Heath's Modern Language Series: Tres Comedias.

by Jacinto Benavente.

PREFACE

The text of this edition is taken from Benavente's _Teatro_, Libreria de los Sucesores de Hernando, Madrid; _Sin querer_ comes from vol. 4, 2d ed., 1913; _De pequenas causas_... from vol. 18, 1909; _Los intereses creados_ from vol. 16, 4th ed., 1914. A few obvious misprints are corrected; accentuation is made to conform to the regulations in the 1914 edition of the Spanish Academy Dictionary; punctuation is unchanged. The text proper is complete except for two slight omissions from _De pequenas causas_..., both of which are mentioned in the notes.

_Los intereses creados_ is chosen as one of the finest of Benavente's plays, and the one best suited to cla.s.s use; the two shorter pieces are included to give an idea of the author's more normal manner. Although _De pequenas causas_... was produced on the stage after _Los intereses creados_, it precedes it in this edition in order that the long play may stand at the end of the volume.

It is believed that these plays can be read to greatest advantage after students have had one year of Spanish. The Notes and Vocabulary have been prepared with that in mind, as much material as possible being placed in the Vocabulary rather than in the Notes. However, in the present dearth of good elementary texts, the book might be used toward the end of the first year; it is hoped that the vocabulary is adequate for such a purpose. The introduction aims to give as complete an account as s.p.a.ce permits, of Benavente's dramatic career. Therefore, non-dramatic works, such as _De sobremesa_, are treated in much more summary fashion than they deserve.

The editor wishes to express his thanks to the author, Sr. D. Jacinto Benavente, for kind permission to edit these plays; to his father for careful reading and correction of introduction, notes and vocabulary; to Professor John D. Fitz-Gerald, and Dr. Homero Seris, of the University of Illinois, and to Mr. Jose G. Garcia, of New York City, founder of the newspaper _Las Novedades_, for valuable suggestions on difficult points.

Dean Roscoe Pound, of the Law School of Harvard University, kindly furnished suggestions as to the probable interpretation of Emiliano and Triberiano.

INTRODUCTION

=Benavente's Life.=--Jacinto Benavente y Martinez or Jacinto Benavente, as he is commonly known, was born in Madrid on August 12th, 1866. He attended school in his native city, studied law at the University there, and finally abandoned his thought of a legal career in order to devote himself to dramatic literature. Much intercourse with varied types of people has supplied him with the knowledge of human nature evident in his dramatic productions. Although he has traveled to a considerable extent, Madrid has been the center of nearly all his literary activity, and it is impossible to identify him with any other place. The princ.i.p.al events of his life have been a.s.sociated with the theater, and are best reviewed in connection with the study of his dramatic career.

Mariano Benavente, the father of the author, was a physician and specialist in children's diseases, who came originally from Murcia. His influence upon his son is perhaps noticeable in the respect shown by the latter for the medical profession and in his fondness for children.[i.1]

=Devotion to the Stage.=--In an interview published in the Madrid periodical _La Esfera_ (in 1916) Benavente tells us that his affection for the theater was awakened at a very early age. He says that as a boy he took delight in fashioning little theatrical pieces in which he could act, and that his enthusiasm was aroused by the presentation rather than by the composition of such pieces. Even recently[i.2] he declared that he would rather have been a great actor than a writer of plays. In fact, he has been known to appear on the stage with the actress Maria Tubau and in some of his own productions, one of which was _Sin querer_.

Benavente is a peculiarly natural product of the stage. No one could give himself more whole-heartedly to his profession than he has done. He is interested in all theatrical matters: in the writing and presentation of plays, in actors, in the Madrid public which he praises and censures in turn, in the history and criticism of the drama, in aesthetic principles, in the relation between good art and financial success; in short, no detail escapes his notice. He likes to work with his audiences, to please and to amuse them, yet he does not lose sight of the serious mission of the drama. No outside interests have ever taken him for any considerable time from his true vocation. He is an excellent and well-rounded, but at the same time a delightfully spontaneous product of Spanish dramatic art.

=Minor Works.=--We are informed in the interview already mentioned that Benavente was forced to write several plays before he composed one that was accepted. In characteristically ironical style he a.s.serts that it was not hard for him to gain a hearing, because his father was the physician of the theatrical manager to whom he made application. His earliest models, according to his own statement, were Shakespeare and Echegaray. Veneration for the great English dramatist is apparent in Benavente's entire career. The influence is perhaps most directly seen in the _Teatro fantastico_, the first in date of his published writings (1892). Short sketches and prose dialogues are contained in two other early volumes, _Figulinas_ and _Vilanos_. A fourth book containing youthful writings and ent.i.tled _Cartas de mujeres_ is a series of letters meant to ill.u.s.trate the thoughts and the epistolary style of women. These letters have been much praised in Spain for their literary workmanship and for their insight into the feminine heart, a faculty which has always been considered one of the clearest manifestations of Benavente's genius.[i.3]

Other productions distinct from the central body of Benavente's dramatic works (the _Teatro_) are _De sobremesa_ and the _Teatro del pueblo_. The former, a collection in five volumes of weekly articles composed for _Los lunes_ of _El Imparcial_ (1908-1912), is the princ.i.p.al source for its author's views on dramatic criticism and on worldly affairs in general. The _Teatro del pueblo_ is a series of papers on subjects connected with the stage. Both these productions will be discussed after a review of the plays.

