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Ann Arbor, MI 48106 FRANCISCO NIEVA'S "TEATRO FURIOSO": ANALYSIS OF SELECTED PLAYS DISSERTATION Presented in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Doctor of Philosophy in the Graduate School of The Ohio State University By Harold Mark Larson, B.A., M.A. * * * * * The Ohio State University 1993 Dissertation Committee: Approved by Stephen Summerhill Samuel Amell Jonathan Mayhew Department of Spanish and Portuguese Copyright by Harold Mark Larson 1993 to my wife Susan ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to express sincere appreciation to Dr. Stephen Summerhill for his invaluable aid and inexhaustible patience which he demonstrated at every stage of the preparation of this document. My thanks also goes to the other members of the dissertation committee, Dr. Samuel Amell and Dr. Jonathan Mayhew, for their contribution. Without the patience and support of my wife Susan, this document would have never come into existence. iii VITA July 2, 1947 ................. Born, Erie, Pennsylvania 1975 .......................... B.A., Bob Jones University, Greenville, South Carolina 1977 .......................... M.A., Middlebury College, Middlebury, Vermont 1977-1979 Pensacola Christian High School and College 1979-1986 Assistant Professor of Spanish, Cedarville College, Cedarville, Ohio 1987-1990 .................... Teaching Associate, Department of Spanish and Portuguese, The Ohio State University; Denison University 1991-1993 .................... Assistant Professor of Spanish, Hope College, Holland, Michigan FIELDS OF STUDY Major field: Spanish and Portuguese Nineteenth and Twentieth Century Spanish Literature iv TABLE OF CONTENTS DEDICATION...................................................... ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS.................................................. iii VITA .......................... ; .............................. iv INTRODUCTION .................................................... 1 CHAPTER PAGE I. BIOGRAPHICAL AND LITERARY INTRODUCTION 11 Life and Professional Activity...................... 11 Major Literary I n fluences.......................... 23 Spanish T h e a t r e .................................... 35 Nieva's Theatre: Classification and Characterization . 44 Choice of Plays for Analysis ........................ 47 N o t e s .............................................. 50 II. THE EARLY "TEATRO FURIOSO": EL FANDANGO ASOMBROSO AND EL COMBATE DE OPAI/3S Y T A S I A .................... 56 Introduction.................... 56 El_jfandangQ_ as o m b r o a o ......................... 56 El_combate de Qpalos v Tasia ........................ 82 Conclusion .......................................... 102 N o t e s ................................................ 105 III. EXPERIMENTATION IN THEME AND FORM: ES BUENO NO TENER CABEZA AND PEI/3 DE TORMENTA .... 107 Introduction ........................................ 107 Es bueno no tener cab e z a .............................. 108 Pelo de tormenta...................................... 129 Conclusion .......................................... 180 N o t e s ................................................ 181 IV. THE FINAL PLAYS OF THE “TEATRO FURIOSO": LA CARROZA DE PLOMO CANDENTE AND Q ^ H A D O ^ L J E Q R Q - 184 Introduction.......................................... 184 La-gamasa de p Iq m ? 184 Coronada y el t o r o .................................... 204 N o t e s ................................................ 243 v V. SUMMARY AND CONCLUSION.................................... 245 Introduction ........................................ 245 Summary of the Visual and Aural Elements ............ 246 Chronological Development in the "teatro furioso" . 263 Metatheatre, Ceremony, and Celebration .............. 265 Thematic Development ................................ 271 Sexuality .......................................... 276 Nieva's Relationship with European Theatre .......... 283 Nieva and Contemporary Spanish Theatre .............. 287 Conclusion .......................................... 289 N o t e s ................................................ 294 VI. BIBLIOGRAPHY.............................................. 296 vi INTRODUCTION Though one of the most important authors in contemporary Spanish theatre, Francisco Nieva is not universally known or recognized outside of the rather hermetically sealed world of Spanish writers and producers. As we will see, this ignorance is due to Nieva's extremely original and highly personal theatre which includes the use of intensely erotic and scatological themes and images, all in the context of an emphasis on artistic freedom of imagination, based on the surrealistic foundations of Artaud and Breton as well as many other authors and movements of Twentieth Century drama and traditional Spanish drama. The fact that Nieva has been little known as a dramatist is also due to his long self-exile from Spain during the regime of Francisco Franco. When he did return definitively in the late sixties, he dedicated the majority of his time to stage and scene production and design. Later, when he had begun to produce some of his plays, he continued to be considered a brilliant scenographer, director, teacher, and critic more than simply a writer of plays. One of the points about which all critics are agreed is the extraordinary depth and breadth of literary culture and theatrical experience demonstrated in the work of Nieva, not only as a playwright, but also as a scenographer, director, and professor of 1 theatre. Certainly not the least important indications of this are his fairly recent (1986) induction into the Real Academia de la Lengua1 as well as the Principe de Asturias prize for literature (1992). This recognition has for some "signalled the establishment's acceptance of the avant-garde in its full antinaturalistic, antibourgeois potential."2 Other indications of this author's status as an authority on drama are his long career as professor in the Real Escuela Superior de Arte DramAtico in Madrid, dating from the late sixties, and his creation of theatre companies which have been active in presenting his own plays as well as a wide variety of others. In addition, during the period of transition to democracy in the late 70's following the death of Francisco Franco, Nieva was credited with exerting "the most conspicuous influence on the early theatre of transition."3 AndrAs Amor6s credits Nieva with having "una culture desusada entre nuestras gentes de teatro."4 In a review of Nieva's version of Las aventuras de Tirante el Blanco. Eduardo Haro Tecglen, a leading theatre critic writing for a popular daily paper in Madrid, El Eala, has affirmed that "Nieva sigue siendo el mejor escritor de textos teatrales de este tiempo."5 Nieva's work can be situated clearly outside the most popular currents of commercial Spanish theater and its uniqueness forces critics of artistic theatre of ideas to place him in his own category. Francisco Ruiz Ramdn, for example, has referred to the theatre of Nieva as unclassifiable, except to call it "un nuevo teatro en libertad."6 It is the purpose of this dissertation, in general 3 terms, to acquaint the reader with the most significant biographical facts about the author which are important in understanding his work, to analyze a central core of his most significant plays, and to summarize his aesthetic principles and dramatic technique. The only other dissertation to date in the United States to deal in its entirety with the theatre of Francisco Nieva is devoted primarily to the publication and translation of La carroza de Plomo candente. The actual analysis of Nieva's work occupies by far the smaller part of this work.7 In contrast, the bulk of the present work is devoted to an analysis of the "teatro furioso" and a summary of the key dramatic techniques and aesthetic principles they