โAs Greek tragedy โ says a Spanish writer, โwas composed from the crumbs that fell from Homer's table, so the Spanish drama owed its earliest forms to La Celestina (1499).โFernando de Rojas' tragi-comedy โ which has also been called โa novel in dialogueโ โ runs to about three hundred pages in the James Mabbe translation, here adapted to the stage by Eric Bentley in a five-act, 93-page version.The central an ...Full description
โAs Greek tragedy โ says a Spanish writer, โwas composed from the crumbs that fell from Homer's table, so the Spanish drama owed its earliest forms to La Celestina (1499).โFernando de Rojas' tragi-comedy โ which has also been called โa novel in dialogueโ โ runs to about three hundred pages in the James Mabbe translation, here adapted to the stage by Eric Bentley in a five-act, 93-page version.The central and pervasive situation is a simple one: a dirty old woman is helping a courtly young gentleman to seduce a girl. The wonder of the thing lies in the art with which Fernando do Rojas derives, from such commonplace materials, a towering tragedy โ or rather, tragi-comedy.