=List of Plays.=--The following t.i.tles are encountered, in the order here followed, in the twenty-two volumes of the _Teatro_. The date of the _estreno_ (first performance) and a brief description are given with each t.i.tle.[i.4]

1894 October 6th. _El nido ajeno_ (comedy, three acts).

1896 October 21st. _Gente conocida_ (scenes of modern life, four acts).

1897 February 13th. _El marido de la Tellez_ (comedy sketch, one act).

February 27th. _De alivio_ (monologue).

October 31st. _Don Juan_ (translated from Moliere).

November 30th. _La farandula_ (comedy, two acts).

1898 November 7th. _La comida de las fieras_ (comedy, three acts).

December 28th, _Teatro feminista_ (farce comedy with music, one act).

1899 March 11th. _Cuento de amor_ (from Shakespeare's "Twelfth Night").

May 4th. _Operacion quirurgica_ (comedy, one act).

December 7th. _Despedida cruel_ (comedy, one act).

1900 March 31st. _La gata de Angora_ (comedy, four acts).

April 6th. _Viaje de instruccion_ (zarzuela).

July 15th. _Por la herida_ (drama, one act).

1901 January 18th. _Modas_ (sketch, one act).

January 19th. _Lo cursi_ (comedy, three acts).

March 3rd. _Sin querer_ (comedy sketch, one act).

July 19th. _Sacrificios_ (drama, three acts).

October 8th. _La gobernadora_ (comedy, three acts).

November 12th. _El primo Roman_ (comedy, three acts).

1902 February 24th. _Amor de amar_ (comedy, two acts).

March 17th. _Libertad!_ (translated from the Catalan of Rusinol).

April 18th. _El tren de los maridos_ (farce comedy, two acts).

December 2nd. _Alma triunfante_ (drama, three acts).

December 19th. _El automovil_ (comedy, two acts).

1903 March 17th. _La noche del sabado_ (stage romance, five divisions).

No date. _Los favoritos_ (adapted from episode in Shakespeare's "Much Ado About Nothing").

March 23rd. _El hombrecito_ (comedy, three acts).

October 29th. _Mademoiselle de Belle-Isle_ (translated from Dumas Pere).

October 26th. _Por que se ama_ (comedy, one act).

November 20th. _Al natural_ (comedy, two acts).

December 9th. _La casa de la dicha_ (drama, one act).

March 16th. _El dragon de fuego_ (drama, three acts).

1904 March 15th. _Richelieu_ (translated from Bulwer-Lytton).

No date. _La princesa Bebe_ (scenes of modern life, four acts).

March 3rd. _No fumadores_ (farce, one act).

1905 April 13th. _Rosas de otono_ (comedy, three acts).

No date. _Buena boda_ (based on Augier).

July 18th. _El susto de la condesa_ (dialogue).

July 22nd. _Cuento inmoral_ (monologue).

December 23rd. _La sobresalienta_ (farce with music).

December 1st. _Los malhech.o.r.es del bien_ (comedy, two acts).

December 24th. _Las cigarras hormigas_ (farce comedy, three acts).

1906 February 22nd. _Mas fuerte que el amor_ (drama, four acts).

No date. _Manon Lescaut_ (adapted from the Abbe Prevost).

1907 February 8th. _Los buhos_ (comedy, three acts).

February 21st. _Abuela y nieta_ (dialogue).

No date. _La princesa sin corazon_ (fairy-tale).

January 10th. _El amor asusta_ (comedy, one act).

March 16th. _La copa encantada_ (adapted from Ariosto, one act zarzuela).

November 7th. _Los ojos de los muertos_ (drama, three acts).

No date. _La historia de Otelo_ (comedy, one act).

No date. _La sonrisa de Gioconda_ (comedy sketch, one act).

No date. _El ultimo minue_ (comedy sketch, one act).

September 21st. _Todos somos unos_ (farce with music).

December 9th. _Los intereses creados_ (comedy of masks).

1908 February 22nd. _Senora ama_ (comedy, three acts).

October 19th. _El marido de su viuda_ (comedy, one act).

November 10th. _La fuerza bruta_ (comedy, one act).

March 14th. _De pequenas causas_... (comedy sketch, one act).

December 23rd. _Hacia la verdad_ (scenes of modern life, three divisions).

1909 January 20th. _Por las nubes_ (comedy, two acts).

April 10th. _De cerca_ (comedy, one act).