Theater of The Golden Age

Catalog description

This course is a graduate seminar with a primary focus on theatrical works written in the Spanish Golden Age, which began in the mid-sixteenth century with the dramatist Lope de Rueda and ended in the late seventeenth century with the death of Calderón de la Barca. It combines the study of shorter works, entremeses, and full-length plays, or comedias, written by the most renowned playwrights of early modern Spain, including Cervantes, Lope de Vega and Tirso de Molina. Through the reading of these authors, students will explore the themes and social factors which shaped the plays of the Golden Age and will become familiar with the theatrical tradition that impacted Spanish society at all levels. Attention will also be given to the role of gender, religion, and socio-economic status in pre-modern Spanish society. We will use these texts in order to understand the historical context and the main currents of thought in early modern Spain.