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Science on Stage in Early Modern Spain

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Science on Stage in Early Modern Spain

Edited by Enrique Garcia Santo-Tomas

Published by: University of Toronto Press

Series: Toronto Iberic

Imprint: University of Toronto Press

Sales Date: 2019-03-04

Hardcover

CA$85.00
ePub

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PDF

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Published: March 2019

Product Details

Imprint: University of Toronto Press

Series: Series: Toronto Iberic

Page Count: 296 Pages

Illustrations: 5 b&w illustrations

Dimensions: 6.28 x 9.25

296 Pages, 6.28 x 9.25 x 1.00 in, 5 b&w illustrations

Hardcover

CA$85.00

ISBN: 9781487504052

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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.

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

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

"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

"This groundbreaking book should be of keen interest to any student or scholar of the history of the stage, the history of science, and their dynamic interplay in early modern European society."
Michael Armstrong-Roche, Wesleyan University, Renaissance Quarterly

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