Don Juan Ruíz de Alarcón y Mendoza
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Don Juan Ruíz de Alarcón y Mendoza (1581?-1639) was one of the greatest Spanish dramatists of the Golden Age. Born at Tlach, Mexico, he left America in 1600 in order to study law at Salamanca. He returned to Mexico in 1608, but, failing to obtain a chair at the university, returned to Spain in 1611. His first play, El semejante de sí mismo was unsuccessful, yet it attracted attention to him. By some, he was ridiculed and criticized; from others he obtained support. In 1626 he became a member of the Council of the Indies.
Alarcón was the least prolific of all the great dramatists of Spain. He wrote less than did the others, and many of his works circulated under the names of others. He took the pains to mull over his plays and polish both their versification and their general composition. Fitzmaurice-Kelly said of Alarcón: "There are Spanish dramatists greater than Ruíz de Alarcón: there is none whose work shows such constant perfection."
Alarcón's importance was not limited to Spanish literature. The first great French comedy in modern French literature, Le menteur, by Corneille was confessedly modeled after La verdad sospechosa.
[edit] Literature
- Ticknor, History of Spanish Literature (Boston, sixth edition, 1888)
- Fitzmaurice-Kelly, Littérature espagnole (Paris, 1904)
- Fernandez-Guerra y Orbe, Don Juan Ruíz de Alarcón (Madrid, 1871)
