Description

This is a critical edition of this play by Calderon, based primarily on the text of the "primera parte" of 1635, but also taking into account three other 17th-century printed editions and a scribal manuscript in the Biblioteca Nacional of Madrid. The relationship between these texts is discussed in the introduction, which also deals with the source of the legend of Saint Patrick's purgatory. The introduction also considers the literary sources of the play, notably "Vida y Purgatorio de San Patricio", the date of composition, versification, and the ways in which the the play has been staged. This is a definitive critical edition of the holograph manuscript (1639) of Calderón’s comedy. This volume traces the textual history of the play and lists variants from all known editions printed in or immediately after Calderón’s lifetime; it also gives a brief account of editions printed up to the end of the eighteenth century. Two sets of notes are provided: one listing and discussing all the emendations, additions and deletions made by Calderón in the course of the composition of the play; and the other offering clarification of words and allusions in the text which might cause difficulty for the modern reader.