My dissertation examines concepts of creative agency in early modern thought and baroque poetics, with an emphasis on the theater of Pedro Calderón de la Barca (1600-1681). Calderón and his contemporaries inherited from theology the idea that creative authority and power are concentrated in divinity, while humanity cannot, in a strict sense, create at all. While ancient philosophical and scriptural sources often describe a demiurgic God in anthropomorphic terms, the Christian doctrine of ex nihilo creation separates categorically an omnipotent deity from human "makers," who may refashion pre-given materials but not engender anything radically new. In the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, however, this hierarchy was challenged by literary, political, and psychological insights that endow humanity with an exalted creative potential and an enhanced efficient power over the world. As paradigmatic of this intellectual-historical movement towards the envisioning of a demiurgic humanity, I analyze the "human dignity" tradition and the literary-psychological discourse surrounding the faculty of the ingenio. The intersection of theological ideas with these currents of thought produces a fruitful tension in baroque literature, particularly in the work of Calderón. I argue that Calderón was deeply troubled by the Faustian undercurrent of his century, and that this concern plays out not only in his explorations of the question of poetic "darkness," but also in his treatment of biblical and mythological creator figures like Solomon, Nimrod, Prometheus, and the craftsmen of holy and idolatrous images. Throughout the thesis, I place Calderón's ideas on creative power and efficient knowledge or ciencias in relation to other early modern figures like Huarte de San Juan, Francis Bacon, and Giambattista Vico. This thesis is a contribution to the study of baroque poetics, of early modern Spanish theater, and of the place of aesthetics in the intellectual landscape of the seventeenth century. / Romance Languages and Literatures

Although Calderon formulates an eloquent refutation of racialist discourse against Muslims, my thesis concentrates on the issue that his play-writing reinforces the Cristocentric ideology on the need for conversion. In order to determine some of his influences and inspirations, I have reviewed the literature dealing with the Muslim subject in Spain from approximately the eleventh to the seventeenth centuries. Drawing on postcolonial hermeneutics and social psychology, I explored the way in which the image of the Muslim is constructed, wavering between an aggressive representation meant to promote rejection, and a narcisistic reflection fostering the appropriation through conversion. Both postures presuppose a distinction upon religious levels which has remained constant throughout the literature studied in this thesis. / By analysing some plays by Lope de Vega and Cervantes it became obvious that the fast reflects, with some exceptions, the dominant prejudices of his audience by presenting stereotyped characters of Muslim descent. Cervantes, on the other hand, provides a polyphony of voices which makes his plays peculiarly ambiguous for the inattentive reader. These, although exceptional in their humane view of the world, consistently maintained Muslims and Christians distinct and separate, albeit within relatively expansive categories. / Calderon uses a lopesque model of the bobo and conserves Cervantes' Weltanschauung. Nevertheless, his main aim can be directly traced to the counter-expulsion polemics of sixteenth- and seventeenth-century intellectuals, who attempted to find a solid foundation on which to base Christian indoctrination. Utilizing a typologic and providential version of history, Calderon attempts to convince his Christian public that they should improve themselves spiritually in order to convert Muslims, who in turn should pursue proselitist activities in their respective countries. The Muslims predisposed to conversion are therefore presented as clearly differentiated from the ones who aren't, associating the first with courtly ideals and the others with diabolic manifestations. A necessary element for successful conversion of people of distinct cultures is the elimination of the myth of "purity of blood," which Calderon defeats categorically. All in all, his insistence upon the absolute necessity of a sincere application of Christian doctrine anticipates the disaster which those who conceived the conversion program could not avoid.

The goal of this dissertation is to study the use, function and possibilities of the classical concept of imagination in the "comedias" of Pedro Calderon de la Barca (1600--1681). To begin, I explore the possibilities and limitations of imagination at three different levels: literary and aesthetic theory, psychological and gnoseological theory, and lastly that of cosmology. / Thus, after tracing the presence of the concept of imagination in all of Calderon's "comedias," I study its use in the dramatic discourse of Pinciano and Bances Candamo. Likewise, I discuss the ambiguities of this concept that Calderon himself openly explored in several of his plays. Later, I focus on an analysis and interpretation of imagination in La vida es sueno (Life is a Dream), particularly as it concerns the relationships between mankind and the universe, as well as the imaginative and dramatic possibilities of dreaming. / My next step deals with the relationship between theories of drama and imagination. This concentrates on: the way in which the author plays and manipulates the audience's affections, the creation of marvellous dramatic effects, and the relationship between imagination and performance. After, I analyze the interaction between physical senses and imagination, as well as the public's perception influenced by sophisticated staging techniques. Lastly, I discuss three crucial concepts, those of taste, public opinion and disillusionment ("desengano"), that are for Calderon obvious limitations to the possibilities of imagination.

