description: The plays of Ruiz de Alarcon, a significant dramatist in the Spanish Golden Age, show in many of their plots a preoccupation with deception, which Whicker believes reflects Alarcon's fundamental concern about truth-telling in literature. His study of Alarcon's comedias stresses the seriousness and moral orthodoxy of the playwright and his concern with how simulation and dissimulation can be viewed both positively and negatively in theatre as well as in life. In support of his argument for the seriousness of Alarcon's theatre - his challenge to his audience to think hard and clear about his play, particularly over the issue of illusion, deception and dissimulation - Whicker focuses on the moral arguments perceived in Alarcon's theatre, and their reference to serious literary-moral issues current in the Golden Age; he tests the relevance of his argument against contemporary circumstances, the ethics of privanza in particular. JULES WHICKER lectures in the department of Hispanic studies, University of Birmingham.
language: English
title: The Plays of Juan Ruiz de Alarcón
titlecomplete: The Plays of Juan Ruiz de Alarcón
publisher: Tamesis Books