español in 1944, represented the culmination of the right\u27s struggle to regenerate the theater. By adopting a fascist aesthetic and reinforcing the regime\u27s political legitimacy through history, Luca de Tena\u27s production captured its contemporary moment and signaled a possible solution to the theatrical crisis, one that blended historiography, aesthetics, and politics

The Enemy Outside the Gates: Isabel the Catholic Queen and the Extramural mujer varonil in Tirso de Molina’s Antona García

On December 13, 1474, Isabel of Trastámara assumed the throne as Queen of Castile. Chroniclers described her solemn procession through the streets of Segovia on horseback, wearing a gown richly ornamented with gold and precious stones. To complement the queen’s commanding display of wealth, a member of her retinue carried a powerful symbol that would come to epitomize her rule: an unsheathed sword. [excerpt

La Peste y el Distanciamiento en El ganso de oro de Lope de Vega

Despite presenting a widespread threat during the Golden Age, the plague was rarely dramatized in comedias. Lope de Vega’s El ganso de oro serves as a notable exception to this general trend. With its blending of genres, from the pastoral to the palatial with a strong dose of magic, the play provides insight into life during such a time of pestilence. The current COVID-19 health crisis suggests a new reading of the work, which has previously suffered from a lack of critical attention. This article reviews the key role of the plague in El ganso de oro to highlight its main theme: distancing, understood through its physical, social, and emotional manifestations

Memorias

Original text written by Leonor López de Córdoba (c.1362-1430) Spanish modernized by María-Milagros Rivera Garretas Guided-reading edition prepared by Christopher C. Oechler Una edición de lectura guiada de la autobiografía de Leonor López de Córdoba dictada en Córdoba entre 1401 y 1404. A guided-reading edition of Leonor López de Córdoba’s autobiography dictated in Córdoba c.1401-1404.https://cupola.gettysburg.edu/oer/1005/thumbnail.jp

Faculty and Student Perspectives on Open Education at Gettysburg College

Commercially available textbooks and course materials are often expensive for students and sometimes don’t cover topics in exactly the way you might prefer to teach. Freely available and completely adaptable open educational resources (OER) have risen in popularity in recent years, both nationwide and locally, as a way to address both issues. Join us to hear from Alice Brawley Newlin (Management), Tasha Gownaris (Environmental Studies), Chris Oechler (Spanish), and Ryan Nedrow ’22 to hear about their experiences with OER in the classroom. Panelists will talk honestly about the benefits, drawbacks, challenges, and successes associated with open course materials in order to give you a better sense of whether OER might be a good fit in your own context

Crafting National Memory from News: Lope de Vega’s La nueva victoria de don Gonzalo de Córdoba

On the eighth of October, 1622, Lope de Vega finished La nueva victoria de don Gonzalo de Córdoba. This comedia recounts a Spanish victory in the Battle of Fleurus, one of several military triumphs that encouraged hope and excitement during the early years of Philip IV’s reign. The battle had occurred in late August of 1622, and Lope’s play, written and staged scant weeks later, functioned as a type of journalistic dramatization of Fleurus for corral audiences. I argue that, in addition to its news-bearing utility, the play historicizes its content, moving it from a journalistic happening to an integral part of Spain’s larger historical narrative, broadening and enhancing the ways in which audiences conceived of Fleurus. To do so, La nueva victoria engages with historical consciousness in the form of ballads, chronicles, genealogies, and collective memory. Such strategies enable the play to portray the victory as an essential part of Spain’s story, as a recent event that logically evolved out of the past and promises to condition the future

The enemy outside the gates: Isable the Catholic queen and the extramural mujer varonil in Tirso de Molina's Antona García

1 online resource (PDF, page 146-166)Chapter

“Hoy escribiré una carta”: The News of Siege Warfare in Calderón’s El sitio de Bredá

Ambrogio Spinola’s victory at the Siege of Breda (1624–1625) marked a high point in the imperial policies of Philip IV and his royal favorite, the Count-Duke of Olivares. Contemporary newsletters celebrated the achievement, and Pedro Calderón de la Barca followed these reports in commemorating the victory in his play El sitio de Bredá (1625). I find that in addition to the obvious praise of the triumphant Habsburg forces and monarchy, El sitio de Bredá cultivates a new vision of imperial siege warfare, one that is nurtured by a preoccupation with the burgeoning news industry. Cueing off contemporary reports, Calderón proposes a recently proven model in juxtaposition with those found in earlier siege plays, specifically El asalto de Mastrique por el Príncipe de Parma by Lope de Vega and Tragedia de Numancia by Miguel de Cervantes. When read alongside these works, Calderón’s play suggests an evolution in the depiction of Spanish warfare, redefining its technical and tactical aspects in light of the growing news industry and its rapid dissemination of knowledge

Manual de Gramática y Composición

An OER remixed textbook for fifth-semester Spanish instruction, focusing on grammar and composition.https://cupola.gettysburg.edu/oer/1010/thumbnail.jp

La peste y el distanciamiento en El ganso de oro de Lope de Vega

Despite presenting a widespread threat during the Golden Age, the plague was rarely dramatized in comedias. Lope de Vega’s El ganso de oro serves as a notable exception to this general trend. With its blending of genres, from the pastoral to the palatial with a strong dose of magic, the play provides insight into life during such a time of pestilence. The current COVID-19 health crisis suggests a new reading of the work, which has previously suffered from a lack of critical attention. This article reviews the key role of the plague in El ganso de oro to highlight its main theme: distancing, understood through its physical, social, and emotional manifestationsA pesar de la amenaza generalizada de peste durante el Siglo de Oro, el contagio rara vez se escenificaba en las comedias. El ganso de oro de Lope de Vega sirve como una notable excepción a esa tendencia. En su mezcla de géneros, del pastoril a la comedia palatina con una fuerte dosis de magia, la comedia nos proporciona una aproximación a la vida durante semejante tiempo de pestilencia. La crisis sanitaria actual de la COVID-19 sugiere una nueva lectura de la obra, poco estudiada anteriormente. Este artículo repasa el papel clave de la peste en El ganso de oro para destacar su tema principal: el distanciamiento, entendido a base de manifestaciones físicas, sociales y emocionale