Lope de Vega - Three Major Plays (Oxford Worlds Classics)

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OXFORD WORLD'S CLASSICS

LOPE DE VEGA ( 1562-1635) was one of the three great dramatists of the most vital political and cultural period in Spanish history, the Golden Age, when Spain ruled much of the western world. Born in Madrid, where he spent most of his life, Lope's passionate and impulsive nature led to his involvement in numerous sexual relationships, even after he took holy orders at the age of 51, and often landed him in serious trouble with the law.

Lope's sexual appetites were equalled only by his energy as a writer. During a literary career of some fifty-five years, he wrote both poetry and prose and, it was claimed, more than 2,000 plays. At a time when the theatre was beginning to flourish in Spain, Lope largely shaped the three-act play, with its exciting action, vivid characterization, and mixture of serious and comic elements, which would be adopted by his contemporaries and successors.

Drawing for his material on history, the Bible, and contemporary life, Lope's theatre had a vitality which thrilled contemporary audiences and made him the most popular dramatist of his day. Fuente Ovejuna, The Knight from Olmedo, and Punishment Without Revenge are three of Lope's greatest plays and exemplify not only the characteristic themes of his drama -- love, honour, revenge -- but also his consummate artistry.

GWYNNE EDWARDSis Professor of Spanish at the University of Wales, Aberystwyth. He has written critical studies of Lorca and Buuel, as well as of Spanish theatre and cinema in general. He has also translated more than forty Spanish plays, of which more than twenty have been published and performed professionally.

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OXFORD WORLD'S CLASSICS

LOPE DE VEGA ( 1562-1635) was one of the three great dramatists of the most vital political and cultural period in Spanish history, the Golden Age, when Spain ruled much of the western world. Born in Madrid, where he spent most of his life, Lope's passionate and impulsive nature led to his involvement in numerous sexual relationships, even after he took holy orders at the age of 51, and often landed him in serious trouble with the law.

Lope's sexual appetites were equalled only by his energy as a writer. During a literary career of some fifty-five years, he wrote both poetry and prose and, it was claimed, more than 2,000 plays. At a time when the theatre was beginning to flourish in Spain, Lope largely shaped the three-act play, with its exciting action, vivid characterization, and mixture of serious and comic elements, which would be adopted by his contemporaries and successors.

Drawing for his material on history, the Bible, and contemporary life, Lope's theatre had a vitality which thrilled contemporary audiences and made him the most popular dramatist of his day. Fuente Ovejuna, The Knight from Olmedo, and Punishment Without Revenge are three of Lope's greatest plays and exemplify not only the characteristic themes of his drama -- love, honour, revenge -- but also his consummate artistry.

GWYNNE EDWARDSis Professor of Spanish at the University of Wales, Aberystwyth. He has written critical studies of Lorca and Buuel, as well as of Spanish theatre and cinema in general. He has also translated more than forty Spanish plays, of which more than twenty have been published and performed professionally.

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OXFORD WORLD'S CLASSICS

For almost 100 years Oxford World's Classics have brought readers closer to the world's great literature. Now with over 700 titles -- from the 4,000-year-old myths of Mesopotamia to the twentieth century's greatest novels -- the series makes available lesser-known as well as celebrated writing.

The pocket-sized hardbacks of the early years contained introductions by Virginia Woolf, T. S. Eliot, Graham Greene, and other literary figures which enriched the experience of reading. Today the series is recognized for its fine scholarship and reliability in texts that span world literature, drama and poetry, religion, philosophy and politics. Each edition includes perceptive commentary and essential background information to meet the changing needs of readers.

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