Metatheater and the Comedia: A Further Comment

Author(s): T. A. O'Connor
Source: MLN , Mar., 1977, Vol. 92, No. 2, Hispanic Issue (Mar., 1977), pp. 336-338
Published by: The Johns Hopkins University Press

Stable URL: https://www.jstor.org/stable/2907221

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 336 NOTES

Metatheater and the Comedia: A Further Comment

In the last Hispanic issue of Modern Language Notes, Professor Stephen

Lipmann took exception to an interpretation of metatheater which I had
published elsewhere.' From the outset I would like to state that in
controversies of this sort, oftentimes personal perspectives are argued
rather than fundamental differences of interpretations. The present case
seems to me, at least, to be no different.
First of all my purpose was, simply stated, to adjust Abel's conception of
metatheater to the theocentric nature of Spanish thought in the 17th
century, and, in so doing, I attempted to specify the broad parameters of a
"Spanish" metatheater. While I accepted the phenomena Abel described as
the essence of this post-Renaissance dramatic form, I felt compelled to
adjust the underlying assumptions which Abel believed contributed to that
self-consciousness characteristic of both dramatist and protagonist. Thus,
when Professor Lipmann states that I find metatheater to be
"inappropriate to Classical Spanish drama" (p. 231), one should be aware
of precisely that which I find inappropriate. I accept the dramatic form
described by Abel as an accurate description of many comedias and thus
appropriate as a critical term, but the values which he attributed to that
form I find to be imprecise.
In trying to place Spanish metatheater in what I consider to be its proper
philosophical and theological framework, I inevitably found myself
dealing with values which others would view differently. Abel himself
stressed this point about values in the preface to his book when he
enunciated the main assumption of metatheater: "The studies of dramatic
forms which I have made in this book all imply that dramatic forms are
related to and take their life from values which are important outside of
drama. I am not a formalist. Formalists, I think, are too interested in form
as such to really understand it."2 Thus the question to be discussed, in my
opinion, is the nature of the values presented in the comedia and whether
or not those values are directly related to the Catholic and Thomistic
nature of Spanish philosophy and theology of the 17th century-the
post-Tridentine or Counter-Reformation period which affected all areas
of thought and belief.
Concerning the question of the values which the comedia portrays, I
believe there is more agreement than disagreement between Professor
Lipmann's position and mine. In his article he speaks several times of
moral (p. 239) or ethical (pp. 244 and 245) imperatives. For instance, in his

1 "'Metatheater' and the Criticism of the Comedia," MLN, 91 (1976), 231-46; "Is
the Spanish Comedia a Metatheater?", HR, 43 (1975), 275-89.
2 Lionel Abel, Metatheatre: A New View of Dramatic Form (New York: Hill and
Wang, 1963), p. viii.

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 M L N 337

analysis of La vida es suerio Professor Lipmann states that Segismundo's

esthetic detachment at the end of Act II "allows Segismundo to transcend
his disorientation and to choose an ethical course of action soon
afterwards" (p. 239). "His perception of life's illusoriness is the result of
abstraction, but when he reimmerses himself in the flux of events, it is
implicit that he is adopting a role in consciously choosing a certain form of
action" (p. 239). It is inconsequential whether "role-playing" should be
used in a negative sense (my interpretation) or with both positive and
negative connotations (Professor Lipmann's). The important question is to
what values does Segismundo appeal in his moment of abstraction. While
Professor Lipmann calls this moment one of "aesthetic detachment," he
also recognized, I repeat, that it leads Segismundo to choose an ethical
course of action. What informs his choice? Is Segismundo a depiction of
natural man reasoning his way to the natural law? Or could Segismundo
also be seen as choosing his moral path in conformity with what the
Catholic Church teaches? I believe both to be correct.
In his analysis of El gran teatro del mundo, Professor Lipmann speaks of
Calder6n's offering us an "aesthetic perspective on life, informed by faith,
as the basis for a modus vivendi in a theatricalized world" (p. 241). Does faith
inform only this auto, or does it not also inform his non-theological pieces?
I believe the latter, and I also maintain that this faith informs to some
extent all of the comedia of the 17th century. The esthetic detachment of
the stage is not the only response which metatheater seeks to elicit from its
spectators, for esthetic detachment or imaginative freedom is incomplete
without that ethical or moral judgment which naturally follows. Thus our
imaginative freedom is a road to moral reflection. Since metatheater is
accepted as metaphysical or philosophical drama, we must ask ourselves if
that drama is not also theological in the broadest sense of the word.
When we see the theatrum mundi metaphor on the Spanish stage of the
17th century, its use indeed can be multifaceted and ambivalent. But how
do we interpret that use? Is it informed by a fundamentally Catholic
Weltanschauung? I believe it is, and thus I maintain that metatheater raises
some of the most basic moral and theological problems faced by man.
Moreover, in Spain the answers provided for such problems, if they are
provided at all, had to conform with the Catholic Church's official
teachings.
There are several minor points which I would like to deal with briefly.
From Professor Lipmann's article it would seem that the major aim of my
article was to deny that Golden Age drama could ever be compared to
Shakespeare. I never denied that such a comparison was possible. I felt
that if Curtius' descriptions of the Spanish and English theaters were
correct, then they would interpret the phenomena of metatheater
differently. If Professor Lipmann is able to show that the ethical
imperatives of Shakespeare's theater are similar to those of the Spanish

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 338 NOTES

stage, then he has really confirmed my interpretation of Spanish

metatheater, adapting it to Shakespeare in a purely metaphysical,
ontological and ethical manner, leaving out the theological perspective.
Secondly, I never said that "Platonic thought was essentially alien to
Calder6n" (p. 236). What I did say was that "Neo-Platonism was grafted on
an Aristotelian-Thomistic stem" (p. 278), which is very different.
In conclusion, metatheater indeed forces us to view the actions which
pass before us on the stage sub specie aeternitatis, because, as Professor
Lipmann states, "the situations they represent and the subjects they treat
provoke reflection on supramundane questions" (p. 242). While he feels
uneasy in trying to specify the nature of the "eternal," as Sciacca calls it, in
our deliberations, I believe that "lo 'Eterno'" goes beyond the nature of
reward and punishment and is most definitely the central issue in the
esthetic detachment of 17th century Spanish metatheater. "Lo 'Eterno'"
for the Spaniard involved to what degree he was living in conformity with
God's will expressed in His divine law. While it is possible and profitable to
view Spanish metaplays only through the metaphysical perspective, I
personally believe that including the theological perspective yields a richer
reward.

Texas A& M University T. A. O'CONNOR

On Differentiating Affinities

Norman Holland's recent article ("Unity Identity Text Self', PMLA 90

[1975], pp. 813-822) brings attention to a problem that most forcibly struck
me when trying to evaluate Alan Trueblood's monumental study on Lope's
La Dorotea. * While I felt the work was beautifully done, both intuitive and
rigorous in its presentation of Lope's art, I felt discomfited by its lack of
explicit ideological concern. Since my training has accustomed me to a
literary criticism conscious of itself, that theoretical concern confused my
otherwise spontaneous appreciation of Trueblood's book, and insisted that
the question of methodology must be built into a critical text as one of its
major components. Faced with such an ambivalent reaction, I was forced
to consider the much broader question of critical affinities and to wonder
whether the concern with methodology doesn't obscure the fact that our
responses to a literary work or author are determined by the structure of
our own unconscious orientation to the world. Norman Holland makes the

* Alan S. Trueblood. Experience and Artistic Expression in Lope de Vega: The Making
of "La Dorotea". (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1974).

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