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Title: Eight Dramas of Calderon by Pedro Calderon De LA Barca, Edward Fitzgerald, Margaret R. Greer, Pedro Calderon De LA Barca, Pedro Calderon De La Barca ISBN: 0-252-06903-X Publisher: Univ of Illinois Pr (Pro Ref) Pub. Date: April, 2000 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $16.95

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Average Customer Rating: 4 (1 review)

Rating: 4
Summary: Bravo Calderon!
Comment: Bravo Calderon! for his masterly plays, although it is difficult to find the poetry in this translation by Edward Fitzgerald. The eight plays included in this book are: The Painter of His Own Dishonour; Keep Your Own Secret; Gil Perez, the Gallician; Three Judgements at a Blow; The Mayor of Zalamea; Beware of Smooth Water; The Mighty Magician; and Such Stuff as Dreams Are Made Of. The translations are antique from Edward Fitzgerald (1809-1883) and are reprinted here. However, they provide the only translations available for some of the minor plays that display the wonderful psychological complexity in Calderon's work. The concept of the Spanish Code of Honor causes many difficulties and conflicts that ring true to varying degrees in our own societies today. One must ask how can Fitzgerald present 8 plays in 429 pages when for example Honig presents 6 plays in 444 pages? The size of the print is slightly smaller but a careful comparison reveals that Fitzgerald grossly leaves out parts of the plays "that seemed to mar the breadth of general effect." The page count reveals significant omissions as far at the poetry of the plays is concerned. One is stunned to read the opinion of the translator in his "Advertisement" which is near the beginning of this compilation. In his defense of "so free translations" he pleads that he did not "meddle with any of the more famous plays", and that "whether real or dramatic Spanish passion, is still bombast to English ears and confounds otherwise distinct outlines of characters." Fitzgerald goes on to state that parts of the plays were "not Calderon's better self, but concession to private haste or public taste." The worst is "I have, while faithfully trying to retain what was fine and efficient, sunk, reduced, altered, and replaced much that seemed not; simplified some perplexities, and curtailed or omitted scenes..." Hopefully, we will be able to recruit a more modern translator who will capture the passion and poetry to produce a more enjoyable version in English. In the meanwhile, we can try to see through the twist given by Fitzgerald.