This thesis is the first book-length study of the three autos sacramentales by Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz. Sor Juana’s religious drama has received little attention, despite her status as one of the greatest figures of Mexican literature. She was also writing during a particularly significant period in Hispanic literary history: at the end of the Spanish Golden Age, and at the rise of a new class of intellectual élites in the New World, the criollos. I contend that Sor Juana’s autos sacramentales are crucial to understanding how she contributed to the formation of a criollo identity. In doing so, she engaged with the mentalities of two continents and two historical periods: Europe and the Americas, and the Baroque and the Enlightenment. To demonstrate this, I provide a study of each of Sor Juana’s sacramental plays, alongside the loa which was written to accompany them. My method combines close-text reading with a historical approach, and I pay particular attention to the theological function of the plays. In each chapter, I focus on the concurrent strands of thought in her works. I consider how the plays demonstrate the Catholic doctrine of transubstantiation, and how they engage with the aesthetic and theological mindset of the Spanish Baroque. I study how they incorporate indigenous Nahuatl theatrical traditions, and ask how they engage with the scientific developments of the Enlightenment. I conclude that in her autos sacramentales Sor Juana expresses a mindset that is both geographically and historically “between two worlds.” The influence of Nahuatl theatre on Sor Juana’s dramaturgy has never before been studied. The influence of Enlightenment thought on her works has been noted by a few scholars, but never considered in relation to her religious works. The demonstration of the interaction of Enlightenment and Catholic ideas challenges our notion of the Enlightenment as a secularising movement, and has potential implications for scholars of the period beyond the sphere of Sor Juana studies.

Few would refute the didactic nature of stained glass windows, paintings, and sculptures used in Spanish cathedrals during the Counter-Reformation. For hundreds of years the artistic renderings of biblical narratives and of Catholic dogmata had aided both the literate and illiterate alike to internalize the teachings of the Church. In contrast, the seemingly complex web of semiotic signs that form part of the aural and visual spectacle of the auto sacramental has understandably led some to question if such productions could have truly held much meaning for commoners with little formal education. However, as a theatrical genre, the auto sacramental does not deviate much from the literal meaning and allegorical symbolism of the more static art forms that adorn cathedral walls and altarpieces. The usage of ships, highwaymen, and courtroom trials represent some of the most prominent symbols utilized by playwrights to create a Counter-Reformatory drama that facilitated the audiences' ability to decode the plays' allegorical meaning. The repeated use of these semiotic signs allowed the culturally literate public in urban centers across Spain to draw upon their intertextual knowledge of such symbols to appreciate and understand these Corpus Christi performances. Modern readers less familiar with these semiotic signs and their meaning experience an additional handicap because of their inability to see the visual spectacle designed, if not as the primary didactic tool of the genre, then at least as an effective complement to the instructive dialogue that takes place between the different characters of the auto. In spite of these additional challenges that the modern reader faces, the auto sacramental offers some insight into sixteenth- and seventeenth-century Spain that cannot be found in the more secular genres of the time. The added effort to investigate and understand the missing links of intertextual knowledge open a window that offers a panorama of a largely unexplored landscape of early-modern, Spanish society.

Gonzalo Torrente Ballester (1910-1999), une des figures de proue de la littérature espagnole du XXème siècle, est surtout connu pour ses narrations. Le théâtre constitue pourtant sa grande passion –la première aussi– car il y consacre les vingt premières années de sa carrière littéraire. L’activité théâtrale de l’auteur galicien au cours des décennies 1930 et 1940, intense et soutenue, nous livre un témoignage de choix sur la situation de la scène espagnole pendant la Seconde République : la coexistence d’un théâtre bourgeois et commercial qui jouit de la faveur du public depuis la fin du XXème siècle et d’un théâtre d’avant-garde, minoritaire, qui ambitionne de rénover la scène théâtrale à grand renfort d’innovations formelles. Les deux premières pièces de Torrente Ballester s’inscrivent dans cette dernière démarche mais un événement historique, la Guerre d’Espagne, entraîne un changement esthétique et thématique majeur. Torrente rejoint un groupe d’intellectuels Phalangistes, le Grupo de Escorial, où se mêlent littérature et politique, un amalgame qui conditionne les pièces –mais aussi les essais et les articles– de notre auteur au tout début des années 1940. Le rêve d’une société idéale éduquée par le théâtre tourne court en 1943 et don Gonzalo se détourne vite du dogmatisme qui caractérise la période 1937-1942. L’auteur galicien retrouve alors une liberté créatrice qui lui permet de composer ses meilleures pièces juste au moment où, faute de mise en scène, il décide d’abandonner l’écriture dramatique pour se consacrer exclusivement à la narration. L’aventure théâtrale de Torrente s’arrête à la fin des années 1940 mais l’expérience –littéraire, politique et humaine– accumulée au cours de cette étape se révèle essentielle pour la brillante carrière de romancier qu’il connaît ensuite. / Gonzalo Torrente Ballester (1910-1999), one of the main figures of the Spanish literature of the 20th century, is best known for his narrative. However, theatre is his greatest passion – and also the very first one – since he devoted the first twenty years of his literary career to theatre. The theatrical activity of the Galician author during the 1930s and the 1940s, hectic and steady, gives us an outstanding account of the Spanish stage during the Second Republic: the coexistence of a commercial and bourgeois theatre appreciated by the public since the end of the 19th century, and a minor avant-garde theatre aspiring to reform the theatrical stage with extensive innovations in the form. The two first plays of Torrente Ballester are in the line of this latest approach but a historical event, the war of Spain, leads to a major thematic and aesthetic change. The playwright meets up with a group of intellectuals of the Spanish Phalanx, the Grupo de Escorial, where literature mingles with politics, a mixture which determines the plays – but also the essays and articles – of our author at the very beginning of the 1940s. The dream of an ideal society educated by theatre ends up in 1943 and Torrente turns away from the dogmatism characteristic of the 1937-1942 period. The Galician author recovers then a creative freedom which allows him to compose his best plays just when, in the absence of staging, he decides to give up dramatic writing to dedicate himself exclusively to narrative. The theatrical adventure of Torrente stops at the end of the 1940s but the literary, political and human experience collected during this stage turns out to be essential to his later brilliant career as a novelist.