Tesis

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Made available in DSpace on 2015-05-14T12:39:55Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 arquivototal.pdf: 1272870 bytes, checksum: 7d9c8e4708de2add06c7bae5eae67c7b (MD5) Previous issue date: 2014-02-26 / Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior - CAPES / This work analyses the representation of the tragic in Pedro Calderon de La Barca s Life is a dream, written in Spain in the 17th century. Searching for the elements which constitute the basis for the dramatic art in the author s historical context, we started by a systematic analysis of the theory of drama, using Aristotle s Poetics and Horace s The Art of Poetry. In doing so, we have reviewed the discussions about basic terms, recollected by theatre and drama studies. These discussions are focused, among other categories, on the elements which compose the tragic action, as well as on the concepts of mimesis and katharsis. The choice of this subject and interest in developing the research came from the study of various Western theories, such as the ones from Aristotle, Horace, Hegel and Szondi, to name a few. Those concepts also served as our initial parameter to the historical contextualization of the dramatic genre, since Calderon de la Barca s play is defined as a baroque tragedy which maintains, in its form, elements from Greek tragedy. This way, we also discuss dramatic modernity, using, mainly, Hegel s considerations, which deal with the dialectical aspect of the dramatic conflict and problematizes the differences between Greek and modern tragic conflicts. Moreover, we proceeded to the analysis of the main characteristics of the so-called Spanish Golden Age, which comprehended 16th, 17th and 18th centuries, proposing reflections about baroque literature and culture. To achieve this purpose, we have gathered contributions from various writers, such as Maravall, Regalado, Morón and Benjamim. By accomplishing this analysis, we intended not only to emphasize the historical and literary background of the play, but also to highlight its philosophical aspect. / Esta dissertação tem por objeto de estudo a representação do trágico em La vida es sueño de Pedro Calderón de la Barca, obra escrita na Espanha no século XVII. Tendo como base os elementos que fundamentam a arte dramática no contexto histórico o qual situa o autor, fizemos, em uma primeira instância, uma análise sistemática da teoria do drama, partindo do estudo da Poética de Aristóteles e da Arte Poética de Horácio. Dessa maneira, retomamos as discussões sobre termos básicos que são recordados pela tradição de estudos em torno da dramaturgia e do teatro focalizando, dentre outras categorias, a mimesis, os elementos que compõem a ação trágica e a katharsis. A escolha do tema e o interesse pelo desenvolvimento do texto afloraram do estudo de diversas teorias ocidentais, tais como as de Aristóteles, Horácio, Hegel e Szondi, entre outros. A partir dos conceitos aristotélicos temos a base para a compreensão e composição das tragédias, por isso, foi esse o nosso parâmetro inicial para a contextualização histórica do gênero dramático, visto que a obra em questão é uma tragédia barroca que mantem na sua forma elementos da tragédia grega. Neste sentido, discutimos também sobre a modernidade dramática, utilizando, principalmente, considerações de Hegel, autor que reflete sobre a dialética do conflito dramático e que problematiza as diferenças de abordagem entre os conflitos trágicos grego e moderno. Ademais, também procedemos a uma análise das principais linhas de força constitutivas do chamado Século de Ouro Espanhol, que alonga pelos séculos XVI, XVII e XVIII, propondo reflexões acerca da cultura e da literatura barrocas. Para isto, utilizamos as teorizações de diversos escritores, tais como Maravall, Regalado, Morón e Benjamin. Ao tecer essa análise, não somente enfatizamos o teor histórico-literário da peça, mas ressaltamos também o seu caráter filosófico.

El presente trabajo busca explicar la transmisión textual de la comedia de santos Las cadenas del Demonio de Pedro Calderón de la Barca. Para ello, se siguieron los lineamientos del método neolachmaniano a partir del Manual de crítica textual de Alberto Blecua y Editar a Calderón de Ignacio Arellano. Se utilizó los testimonios más representativos de la comedia mencionada: la Octava parte de comedias de Calderón editada por Juan de Vera Tassis, una edición contrafacta de dicha parte o también denominada pseudo Vera Tassis, dos sueltas datadas en el s. XVII y una tercera del s. XVIII. A partir de los resultados del cotejo de dichos testimonios se reconstruyó la transmisión textual de Las cadenas del Demonio. Se determinó que el testimonio G, correspondiente a una suelta temprana, es el más cercano al arquetipo y que, en la transmisión de los testimonios estudiados, existen dos subarquetipos perdidos.

This thesis is dedicated to establishing ways in which the image of Calderon was perceived and constructed by the thinkers of the Enlightenment, of both conservative and reformist convictions, as part of their efforts to create and impose their own understanding of what Spanish national identity is or should be like. / The thesis concentrates on the writings of several of the most important intellectuals of the XVIII century who took part in the heated debate as to the value of Calderon's work: Blas Nasarre y Ferriz, Tomas Erauso y Zabaleta, Nicolas Fernandez de Moratin, Cristobal Romea y Tapia, Jose Clavijo y Fajardo and Francisco Mariano Nipho. / The first two chapters of the thesis deal with the way by which the image of Calderon has been used in order to support certain ideological convictions, in particular, a certain way of understanding Spanish national identity. Chapter three examines the polemics itself, from its beginning in 1749 until the mid-sixties of the XVIII century. A brief section of conclusions closes the thesis, followed by a selected bibliography.

The purpose of this thesis is to investigate the process of manipulation of the image of the Golden Age playwright Pedro Calderon de la Barca (1600--1681) during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. Intellectuals of all political stripes sought to impose their own agendas by advancing both conservative and reformist convictions as they used the figure of Calderon to their own advantage in the creation of a 'Spanish national identity' for the time. / The research conducted here focuses on the writings of various thinkers of the rival ideologies over the two centuries mentioned above. What this demonstrates most cogently is how, first, the appropriation of Calderon's image always played an essential role in the political debate about 'national identity,' and, secondly, how the dramatist's image was increasingly identified with the values and parameters of conservative ideology. / The first chapter deals with the origins of the debate about the idea of a 'national identity' during the eighteenth century, and analyses in detail the ideological duality and division which characterized this debate as well as its strongly political background. The next two chapters examine respectively the writings of Bohl de Faber and Menendez Pelayo, both of whom took on key roles in the debate. The interpretation provided in these two chapters leads to the conclusion that, by the nineteenth century, Calderon's image was strongly identified with conservative ideology. The thesis ends with some final conclusions, followed by a select bibliography.