This dissertation has been 65—3862 microfilmed exactly as received HALSEY, Martha Taliaferro, 1932— THE TRAGEDIES OF ANTONIO BUERO VALLEJO. The Ohio State University, Ph.D., 1964 Language and Literature, modem University Microfilms, Inc., Ann Arbor, Michigan ^ ................................... 4 Copyright by Martha Taliaferro Halsey 1965 THE TRAGEDIES'OF ANTONIO BUERO VALLEJO DISSERTATION Presented in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Doctor of Philosophy in the Graduate School of The Ohio State University By Martha.,Taliaferro Halsey, A. B ., M. A. jjc jje * jjc $ s)c sfc sfc The Ohio State University 1964 Approved by C444 A dviser Department of Romance Languages PREFACE i Spain is a country which has had one of the richest theater tradi­ tions in the world. The Spanish stage, however, has been slow to recover from the .effects of the Civil War of 1936-1939. The major renovating attempt in the development of Spanish theater in recent years has been that represented by Buero Vallejo. If the Spanish theater is to reach its former heights, Buero is generally considered the dramatist who shows the most promise of making it possible. He and Alejandro Casona are the most respected playwrights of present- day Spain, and the only ones with anything approaching an international reputation. This study is intended to be an introduction to Buero Vallejo's theater. It seeks to state the author's theories on the theater in gen­ eral and on tragedy in particular, and to analyze his plays in the light of these theories. It is not meant to be a study of his stagecraft or of his style. I am very grateful to Buero Vallejo for an extremely useful list of his most recent essays. Grateful acknowledgment is due Professor ii Elias Rivers for his guidance in the preparation of this dissertation, and for his many helpful suggestions, and to Professors James Babcock and Marta Frosch for their careful reading of the text and their criticism. iii VITA May 5, 1932 Born - Richmond, Virginia 1954 ............ A. B., Goucher College, Towson, Maryland 1954-1956. Graduate Assistant, Department of Romance Languages, The State University of Iowa, Iowa City, Iowa 1956 ............ M. A., The State University of Iowa, Iowa City, Iowa 1956-1959. Instructor of Spanish and French, Iowa State University, Ames, Iowa 1959-1964.. ' Assistant Instructor, The Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio FIELDS OF STUDY Major Field: Spanish Literature Studies in the History of the Spanish Language. Professor Kenneth Scholberg Studies in Medieval Spanish Literature. Professors Ruth Davis and Kenneth Scholberg Studies in 16th Century Spanish Literature. Professors Kenneth Scholberg and Elias Rivers * Studies in 17th Century Spanish Literature. Professors Juan B. Avalle-Arce, Edmundo de Chasca, and Lester G. Qrocker Studies in 19th and 20th Century Spanish Literature. Professors Jer 6nimo Mallo, Alfredo Roggiano, and James Babcock iv Studies in Spanish American Literature* Professor E. K. Mapes / Studies in Stylistics. Professor Edmundo de Chasca Studies in Bibliography. Professor Ramon Rozzell v , CONTENTS Page PREFACE . ....................................... ii VTTA........................................... iv L INTRODUCTION’ .................................................... 1 H. TRAGEDY AS A SEARCH FOR TRUTH ............. 14 HL BUERO’S IDEAS ON TRAGEDY................................. 25 * IV, ANALYSIS OF BUERO'S TR A G ED IES................... 57 Group I .................................. 57 Subgroup A .............................. 59 Las palabras en la arena La teiedora.de suenos Casi un cuento de bad as La sefial que se espera M adruaada H oy es fiesta Las cartas boca abaio Subgroup B ........................................ 131 El terror inm 6vil Historia de una escalera El concierto de San Ovidio Aventura en lo qris Un so&ador para un pueblo Las Meninas vi Page ' Group n r. ’ ....................... 196 En la, ardiente oscuridad Irene o el tesoro V. CONCLUSION .................................................. 226 BIBLIOGRAPHY....................... 238 v ii 1 INTRODUCTION Buero Vallejo and '20th Century Spanish Theater The theatrical season 1949-1950 marked the resurgence of serious drama in post civil war Spain. Antonio Buero Vallejo’s * ■Historla.de una escalera. with a tragic portrayal of human existence largely missing until then from the 20th century Spanish stage, brought Spain back into the main current of modern European theater. The early part of the 20th century had been dominated by the "comedia de salon” of Benavente and Martfnez-Sierra and by the humorous comedy of the Quinteros. This theater, to a large extent superficial, banal, and anodyne, ^ was one of "diversion, " the deliberate avoidance of the more serious aspects of reality. The tragedy of human existence had been a major theme, of course, in the works of Unamuno and Garcia Lorca. The tragedies of the former, however, were rarely staged, and none was really success­ ful. The death of Garcia Lorca in the