At present writing it seems to be a fact that no Spanish comedy writtenwithin the last thirty years, perhaps fifty, and making any pretense toliterary worth, is available for use as a text in the United States.With the intention of filling part of the gap, as well as of introducingto students two contemporary Spanish dramatists, very well known intheir own country, and very well worth while, I have selected these twoshort plays of the brothers Álvarez Quintero. While they are not themost important works of these authors, they are probably the bestadapted to school use. The many Andalusian forms in most of the Quinterocomedies debar them wholly, and in others continental plainness ofspeech is an obstacle.
Doña Clarines
and
Mañana de sol
arenot too difficult, are written in bright and idiomatic Castilian, areentirely fit for class use, and are reprinted without the alteration oromission of a word in the original. They may well be read in the firstyear of a college course in Spanish, or in the second year of the highschool. The editing has not been done with an eye to the needs of absolutebeginners.
As no critical writing worth mentioning has yet been directed toward thebrothers Quintero, notwithstanding their great popularity in Spain andItaly, the introduction is perforce in the nature of pioneer work.
I wish to express my very sincere gratitude to the authors of thesecomedies, who first gave their courteous authorization to reprint, andthen extended their generosity so far as to furnish information whichwould have been wholly inaccessible otherwise. Without their graciouslymanifested kindness, this book could obviously never have appeared.
Various colleagues have helped in the interpretation of difficult idioms; to all of them I convey my hearty thanks, and in particular to Professor Schevill and Professor Bransby of the University of California.
S.G.M.
UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA,
February, 1915.