Emilio Carballido (1925-2008) es uno de los dramaturgos más destacados de México y de más prestigio del teatro occidental. Ha escrito una gran cantidad de obras teatrales, novelas, cuentos, obras infantiles y pedagógicas—dirigidas para docentes—, guiones teatrales y ha tanto formado como patrocinado una multitud de jóvenes dramaturgos en el país. Dos de sus primeras piezas, La zona intermedia: auto sacramental y La triple porfía, que datan de 1948, no han sido estudiadas con interés o en detalle por los críticos literarios, pese al prestigio con el que fueron recibidas en el momento de su presentación. L. Howard Quackenbush, uno de los pocos estudiosos sobre estos dos autos sacramentales, ha sostenido que son dos obras en una; la primera es el auto largo y la segunda es su loa, una es la continuación de la otra. Lo que se desarrolla en esta tesis es un análisis profundo de estos dos autos y su aplicación al género del auto, así como su aportación innovadora al mismo; se exponen la deshumanización de los personajes, así como la solución carballidesca para que los mismos recobren su humanismo o, al menos, trascienden a un nivel más allá de su desesperación existencialista. Se plantean las falacias socio-religiosas, así como las nuevas visiones—soluciones que aporta el autor y el impacto que transmite a su receptor, a través de la mirada cosmogónica del Nahual. Para fines del estudio de la tesis, emplearé fuentes como crítica literaria de L. Howard Quackenbush, Las razones del caos y Devotas irreverencias, diferentes estudios sobre existencialismo y Filosofía náhuatl, igualmente, me basaré de los estudios psicológicos de Sigmund Freud, Civilization and Its Discontents; por último, para estudios del Nahual, emplearé recopilaciones de relato oral que una profesora de la (UAT) México hizo, al igual que de algunos estudios históricos y literarios, básicamente. Se describen las aportaciones literarias, especialmente su aporte al teatro mexicano (y mundial) contemporáneo y culturales que proporcionan estas obras carballidescas para resaltar el porqué la crítica teatral debería darles más importancia, como muestra de la creatividad perenne de Carballido.

Si l'auto sacramental baroque du XVIIe siècle est aujourd'hui amplement étudié, moins fréquentes sont les études consacrées aux drames eucharistiques espagnols du XVIe siècle, et plus rares encore celles qui ont pris comme objet la théâtralité spécifique de ces modestes pièces de la Renaissance. Travailler sur les pièces eucharistiques du XVIe siècle demandait une réflexion préalable sur l'origine d'un genre dramatique qui s'est développé dans la péninsule ibérique tout au long de la Renaissance, époque à laquelle la question religieuse a fréquemment occupé le devant de la scène (crypto-judaïsme, Concile de Trente, Contreréforme, question des morisques). Toutefois, ce n'est pas seulement l'interrogation obsédante concernant l'origine des drames eucharistiques qui a guidé ces travaux, mais surtout le concept de théâtralité --on entend par là les signes inscrits dans le texte dramatique et possédant un potentiel de spectacularité--, afin de rechercher comment ce théâtre s'est progressivement doté des caractéristiques qui lui sont propres. C'est sur un corpus de trente-deux pièces d'origines et de style divers que nous avons construit une réflexion dont le premier point concerne l'espace dramatique et montre que les lieux infernaux et célestes acquièrent une importance croissante dans ce théâtre. L'analyse des dialogues et de leur enchaînement a permis ensuite de souligner la place prise par les figures d'"attaque" et de "mouvement-vers", suivant la terminologie vinaverienne. Par ailleurs, en nous inspirant de concepts sémiotiques relatifs aux structures "sémio-narratives de surface" comme le modèle actantiel de Greimas, nous avons montré les différentes stratégies discursives propres aux drames eucharistiques, afin de mieux pénétrer les mécanismes qui régissent les dialogues et caractérisent les liens entre les personnages de ce théâtre. L'évolution des éléments comiques a pu être mise en relief par une étude minutieuse des procédés langagiers, gestuels, ou encore des effets tirés de l'utilisation de personnages populaires. Enfin, une approche de l'allégorie (élément considéré comme fondamental dans l'auto sacramental), sous l'angle de la théâtralité, a souligné combien les développements successifs de cette figure dans le drame eucharistique du XVIe siècle l'ont doté d'une structure cohérente permettant des effets toujours plus spectaculaires.

