another instance of tirso's self-plagiarism

Another Instance of Tirso's Self-PlagiarismAuthor(s): E. H. TemplinSource: Hispanic Review, Vol. 5, No. 2 (Apr., 1937), pp. 176-180Published by: University of Pennsylvania PressStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/469844 .

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176 HISPANIC REVIEW

century a large number of French ships journeyed around Cape Horn and put in at Callao, the chief Peruvian port, bringing French laces, manners and literature to the vice-regal capital.12 The fashions of Paris and Versailles and the writings of French authors became the rage in Lima. With characteristic curiosity Peralta Barnuevo read widely in the books that came to him in increasing numbers and immediately fell under the sway of French thought and ideas. Corneille and MoliBre,'3 both of whom he admired greatly, influenced his dramatic writings, and in the prologue of what he believed was his masterpiece, the long epic poem, Lima fundada, he confesses that it was written in accordance with the precepts of Boileau as set forth in the latter's Art Poitique.

As the Bourbons became more securely seated on the Spanish throne, more and more scientists and travelers from France came to the Peruvian shores. Among these were Father Louis Feuill6, Frezier and La Con- damine who came in contact with Peralta Barnuevo through his many scientific activities. The familiarity of the Creole scholar with French and his encyclopedic knowledge made him exceedingly useful to these visitors and their subsequent works contain acknowledgments of assist- ance received in their investigations. Peralta Barnuevo became a corresponding member of the French Academy of Science and a number of his astronomical observations were published in its journal.14 Thus, by wide reading and study, extensive correspondence and personal acquaintance with French savants the Peruvian humanist acquired a profound knowledge of the language, literature and culture of France. His was an extraordinarily versatile genius which, if placed in a more favorable environment or with greater opportunities for travel, would undoubtedly have left a far deeper impress upon his times.

IRVING A. LEONARD University of California

12 The writer has read many letters and reports preserved among the correspondence of the viceroys in the Archive of the Indies at Seville in which the king's representatives tell of the many French ships stopping along the Peruvian shores and the inroads they were making upon Spanish trade and economic life in Lima and elsewhere.

13 There are visible imitations of Molibre's Le Mddecin malgrd lui and Les Femmes Savantes in the short skits accompanying the comedias. Cf. Men6ndez y Pelayo, Historia de Poesia Hispano-Americana, II, 212.

14 Histoire de L'Academie Royale des Sciences, Ann6e MDCCXIV (Paris, 1717), 401, and Ann6e MDCCXXIX (Paris, 1731), 375-377.

ANOTHER INSTANCE OF TIRSO'S SELF-PLAGIARISM

To the instances of self-plagiarism in plot discussed in a recent number of the Hispanic Review (IV, 55 ff), may be added still another one, to which, so far as I am aware, no reference has been made. The case is of some importance, since the plagiarized comedia-La prudencia en la mujer-is one of Tirso's masterpieces; unfortunately, the like may not be



VARIA 177

said of the plagiarizing comedia-La repiblica al reves, for it is a typical fortune play with a plethora of omens, characters and events, including the apparition of Fortune herself. La prudencia en la mujer was first published in Tirso's Parte 3" (1634), and La repdblica al reves, in his Parte 5" (1636). The third jornada only of La prudencia en la mujer was the source of the plagiarism, which will be made clear by a synopsis of the pertinent portions of the two plays, following the sequence-arrange- ment of La prudencia en la mujer:1

LA PRUDENCIA EN LA MUJER

The Queen turns over the powers of government to her son Fernando now that he has reached the age of seventeen. (III, 1)

She renders him an account of her stewardship, and announces her retirement to a pueblo: "Ya es, hijo y sefior, raz6n

que la viudez, que limita del gobierno la inquietud halle en mi la autoridad que pide la soledad y ejercita la virtud. Cerca tengo de Palencia a Becerril, pueblo mio ... "

(Ib., p. 93) She recommends to him, among

other things, el culto de vuestra ley, a democratic bearing, and the control of his army through love rather than force. (III, 1)

LA REPtBLICA AL REVAS

Empress Irene of the Byzantine Empire, returning victorious from foreign conquest, is obliged, against her will, to yield the crown to her son Constantino.2 (I, 1-2, pp. 83a-85a)

She announces her retirement to an aldea y recreaci6n: "Ahora bien: yo determino

irme a vivir, Constantino, a una aldea y recreaci6n que dos leguas de este espacio estA, donde en su floresta ser6, viviendo despacio, si hasta aquf Belona, Vesta, que ya me enfada el palacio .. ."

