Nahuatl Theater
Volume 3: Spanish Golden Age Drama in Mexican Translation
John F Schwaller author Louise M Burkhart editor Barry D Sell editor Elizabeth R Wright editor
Format:Paperback
Publisher:University of Oklahoma Press
Published:28th Mar '23
Currently unavailable, and unfortunately no date known when it will be back
Don BartolomÉ de Alva was a mestizo who rose within New Spain’s ecclesiastical hierarchy when people of indigenous heritage were routinely excluded from the priesthood. In 1640 and 1641 he translated several theatrical pieces from Spanish into Nahuatl, yet this prodigious accomplishment remained virtually unknown for centuries.
Nahuatl Theater, Volume 3 presents for the first time in English the complete dramatic works of Alva, the only known plays from Spain’s Golden Age adapted into the lively world of Nahuatl-language theater. Alva’s translations—“The Great Theater of the World,” “The Animal Prophet and the Fortunate Patricide,” “The Mother of the Best,” and a farcical intermezzo—represent ambitious attempts to add complex, Baroque dramatic pieces by such literary giants as Lope de Vega and Pedro CalderÓn de la Barca to the repertory of Nahuatl theater, otherwise dominated by sober one-act religious plays grounded in medieval tradition. The Spanish sources and Alva’s Nahuatl, set on facing pages with their English translations, show how Alva “Mexicanized” the plays by incorporating Nahuatl linguistic conventions and referencing local symbolism and social life. In their introductory essays, the editors offer contextual and interpretive information that provides an entrÉe into this rich material.
As the only known adaptations of these theatrical works into a Native American language, these plays stand as fine literature in their own right.
ISBN: 9780806192161
Dimensions: 254mm x 178mm x 30mm
Weight: 947g
444 pages