first days of the Civil War removed him from the scene early in his dramatic career. i 1-Angel Valbuena Prat, His tor ia del teatro esoanol (Barcelona: Editorial Noguer, S. A., 1956), p. 657. After the war a new type of escape theater, which is usually termed "teatro de evasion," held full sway, producing mediocre works until in 1949-1950 Lopez Rubio and Ruiz Iriarte succeeded in raising its quality with such comedies as Celos del aire and El lando de seis caballos. "Teatro de evasion" as applied to these authors signifies a theater which "renuncia a interpretar la realidad y se evade de ella hacia aventuras de caracter estrictamente imaginativo. "2 The major significance, however, of the theatrical season 1949-1950, considered by Valbuena Prat the turning point in 20th « century theater, 3 lies in the new trend represented by Buero, who according to Haro Tecglen, "rompe el panorama del teatro de evasion."" As this critic sees it, the Spanish theater had been in grave danger of affiliating itself permanently with this later ten­ dency: "Lo peligroso es que el ‘teatro espanol se halla afiliado 2Juan Emilio Aragones, "El teatro espanol* y su encrucijada, " B olivar. Nos. 41-45 (Bogotsj,, 1955), pp. 501-516. "Teatro de evasion" refers' to a specific movement in 20th century theater. Gonzalo Torrente Ballester in "Teatro de evasion, " Teatro esnaflol contemoor^neo (Madrid: Ediciones Guadarrama, S. L ., 1957), pp. 194-208, traces its history back to Evreinov. Domingo Perez Minik in Debates sobre el teatro contempor^neo (Canarias: Goya Ediciones, 1953) studies its history in Spain from Azorin to the present. 3Angel Valbuena Prat, p. 659. definitivamente . al teatro de evasion. Desde muchos anos el teatro espanol se aplica a la vida imaginaria. In 1951, early in his dramatic career, Buero gave his diag­ nosis of and prescription for overcoming what Sainz de Robles^ often called the "crisis" in the contemporary Spanish theater. Vivimos una grave hora del mundo, pero nuestro teatro no vibra con ella, sino que la elude . nos contentamos con el teatro de diversion o de evasion. Necesitamos un teatro de realidad y no de evasion; necesitamos por ello, y de una manera especial, la rehabilitacion del sentido tragico en nuestro teatro, muerto desde Lorca, Unamuno y algunas obras de Benavente. ® Tragedy has indeed never been as prevalent in Spanish theater as comedy, certainly not in the Siglo de Oro. The Romantic Period with such works as Don Alvaro o la fuerza del sino constitutes an exception. Nevertheless, "un sentido tragico, " as seen in the Celestina. Don Q.uiiote, and the plays of Calderon and as reflected in the theater and other genres of Unamuno and Garcia Lorca, is basic to Spanish literature. It is for this reason, ^Eduardo Haro Tecglen, "Los escenarios de Madrid, " Almanaque de teatro y bine (Madrid. 1951), p. 21. ^Federico Carlos Sainz de Robles makes frequent use of the word "crisis" in Teatro espaifol 1949-1950 (Madrid: Aguilar, 1955), pp. 10-11. ^Antonio Buero Vallejo, "El teatro como problema, " Almanaque de teatro y cine, p. 58. undoubtedly, that Buero protests strongly when accused of not being "Spanish”: "En el fondo mi teatro es mucho mas acorde que el de muchos con tradicionales corrientes profundas de nuestra literatura y de nuestra patria. This rehabilitation of tragedy in 20th century Spanish theater has been accomplished largely by Buero, who is generally recog­ nized as the most important contemporary dramatist in Spain and the only one capable of elevating Spanish drama to a level compar­ able to that of other European countries, to that of -a Miller, an Anouilh, a Camus, or a Betti. Also active in this movement to restore tragedy to its proper place in Spanish theater is the young dramatist and critic, Alfonso Sastre. His recent book, Drama v sociedad (Madrid, 1956), is a defense of tragedy. The Life and Career of Buero When Buero won, in 1949, the coveted "Premio Lope de Vega," last awarded to Alejandro Casona in 1933 for La sirena varada. he was virtually unknown in the literary world. ® Buero ^Quoted in Juan R. Castellano, "Un nuevo comediografo espaSol: A. Buero Vallejo, " Hisoania. XXXVH (1964), 23. ®"Nadie o casi nadie en Espana conocfa a este mozo, delgado, tfmido y palido, que, sin embargo anda con pisadas apretadas y firmes y, aunque en voz baja, se expresa con palabras recortadas y tajantes. " Alfredo Marquerfe in "Prologo, " Historia de una escalera. ed. Jose Janes (Barcelona, 1950), p. 9. was born on September 29, 1916, in Guadalajara. Surrounded by- collections of plays and drama journals, he early became interested in the theater, his father :s avocation. In an interview with Juan del Sarto he describes himself as "uno de los ninos mas fantochescos que haya podido haber, M fighting imaginary battles dressed as Artagnan or reciting "Un castellano leal" and a thousand other verses. In these "descomunales y quijotescas aventuras" words were as important as actions: "Representando' me veo de nino; y ese' es el comienzo verdadero de mi vocacion escehica.