(I, 2, p. 85a)

She recommends to him that he be a dispassionate judge, tempering his decisions with mercy, that he keep his sword unsheathed in defense of the Empire, and that he rule con la prudencia sola, observing la ley de Dios.3 (Ib., p. 84ab)

I The editions utilized are: La prudencia en la mujer, ed. McFadden, Liver- pool, 1933, and La repilblica al revis, N.B.A.E., IX, 83 ff.

2 This is Constantine VI (VII, according to some historians), who came to the throne in 780, with Irene as regent. It is impossible for me to investigate Tirso's "historical" sources, but there is little probability that knowledge of them would invalidate the thesis of self-plagiarism. An incidental point worth men- tioning is that, according to modern histories, Irene appointed her First Secretary of State, Tarasius, Patriarch of Constantinople, while in the play the pastor Tarso, a name which may refer to Tirso himself, as Cotarelo thinks (N.B.A.E., IX, 90b, n. 1), is rewarded by Irene in the end with the post of secretario mayor. Of course this is not the first use of the name Tarso, for it appears already in El vergonzoso en palacio.

3 Two other parallels that may be purely fortuitous:



178 HISPANIC REVIEW

LA PRUDENCIA EN LA MUJER In the following scene D. Alvaro

thus addresses Fernando: "Catorce afios y mis ha

que a Semiramis imita (sc. la Reina),

y a vuestra Alteza encerrado, si disfrazalle no ha osado, y el gobierno no l[e] quita, cual la otra hizo con Nino, es porque tiene temor a nuestra lealtad y amor."

(III, 2, p. 96) Fernando defends his mother's

prudencia, but admits "Que ha sufrido mi paciencia

un cautiverio enfadoso; pues segdn me recataba, no para rey me criaba, sino para religioso."

(Ib., p. 97) Fernando, on a hunt in the

montes de Toledo, hears the tale told by D. Juan,4 and orders him to arrest the Queen if he find any irregularities in her accounts, and, also, the supposed traidores (the Caravajales and Juan Bena- vides): "Ni el ser mi madre la Reina,

ni yo de tan pocos af-os, me impedirAn que no imite en la justicia a Trajano; y pues soy naturalmente a la caza aficionado, a caza he de ir de traidores antes que a fieras del campo."

(III, 6, p. 111)

LA REPtBLICA AL REVAS Constantino addresses his

mother: "Semiramis querris ser

y hacerme a mi infame Nino, porque mientras que atropellas birbaros y cuerpos huellas con guerra que el mundo abrasa me quede encerrado en casa hilando con tus doncellas ... "

(Ib., p. 84a)

Constantino, having learned that his mother is in los montes mds cercanos / de Constantinopla (III, 10, p. 109b), orders a hunt for the purpose of killing her; he later states: "No vengo a cazar fieras ni es mi

[intento que tras el oso o tigre el lebrel

Eladre .

. . en vez de jabalf cazad mi madre, que ella es la presa que pretendo

[sola." (III, 12, p. ll0b)

"HAgaos tan dichoso el cielo como a vuestro bisabuelo, y tan santo, mi Fernando."

(III, 1, p. 96)

"Rey. Como yo os imite a vos, no habrA bien que no me cuadre. Servid los dos a mi madre."

(Ib.)

"HAgate Dios gran Monarca, y tanto, que este laurel cifia lo que el Sol abrasa, y triunfes del moro infiel sin que lo estorbe la Parca."

(I, 2, p. 84a) "Constan. Adi6s, que es tarde;

acompafiadla los tres." (Ib., p. 85a)

4 D. Juan says that he has fled from the falseness of court-life to the truth



VARIA 179

LA PRUDENCIA EN LA MUJER

Berrocal manages, with many comic starts and stops, to deliver a speech of welcome to the Queen (III, 9). The Queen, in apprecia- tion of the reception, grants him the mayor's vara for life. He replies: "AquBsta ya estA podrida,

d6mela por otras veinte . . " (Ib., p. 119)

After the departure of the country-folk, D. Juan arrests the Caravajales, by order of Fernando (III, 10). As an alternative to arresting the Queen he urges her to marry him, but she eludes him and practises upon him the ruse of pre- tending to tear up the incriminating document signed by the conspirators. (III, 11)

