miércoles, 11 de junio de 2014

El burlador de Sevilla [The Trickster of Seville] Group Read

El burlador de Sevilla [The Trickster of Seville], a c. 1630 play usually attributed to Tirso de Molina, is June's 2014 Caravana de recuerdos Ibero-American Readalong selection coming to you direct from the lands of LA FURIA ROJA.  I'd apologize for announcing this group read selection so late, but the work's barely 100 pages long and shouldn't be too hard to get a hold of for those interested in reading along with "us" during the last few days of the month (note: since this is currently an, ahem, "one-man group read," I'd be happy to read the play with you during the first few days of the Spanish Lit Month festivities in July if that sounds more appealing to you--first of you to commit gets to decide the late June or early July thing).  So why El burlador de Sevilla?  Seduction.  Swordplay.  Revenge from beyond the grave.  Its status as one of the first (if not the first) works to introduce Don Juan, the infamous seducer of women and "el personaje más universal del teatro español" ["the most universal character in Spanish theater"] according to the copy on the back of my edition, and one of the undisputed highlights of Spanish literature from the time of Cervantes means relatively little to me.  Just like in real life, I'm all about the seduction and the swordplay and the revenge.  How about you?

With

8 comentarios:

  1. I'm in! I'm actually over halfway through an English translation, and I'm hoping to have time to read the Spanish version I have (it's in a volume with 9 other Siglo de Oro plays and intended for classroom use, so I think it has helpful vocab notes). I'm not particular about June vs. July, so if anyone else is reading and has a preference, fine by me.

    ResponderBorrar
    Respuestas
    1. Amanda, wonderful news--thanks for the company! Look forward to hearing your thoughts either later in the month or early next month. Cheers!

      Borrar
  2. As Julien Gracq wrote:
    Movies, which swallow up books without tasting them and value the ability of a book to transfer without loss from the world of words to the domain of images, [...] has rescued The Three Musketeers from the purgatory to which literary taste had condemned it. Thus Cinema grants a new prestige to works with little imperfections but strongly put together, works that can move between media without ceasing from working. At this point in time, it's conceivable that, in order to survive, works of art will have to be able undergo a double, triple or even quadruple incarnation (novel, play, movie, and comic book). The Deceiver from Seville, the original source of the legendary Don Juan, had it been written in our movie-infested times, would have preserved for Tirso de Molina the eminent paternity that was stolen from him by Mozart and Moliere. More classicist literary times celebrated the abusive pillage of the work of creative writers by more refined, more perfect artists, who stole their prestige from them. This robbery will not be allowed any more in the era of the seventh art.

    ResponderBorrar
    Respuestas
    1. Cleanthess, thanks for sharing that great quote. "Movie-infested times": genius! Was Gracq pulling our legs, though? Movie adaptations weren't "robbery" on a par with theatrical adaptations but rather prestigious pillage instead of abusive pillage? I don't really follow the "logic."

      Borrar
  3. I'm in, too. I am by coincidence reading another of the pillagers, a total surprise to me.

    ResponderBorrar
    Respuestas
    1. Great to hear, Tom--you and Amanda make much better company for this group read than the solo version I feared I might have to undertake at the time of the launching of this post! Look forward to hearing about that other pillager in due time, by the way.

      Borrar
  4. Richard, I probably won't be posting until the start of July, as some work-related deadlines popped up unexpectedly, so I won't have time to write anything up before then. But I'm through the English translation! (Next: challenge myself to the Spanish.)

    ResponderBorrar
    Respuestas
    1. No worries, Amanda! I haven't even started yet, so I may post around the same time as you, who can tell? Cheers!

      Borrar