Resumen de Marvelous Dualities in Juan Ruiz de Alarcón’s El semejante a sí mismo

José Estrada

• An examination of the layered, dual meanings of the term maravilla in El semejante a sí mismo shows the hand of Juan Ruiz de Alarcón navigating his own criollo identity. The double meanings of maravilla reflect a conflict between the inclination to adopt the dominant views and rhetoric of the Spanish Empire and the counterbalancing impulse to undermine this colonial agenda. This article observes this tension in two examples. The first is the discourse of the “Desagüe de Huehuetoca,” a marvel of engineering designed to regulate water flow in Mexico City, which I interpret as a kind of cabinet of wonders. The second source of strain emerges from the disguise assumed by the protagonist of El semejante a sí mismo, which I examine in metatheatrical terms. Another reflection of the overarching tension between validating and resisting imperialism comes to light in the way Ruiz de Alarcón, describing wonders of the world, contends with the literary legacy of his formidable predecessor, adapting and reframing key motifs from Lope de Vega’s La octava maravilla, which celebrated the building of the Escorial palace, likening it to a biblical wonder, the Temple of Salomon.