Acceso usuarios
Javier Lorenzo Domínguez
BACK IN 1939, THE PUERTORRICAN lopista Jaime Homero Arjona noted with surprise in Hispanic Review that, "a pesar de la exagerada importancia que el gracioso asume en la comedia del siglo XVII, escasean los estudios sobre dicha figura" ("La introducción del gracioso en el teatro de Lope de Vega." Hispanic Review, vol. 7, no. 1, 1939, p. 1). Arjona's words still resonate strongly, for, as Magdaléna Kolmanová reminds us in this timely and carefully researched monograph, the figure of the gracioso continues to suffer from significant neglect in comedia studies. This is particularly true, as Kolmanová points out, when the gracioso assumes the role of adviser and plays mentor to a person of higher social status, a situation that informs approximately one third of the dialogues in which he is involved. The sheer frequency with which this situation occurs in Lope's comedias and the influence that the gracioso is able to exert through it in many of them call for a wide-ranging analysis of the centrality of the donaire in the new ars dramatica developed by the wildly popular and influential playwright. Kolmanová focuses this analysis on two fundamental questions: the impact of the gracioso on the plot and dramatic structure of the plays in which he appears and his overall ideological significance in Lope's theater. The author addresses these questions in the central chapter of her book, "Seis partes del gracioso consejero," which is preceded by an introduction in which she discusses her methodology, reviews previous scholarship, and examines the literary and non-literary sources on which the gracioso was based. The book closes with a brief chapter of "Conclusiones" that summarizes and reinforces the main structural and ideological points presented in the central chapter.
