| Summary: | This paper is an edition and analysis of the Mojiganga del mundinovo, an unpublished piece attributed to Calderón de la Barca in a manuscript from the end of the 17th century. A study of the actors who performed in it, among whom appeared the famous Juan Rana, allows us to date the piece to 1658-1659. The mojiganga develops the popular carnivalesque theme of the “upside-down world”. By means of the ‘funny mirrors’ of the mundinovo, a type of large chest within which can be seen various figures by peering through small holes, Calderón presents a parade of men who do needlework, women who beat their husbands, a doctor who carries his mule on horseback, a bullfight in which the bullfighter faces an ass instead of a bull, and other satirical situations. This study also looks at an anonymous adaptation of this mojiganga composed at the beginning of the 18th century. It concludes with an exploration of the tradition of the mundinovo as a vehicle for the presentation of satirical and fantastic themes in other comic interludes and mojigangas from the 17th and 18th centuries, a tradition which Calderón appears to have initiated with this new text we are bringing to light.
|
|---|