Dissertação (mestrado)—Universidade de Brasília, Instituto de Letras, Departamento de Teoria Literária e Literaturas, Programa de Pós-Graduação em Literatura, 2014. / Submitted by Flávia Renata Santos Gasparotto (flavia.gasparotto@gmail.com) on 2014-08-19T19:15:02Z No. of bitstreams: 1 2014_SimoneRebelloRochaMangueira.pdf: 1037736 bytes, checksum: f3666196c545d81f67e2b0d9d8616fd5 (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Guimaraes Jacqueline(jacqueline.guimaraes@bce.unb.br) on 2014-08-20T13:36:41Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 2014_SimoneRebelloRochaMangueira.pdf: 1037736 bytes, checksum: f3666196c545d81f67e2b0d9d8616fd5 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2014-08-20T13:36:41Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 2014_SimoneRebelloRochaMangueira.pdf: 1037736 bytes, checksum: f3666196c545d81f67e2b0d9d8616fd5 (MD5) / A presente dissertação está direcionada à leitura e análise do auto sacramental El divino Narciso (1691) de sóror Juana Inés de la Cruz, uma das obras da literatura da língua espanhola no gênero das representações de Corpus Christi, dentro do processo de evolução do teatro. Para realizar tal tarefa, foram abordados conceitos estéticos do barroco, de gêneros como a loa e o auto sacramental, além de aspectos críticos, intertextuais, assim como vivenciais, históricos e sociais, que envolvem sua obra geral como poeta, dramaturga e mulher de vanguarda, considerada até mesmo uma precursora do feminismo em termos americanos. A pesquisa enfoca ainda, os temas contidos nesse auto, ligados à mitologia asteca e à clássica; ao mistério do dogma católico, à tentativa de evangelização, às alegorias, metáforas e outros recursos do barroco, presentes nesse texto teatral. Realizou-se a análise desse texto com o apoio teórico filosófico, dramático e poético de Walter Benjamin e de Jacques Derrida, numa reflexão moderna e contemporânea, respectivamente; do poeta Octavio Paz e do dramaturgo Guillermo Schmidhuber, nos contextos biográficos, líricos e teatrais. ______________________________________________________________________________ ABSTRACT / This dissertation presents the reading and analysis of the auto sacramental El Divine Narcissus (1691) of Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz, a play of the spanish literature drawn up for Corpus Christi, a Catholic celebration of great importance in the evolution of the theater. For this task, the aesthetics of the Baroque, from genres such as the loa and auto sacramental were covered, as well as critical and intertextual aspects, just as experiential, historical and social aspects, involving her general work as a poet, playwright and avant-garde woman. She is considered a precursor of american feminism, in a retrospective look with philosophical, poetic and dramatic theoretical support. The research also looks through the optics linked to Aztec and Classic mythologies; to Catholic dogma mystery, to tentativ evangelization, to allegories, to metaphors and others resources of the Baroque. The theory of the philosophers Jacques Derrida and Walter Benjamin, as well as the studies of the poet Octavio Paz and of playwright Guillermo Schmidhuber were used as study support.

