Hispania 82 (March, 1999)
Calderón de la Barca, Pedro. El mayor monstruo del mundo, por Pedro Calderón de la Barca. Estudio y edición crítica de Angel J. Valbuena-Briones. Newark, DE: Juan de la Cuesta, 1995. ISBN: 0-936388-74-9, 176 pp.
Valbuena-Briones, in this precise and interesting edition of Calderón's play, offers a good biographical sketch of Calderón. He was born on January 17,1600, and later studied with Jesuits. He attended the University of Alcalá but his studies were interrupted. His father died and a series of problems appeared dealing with his will and his second wife. Calderón continued his studies in Salamanca, where he lived a rather bohemian life. An episode left Calderón and his brothers in financial ruin. In 1622 he made a series of important contacts and participated in a literary competition. In 1623, his first drama Amor, honor y poder was presented, as well as another play. He collaborated with the Duke of Olivares. In 1629 a brawl took place in front of the convent where Lope de Vega's daughter lived. Lope complained, whereby Hortensio Paravicino referred to the incident in a sermon. Calderón subjected Paravicino to some comic verse. Calderón continued his theater writing and Lope himself spoke well of him in his El laurel de Apolo. As the Buen Retiro was rebuilt, Calderón did a play for it in 1634. He published his best and most important plays in 1636 and 1637. He participated in the war of Catalonia where he was wounded; he also took part in the campaign of Lérida. Olivares resigned and the Queen doña Isabel and his two brothers died. In Madrid, Calderón wrote a Relación concerning the arrival of the new queen, Maria Anna of Austria. Calderon took Holy Orders in 1651. His work was now limited to court feasts and autos sacramentales that celebrated the Corpus. In 1653 he became canon of the Chapel of the New Kings in Toledo. He continued to write. A play had been planned but an attempt to destroy the theater with explosives postponed the presentation. In 1666, he became honorary chaplain in Madrid, where he died and was buried in 1681.
Valbuena's introduction rests strongly on a psychological study of the characters, from a Jungian standpoint. The crux of the play is the question of free will versus determinism, especially astrological predictions of human conduct. The action moves through the personal quirks of the characters as they are viewed within the honor system. Valbuena rejects any "autobiographical" interpretation based on Calderón's life. What he sees is the influence of the author's time and place on symbolism and how his play will influence romantic and realistic traditions.
The play is based upon the narratives of Flavius Josephus. The subject matter appears in a play by Ludovico Dolce, but Valbuena does not see any influential links between the two. What is important in Valbuena's interpretation is the psychological disposition of the characters and the way Calderón has utilized them. He structures the play around Herod, Marienne, his wife, and Caesar Octavian, and shows how their marriage deteriorates. His treatment of Caesar Octavian is anachronistic and preromantic. Herod is painted as someone with great ambitions to achieve status within the Roman world, but he aligns himself with the wrong side in the civil war. Marienne, his wife, consults the astrologers; she is told that she will be the unjust trophy of a monster, and his knife will kill the thing he most loves. This prediction drives her into a depression, and the play develops within the extroversion of Herod and the introversion of Marienne. Herod is obsessed with power, and he will be the victim of his own hubris. Marienne is the victim of the prediction and becomes pathologically obsessed with it. Herod tries to dominate the events to which she reacts emotionally. There is also a conflict between material wishes and divine, spiritual ones. Judea is seen as a kind of Eden, and Marienne is like
Valbuena adds meaningful notes on the style and the versification of the play as well as examines the various editions of the work. His numerous footnotes clarify many allusions for the reader.
An edition of a Calderonian drama is always welcome, and Valbuena-Briones's is a significant addition to the Calderón repertoire.
Joseph V Ricapito
Louisiana State University