HISPANIA 79 (SEPTEMBER 1996) p.442

Garrison, David. Góngora and the "Pyramus and Thisbe" Myth from Ovid to Shakespeare. Newark, Delaware: Juan de la Cuesta, 1994, ISBN:093638865X. 228 pp.

Góngora and the "Pyramus and Thisbe" Myth from Ovid to Shakespeare accomplishes exactly what it sets out to do. David Garrison takes his reader on an enlightening tour of the varied accounts of Pyramus and Thisbe's doomed rendezvous and the literary metamorphosis it experiences during the Renaissance on its way to becoming a superb manifestation of Góngora's culteranismo. The study contains four major divisions. The first—following a biographical sketch of Góngora within the socio-political frame of Golden Age literary circles, and a brief introduction to the tale and treatments of Pyramus and Thisbe—is dedicated to the striking similarities between Góngora and Ovid as rebel poets bent on thumbing their rather large noses at literary and moral conventions. Here Garrison lays the groundwork for his discussion of Góngora's Fábula as more than a simple parody or imitation of Ovid. Citing Góngora's direct and indirect allusions to the Roman poet and his works as well as linguistic borrowing to create multi-leveled plays on words, Garrison emphasizes the self-consciousness of both poets' rhetorical style and the thematic diversion of attention from love and death to poetic creation in the Fábula. Of course the Ovidian text was not the only model known to Góngora. The parodic recasting of vital textual links to an anonymous lai included in the Ovide moralisé, as well as the subversion of the romantic love theme and moral concerns of the medieval poet, increasingly focus the reader's attention on Góngora's linguistic game. According to Garrison, the Fábula becomes an allegory for reading and interpretation of language as a system of ambiguous and imperfect signs. The second and largest part of the book, "Spanish Versions of 'Pyramus and Thisbe,"' presents detailed readings of six Renaissance treatments of the myth, including Góngora's earlier and unfinished "De Tisbe y Píramo quiero [cantar]." Each poet's version is acknowledged for its contribution to the classical tale-translation, expansion, lyricism and drama, characterization, narrative and thematic perspective—all attempts to clarify ambiguities left by Ovid in the classical text. Perhaps most intriguing is the development of the theme by Góngora himself. As example of the importance of self-consciousness and poetic creation, Garrison postulates that the Fábula, more than the mere parody of traditional versions represented in the earlier poem, deconstructs the original tale as he constructs a new and improved poetic product. Also discussed are the various points of contact and departure with the Fábula as Góngora reimbues the tale with its original "obscurity." Inherent to the beauty of this gongorización is the defamiliarization of the Ovidian tradition.

The third section, dedicated to Shakespeare's A MidsummerNight's Dream, continues to elaborate the theme of narrative self-consciousness. Making no suggestion that Góngora was influenced by the bard's rendition, Garrison provides a close reading of the drama, highlighting the self-conscious techniques that both poets employed "to destroy and rewrite the tale" (144) while "foreground [ing] the act of literary creation" (171). The thread of narrative theory woven throughout the book binds the two chapters on Shakespeare with the rest and the structural and thematic parallels drawn between the poets will interest a broad audience.

Finally, in "Texts and Translations" Garrison presents the Pyramus and Thisbe excerpt of Ovid's Metamorphoses, and Góngora's La fábula de Píramo y Tisbe as well as "De Tisbe y Píramo quiero..." with original translations. Golden Age spelling and punctuation have been modernized and copious notes elucidate the many levels of Góngorá s works for the non-specialist.

David Garrison has written a wonderfully readable book which conveys the beauty, wit, and complexity of Góngora's treatments of the "Pyramus and Thisbe" myth, acknowledges fundamental elements of deconstruction within the narrative perspective, and yet is free of jargon and linguistic ambiguities in its explanations. It will be a welcome addition to the libraries of enthusiasts of Renaissance poetry as well as classicists with interest in the many transformations of Ovid. Non-specialists and students of literature will find the book accessible and sufficiently documented to encourage further reading.

Deborah A. Dougherty

University of Southwestern Louisiana