Si l'auto sacramental baroque du XVIIe siècle est aujourd'hui amplement étudié, moins fréquentes sont les études consacrées aux drames eucharistiques espagnols du XVIe siècle, et plus rares encore celles qui ont pris comme objet la théâtralité spécifique de ces modestes pièces de la Renaissance. Travailler sur les pièces eucharistiques du XVIe siècle demandait une réflexion préalable sur l'origine d'un genre dramatique qui s'est développé dans la péninsule ibérique tout au long de la Renaissance, époque à laquelle la question religieuse a fréquemment occupé le devant de la scène (crypto-judaïsme, Concile de Trente, Contreréforme, question des morisques). Toutefois, ce n'est pas seulement l'interrogation obsédante concernant l'origine des drames eucharistiques qui a guidé ces travaux, mais surtout le concept de théâtralité —on entend par là les signes inscrits dans le texte dramatique et possédant un potentiel de spectacularité—, afin de rechercher comment ce théâtre s'est progressivement doté des caractéristiques qui lui sont propres. C'est sur un corpus de trente-deux pièces d'origines et de style divers que nous avons construit une réflexion dont le premier point concerne l'espace dramatique et montre que les lieux infernaux et célestes acquièrent une importance croissante dans ce théâtre. L'analyse des dialogues et de leur enchaînement a permis ensuite de souligner la place prise par les figures d'"attaque" et de "mouvement-vers", suivant la terminologie vinaverienne. Par ailleurs, en nous inspirant de concepts sémiotiques relatifs aux structures "sémio-narratives de surface" comme le modèle actantiel de Greimas, nous avons montré les différentes stratégies discursives propres aux drames eucharistiques, afin de mieux pénétrer les mécanismes qui régissent les dialogues et caractérisent les liens entre les personnages de ce théâtre. L'évolution des éléments comiques a pu être mise en relief par une étude minutieuse des procédés langagiers, gestuels, ou encore des effets tirés de l'utilisation de personnages populaires. Enfin, une approche de l'allégorie (élément considéré comme fondamental dans l'auto sacramental), sous l'angle de la théâtralité, a souligné combien les développements successifs de cette figure dans le drame eucharistique du XVIe siècle l'ont doté d'une structure cohérente permettant des effets toujours plus spectaculaires. / Allthough17th century baroque Spanish sacramental plays have been thoroughly studied, the same cannot be said of 16th century Spanish Eucharistic dramas and even less so of the theme of specific theatricality in the modest Renaissance plays. The study of 16th century Eucharistic plays required prior thought on the origins of a dramatic genre which developed in the Iberian peninsula throughout the Renaissance years, a period when religion was frequently the main issue (The crypto-Judaism, Council of Trent, the Counter-Reformation and the Moriscos). However, it is not just the obsessive questioning concerning the origins of Eucharistic dramas which guided these studies but above all the theatricality concept, by that we mean the signs containing a spectacularity potential within the dramatic text. This is essential in order to understand how this kind of theatre gradually acquired its own specific characteristics. We have worked on thirty-two original plays written in different styles. Our first point of interest was the dramatic space which shows that hellish and heavenly places acquire an increasing importance in this kind of theatre. The analysis of dialogues and of how they are linked together then allowed us to emphasize the space taken up by the “attack” and “movement-towards” figures (Michel Vinaver’s terminology). Additionally, by taking inspiration from semiotic concepts relative to “surface semio-narrative” patterns like the Greimas’ actancial model, we have shown different discursive strategies specific to Eucharistic dramas. This allowed us to study more thoroughly the mechanisms determining the dialogues and which characterize the links between the characters of this theatre. The evolution of comical elements has been highlighted by a detailed study of language and gestural techniques as well as a study of the effects produced by using typical theatre characters. Finally, an approach of the allegory in theatricality (element considered as fundamental in Spanish sacramental plays), has emphasized to which extent successive developments of this structure in 16th century Eucharistic drama have given a coherent structure to theatricality making the effects even more spectacular.

By the turn of the seventeenth century, the auto sacramental quickly became the most elaborate dramatic genre in Spain. Shortly after the Council of Trent, professional playwrights replaced clerics who had previously written autos for the Corpus Christi celebrations held each year, but none were more influential than Lope de Vega in refining thematic, literary, and staging elements and techniques. At the middle of the nineteenth century, critics began to study the genre that a royal decree had banned almost a century earlier; however, few have dedicated much time to Lope's autos. As a result, most critics have misunderstood Lope's contributions to the genre. This study addresses some of the issues that scholars have particularly misunderstood or ignored, namely, Lope's treatment of the Eucharistic theme in his autos, the level of dramatic unity displayed in his Corpus Christi plays, and the contribution of spectacle to the overall performance. Using a textual analysis of three of Lope's autos, I conclude that Lope could and did write profound, unified liturgical plays designed to disseminate Catholic dogma in an effective and entertaining manner. Each of the three autos used in this study, Las aventuras del Hombre, El viaje del Alma, and Los dos ingenios y esclavos, presents a protagonist representing mankind, who must learn to disregard evil influences faced in mortality and turn to Christ and the Eucharist for salvation. These elaborate liturgical performances, whose budgets exceeded those of the popular comedias of the day, all took place in city plazas around the country. In order to understand the deserved popularity that Lope's autos clearly enjoyed in their original setting, scholars need to return to the texts themselves and not merely rely on criticism.