«Fácil parece este sujeto»: Lope and the Dramatic Paratexts in Sixteenth-Century Italian Comedies

Abstract

This paper is a first approach to the examination of the link between dramatic precepts in sixteenth-century Italy and the comedia nueva. In the paratexts of the comedies I will analyse, we can observe a certain concordance with the new aesthetics laid out in Lope’s Arte nuevo, despite the insistence on Italian orthodoxy. In particular, the idea of a dramaturgical practice adapted to times and the demands of the audience is celebrated in the prologues examined, which, at least in part, maintain a certain distance from the prevailing neo-Aristotelian canon. These two ingredients, which appear in part of the Italian dramatic repertoire by the middle of the sixteenth century, will also be substantial in Lope’s dramatic theory and practice.