The Art of Humour in the Teatro Breve and Comedias of Calderón de la Barca

This book explores the relationship between Calderón's often serious comedias and his overwhelmingly funny teatro breve, consisting of mojigangas, entremeses and jácaras. Calderón was able to satisfy his audience's desire for laughter and novelty while injecting blatant parody and satire into the larger and more varied context of the comedia. After familiarizing the reader with the teatro breve and Calderón's contributions to the genre, this study demonstrates how the playwright incorporated characters, situations and dramatic techniques from these smaller pieces. Thus the burlesque mythology and ridiculous costumes integral to the festive mojigangas are reexamined as contributing thematically to Calderón's comedias, as well as adding humour. Frantic and popular characters and situations from the entremés tradition, thought by many as opposing the comedias' main features, are instead shown to join and often dominate these features through the introduction of absurd figuras, slapstick, burlas, etc. Readers will also learn of the jácara, its mixture of laughter, violence and criminality, and how this mixture can infuse themes of love, honour and vengeance so prevalent in the comedia. By looking at the teatro breve as an integral part of Calderón's major works, and not simply a separate 'minor' genre, this book seeks to broaden the reader's knowledge of the playwright's abilities as both dramatist and humorist alike.Al contrario de lo que generalmente se cree, Pedro Calderón de la Barca tenía un sentido de humor. Esta monografía analiza el papel integral y muchas veces esencial desempeñado por el humor en las obras de Calderón. Su teatro breve, por ejemplo, se deleita en técnicas humorísticas y situaciones cómicas en las que se burla de todos y de todo, desde los pordioseros hasta los condenados a muerte. Incluso satiriza y parodia géneros tales como el auto sacramental y temas como el código de honor. Pero la irreverencia de Calderón y su deseo de hacerle reír al público no se limita a su teatro breve; en efecto las mismas técnicas y situaciones cómicas - y hasta la totalidad de una obra breve - se incluyen también en las comedias. La destreza demostrada por Calderón al convertir los chistes en una obra de arte nos obliga a considerar de nuevo el uso del humor en el teatro del Siglo de Oro.