The Dramatic Art of Lope de Vega: Together with La Dama Boba

From the INTRODUCTION. The opinion is widespread that it is impossible for any human being to reach a fair and comprehensive estimate of the dramatic art of Lope de Vega on account of the unlimited number of comedias which he has produced. In other words, one of his chief claims to enduring fame, his superhuman productivity, turns out to be the main obstacle to any satisfactory study of his plays. He frightens students away. Nevertheless, this alleged reason for neglecting Lope and his art is, I am now convinced, merely one of several minor ones, which hardly weigh in the balance against a single overwhelming cause: the incredibly unattractive state of his printed works. And this fact touches human nature in its most vulnerable spot. After many years of fruitless effort to interest my students in Lope in any permanent or productive sense, I hesitate to send them any longer to our libraries to consult the available editions of his plays. Is this not an inexplicable fault in the record of Spanish studies the world over? Can we point to the works of any truly great playwright of other nations, and affirm that the same is true? Are not scores of editions of Shakespeare, Goethe, Moliere or men of less fame, to be had in various acceptable forms? In the case of Lope, on the other hand-surely one of the world's most fascinating geniuses-the record shows chiefly biographical or bibliographical studies and, as regards the plays themselves, either intermittent series of collections, or an occasional reprint of a single comedia. The volumes of the former are for the greater part misguided efforts which have been highly successful in keeping his works peacefully shelved. Take, for example, the question of Lope's autograph manuscripts, which under all circumstances must form the beginning of any conceivable investigation of his dramatic art. Is it not natural to suppose that they would all be accessible in critical editions, or some form of adequate reprint? Yet in the face of this crying need our efforts have been spent, for the most part, on plays already printed in a form which does not give us the fundamental conception of his manner of creation. This implies no criticism of the results already offered; it is rather an expression of regret that the limited energies and enthusiasms of Spanish scholars should be thus scattered, and not directed to a single end. We shall never have even a working edition of any great Spanish writer, if these disconnected methods of study persist. The task is enormous, to be sure, and life very brief; our judgments are erring, and critics ever ready to tell us so. Yet it is inconceivable that so wealthy a literature as the Spanish should not stir us up to ever increasing efforts in order that its history and its master minds may be illuminated; but we are hindered by the imperfect state of our tools, and a lack of courage and concerted energy to make them better without delay....