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Science on Stage in Early Modern Spain

Edited by Enrique García Santo-Tomás

© 2019

Science on Stage in Early Modern Spain features essays by leading scholars in the fields of literary studies and the history of science, exploring the relationship between technical innovations and theatrical events that incorporated scientific content into dramatic productions. Focusing on Spanish dramas between 1500 and 1700, through the birth and development of its playhouses and coliseums and the phenomenal success of its major writers, this collection addresses a unique phenomenon through the most popular, versatile, and generous medium of the time.

The contributors tackle subjects and disciplines as diverse as alchemy, optics, astronomy, acoustics, geometry, mechanics, and mathematics to reveal how theatre could be used to deploy scientific knowledge. While Science on Stage contributes to cultural and performance studies it also engages with issues of censorship, the effect of the Spanish Inquisition on the circulation of ideas, and the influence of the Eastern traditions in Spain.

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Product Details

  • Series: Toronto Iberic
  • World Rights
  • Page Count: 296 pages
  • Illustrations: 5
  • Dimensions: 6.3in x 1.0in x 9.3in
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SKU# SP005342

  • PUBLISHED MAR 2019

    From: $57.75

    Regular Price: $77.00

    ISBN 9781487504052
  • PUBLISHED MAR 2019

    From: $57.75

    Regular Price: $77.00

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Quick Overview

In this collection, leading scholars tackle subjects and disciplines as diverse as alchemy, optics, astronomy, acoustics, geometry, mechanics, and mathematics to reveal how theatre in early modern Spain could be used to deploy scientific knowledge.

Science on Stage in Early Modern Spain

Edited by Enrique García Santo-Tomás

© 2019

Science on Stage in Early Modern Spain features essays by leading scholars in the fields of literary studies and the history of science, exploring the relationship between technical innovations and theatrical events that incorporated scientific content into dramatic productions. Focusing on Spanish dramas between 1500 and 1700, through the birth and development of its playhouses and coliseums and the phenomenal success of its major writers, this collection addresses a unique phenomenon through the most popular, versatile, and generous medium of the time.

The contributors tackle subjects and disciplines as diverse as alchemy, optics, astronomy, acoustics, geometry, mechanics, and mathematics to reveal how theatre could be used to deploy scientific knowledge. While Science on Stage contributes to cultural and performance studies it also engages with issues of censorship, the effect of the Spanish Inquisition on the circulation of ideas, and the influence of the Eastern traditions in Spain.

Continue Reading Read Less

Product Details

  • Series: Toronto Iberic
  • World Rights
  • Page Count: 296 pages
  • Illustrations: 5
  • Dimensions: 6.3in x 1.0in x 9.3in

  • Reviews

    "There is a great deal of illuminating and insightful analysis in this volume, and the approaches espoused by the various authors provide a blueprint, so to speak, for other scholars to approach the Spanish comedia from a necessary vantage point – to consider the interplay of the scientific discourses of the day within the larger study of the comedia. Solidly written, well documented, and meticulously researched, Science on Stage in Early Modern Spain is no doubt an important addition to comedia scholarship."


    Chad M. Gasta, Iowa State University
    Modern Philology

    "Science on Stage gives voice to a young generation of scholars who are attuned to current developments in cultural studies. The contributions shed light on what one might call theatrical science and scientific theatre for scholarly, as well as non-specialist, Spanish and English-speaking audiences. This volume will help remedy the failure to recognize scientific advancements manifested culturally in early modern Spain."


    Dian Fox, Department of Romance Studies, Brandeis University

    "Enrique García Santo-Tomás is an acknowledged specialist in the area—his work is prolific, wide-ranging, meticulously researched, and always compelling—and he has assembled an impressive group of scholars, with distinct backgrounds, to contribute to this volume."


    Edward H. Friedman, Department of Spanish and Portuguese, Vanderbilt University

  • Author Information

    Enrique García Santo-Tomás is the Frank P. Casa Collegiate Professor of Spanish at the University of Michigan.

  • Table of contents

    List of Illustrations

    Introduction: Great Theatres of the World
    ENRIQUE GARCÍA SANTO-TOMÁS

    Part One: Technologies of Knowledge

    1 From Mesopotamia to Madrid: The Legacy of Ancient and Medieval Science in Early Modern Spain
       RYAN SZPIECH

    2 The Technological Environment of the Early Modern Spanish Stage
       ALEJANDRO GARCÍA-REIDY

    3 Gridded Fascinations: Early Modern Drama’s Geometric Synthesis
       JOHN SLATER

    Part Two: Stages of Science

    4 Curing the Malady of Lovesickness: Medicine and Physicians in Early Spanish Theatre
       JULIO VÉLEZ-SAINZ

    5 Poison(ing) and Spanish Comedia
       LOURDES ALBUIXECH

    6 The Soul under Siege: Strategy and Neostoicism in Calderón de la Barca’s El sitio de Bredá
       STEPHEN RUPP

    Part Three: Performing Numbers

    7 Figures of Arithmetic: Numeracy, Calculation, and Accounting in the Comedia
       ELVIRA VILCHES

    8 Automatons and the Early Modern Drama of Skepticism
       SETH KIMMEL

    9 Daedalean Epistemology: Staging the Labyrinth of Knowledge in Velázquez’s Las Hilanderas and Calderón de la Barca’s Los tres mayores prodigios
       MATTHEW G. ANCELL

    Conclusion: Looking Behind the Curtain: Clues of Early Modern Spanish Science
    MARÍA M. PORTUONDO

    Contributors

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