Rueda, Lope De

Rueda, Lope de: see Lope de Rueda.

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Rueda, Lope De 

Born between 1505 and 1510 in Seville; died circa 1565 in Córdoba. Spanish dramatist and actor.

In 1544, Rueda became the head of a company of actors, for which he wrote plays (published 1567 and 1570). Seven of his long plays and a number of one-act comedies, based on incidents from everyday life and reflecting popular speech (pasos), are well known; they include The Olives (Russian translations, 1919, 1953), The Guest (Russian translation, 1940) and The Land of Milk and Honey (Russian translation, 1953). Vivid dialogue and depiction of mores made Rueda’s pasos the prototypes of Spanish realistic dramaturgy. His comedies The Deceived Ones and Eufemia brought the plots and devices of Italian humanist comedy to the Spanish stage. Rueda was praised by Cervantes and Lope F. de Vega Carpió.

WORKS

Obras, vols. 1–2. Madrid, 1908.
Teatro. (Clásicos castellanos, vol. 59.) Madrid, 1958.

REFERENCES

Salazar, S. Lope de Rueda y su teatro, 2nd ed. Havana, 1912.
Crawford, J. P. W. Spanish Drama Before Lope de Vega, 2nd ed. Philadelphia, 1937.
Tusón, V. Lope de Rueda: Bibliografía crítica. Madrid, 1965.

A. L. SHTEIN