Moratín, Nicolás Fernández de

Moratín, Nicolás Fernández de 

Born July 20, 1737, in Madrid; died there May 11, 1780. Spanish poet and dramatist.

In his The Dethronement of the Spanish Theater (17’62), Moratín sharply criticized the plays of Lope de Vega and P. Calderön. Moratín was the author of the comedy The Lady of Fashion (1762) and the tragedies Lucrecia (1763), based on a classical theme, and Hormesinda (1770) and Guzmán el Bueno (1777), based on figures from Spanish legends reworked in the tradition of classicism. The epic poem The Destruction of the Ships of Cortés (1780, published 1785) and the narrative poem Bullfight in Madrid, which portrayed the national hero El Cid, stem from national poetic traditions.

WORKS

Obras de D. Nicolás y D. Leandro Fernandez de Moratín. Madrid, 1851. (Biblioteca de autores Espanoles, vol. 2.)
Poesías inéditas. Madrid, 1892.

REFERENCES

Sáinz de Robles, F. C. El teatro Espanol: Historia y antologia, vol. 5. Madrid, 1943.
Vivanco, L. F. Moratín y la ilustraciön mágica. [Madrid, 1972.]

A. L. SHTEIN