La niñez del Padre Roxas

Edited from the Autograph Manuscript with Interoduction, Study and Notes by Diego L. BastianuttiLa ninez del Padre Roxas" presents the critical edition of a play typical of the 17th century Spanish genre, -comedia de santos.- Professor Bastianutti has intended to give the student and specialist in the field both an authoritative edition and an insight into Lope's creative process. In a play such as this, for which Lope could not rely on an official biography of the protagonist, he had to balance the need for objectivity with the requirement that the play be dramatically interesting. In Lope's hands the -comedia de santos- became a supreme example of -synaesthetic art form- providing an optical, sensory devotion, a means of sublimating the subject loved by the people. The author examines the extensive use that Lope made of the sermons and paintings occasioned by the death and funeral of Padre Roxas, and concludes that Lope resolved the dilemma of objectivity in a subject devoid of reliable biographical data by incorporating in the play the information gleaned from the numerous sermons preached and paintings displayed during the funeral of Roxas.