By presenting to Fernando the conspirators' pledge the Queen not only clears her own name, but also removes the threats to political unity. At Fernando's request she passes judgment on D. Juan, de- creeing exile and confiscation of his property.' (III, 13-16)

LA REPJBLICA AL REVAS

Tarso delivers a speech of welcome to the Empress (I, 11, p. 90ab). Irene, in replying to Tarso, exempts the pastores from taxation for a period of twenty years. Dinampo exclaims:

" Otros veinte, Iveinte dije? veinte mil tenga de vida y salud su merced." (Ib., p. 90b) 5

In the presence of the country- folk Andronio arrests the Empress by order of Constantino (I, 12, p. 91ab). Andronio has been in- structed by Constantino to kill the Empress, but since he burns for her he proposes to satisfy his desire before doing away with her. The Empress, however, escapes through the ruse of changing clothing with Tarso. (II, 16-17, p. 100ab) 6

The troops that had revolted against Constantino with Leoncio go over to Irene, and the King of Cyprus captures Constantino. The Empress, now that the unity of the Empire is restored, distributes re- wards and punishments, and as the juez de la causa de Dios vows that her iniquitous son will be dealt with severely. (III, 17-20, pp. 112b-114b)

of countryside and mountain, where he finds "sus brutos por mis humanos," (p. 104). Similar ideas are expressed by Irene and Tarso, in La repiblica al rev&s (III, 1-2, p. 104a).

' The Empress praises country-life in contrast with court-life, as does the Queen in the preceding scene (III, 8).

6 A curious parallel occurs in the next scene, in both plays. In La repaZblica la reves, the King of Cyprus consents to receive visual proof of the supposed infidelity of his daughter Carola to Constantino, and, in similar language, Fer- nando proposes to verify with his own eyes the supposed disloyalty of the Queen to him.

7 "Sepa Espafia que soy clemente, y que el valor no se venga .. ."

(III, 16, p. 134) In La rept~blica al reves the Empress pardons Andronio, at the request of the

King of Cyprus.



180 HISPANIC REVIEW

Conclusion: evidently, when Tirso sat down to compose La repzblica al revis, certain resemblances between the character and r6le of Queen Maria and the germinal ones of Empress Irene released a chain of asso- ciations in his mind. Psychologically, the phenomenon may be described as the persistence of a series of links, accompanied by the modification or transferal of the elements joined together. The degree of association is obviously greatest between the Queen and the Empress; there are, however, sufficient points of contact between D. Juan (the Infante) and Andronio to justify the assumption that Tirso associated them in some vague, subliminal manner. That it is not necessarily easy to make a clear distinction between the link and the thing linked is illustrated by the scenes in which the King of Cyprus and Fernando express the need of seeing with their own eyes. Here there is also a curious time-sequence link, which brings up the question of the order of the borrowings in rela- tion to that of La prudencia en la mujer. Although they were taken from one jornada of this play and scattered unevenly through three jornadas of La repz'blica al revis, a cursory glance will reveal that they retain ap- proximately the same order, with the exception of the hunting episode. This fact will, I think, help take care of the possible objection 8 that some of the evidence offered above may be of a circumstantial nature, valid only when presented cumulatively, yet all the more interesting in that it vouchsafes us a fleeting glimpse of a psychological process in Tirso's mind.

E. H. TEMPLIN

University of California at Los Angeles

8 And also of the possible objection that La repblica al reves may have been written at an earlier date than La prudencia en la mujer.

A NOTE ON BARTOLOM]R APARICIO

Postscript

MY remarks on Aparicio in the July issue of the Hispanic Review (IV, 276) concluded with the statement that in order to date the activities of our dramatist further information would have to be awaited.

A welcome communication from Professor Irving A. Leonard calls my attention to a bit of evidence which may have its importance. The first of the bills of lading appended by Professor Leonard to his valuable monograph on Romances of Chivalry in the Spanish Indies, with some registros of shipments of books to the Spanish colonies (University of California Press, 1933) concerned a shipment by Francisco Mufioz Centeno to Tierra Firme in 1586, and included the item: " . .. cin- quenta farsas del pecador."

That these farsas were copies of the Christmas-play by Aparicio rather than of one of the unknown and probably later autos by Juan de



another instance of tirso's self-plagiarism

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