부산대학교 도서관

Winner of the 2019-20 AHGBI-Spanish Embassy PublicationPrize On 18 June 1933, one of the most important events inSpanish theatrical history took place before an audience of 3,000spectators in the ruins of the Roman Theatre in Mérida. Translatedinto Spanish by philosopher Miguel de Unamuno, staged by therenowned Xirgu-Borràs Company and funded by the government, theperformance of Seneca's Medea was a triumph of republicanculture and widely hailed for its new dramatic and sceniclanguages. This book provides the most detailed reconstruction ofthis pivotal production to date, setting it in context andanalysing its origin and legacy. Early twentieth-centuryintellectuals considered Seneca, 'the philosopher from Córdoba',the epitome of Spanishness and the first in an illustrious line ofplaywrights stretching from Spain's Roman Antiquity to its SilverAge. His play was seen as the ideal vehicle to showcase the SecondSpanish Republic's cultural, social and educational agenda butprovoked a furious backlash from opponents to the government'sprogressive programme. The book shows how the performance became acultural ritual which stood at the centre of critical discussionson national identity, politics, secularism, women's rights and newEuropean aesthetics of theatre-making. Based on extensive archivalresearch and containing rare and previously unpublished photos, itwill be of interest to theatre historians, scholars of ClassicalReception and historians of the Second Spanish Republic.