Although numerous books and articles discuss the interrelationships
between Spanish and French theatre for such periods as the Golden Age
and Romanticism, few scholarly studies explore the contemporary period.
The cultural interchange between the stages of Spain and France has
never totally disappeared, and indeed has at times had major
significance over the past several decades. Zatlin provides a
comprehensive view of these interrelationships, with emphasis on the
1970s and 1980s. It is based not only on related prior studies and on
data from theatre annuals, but also on interviews with theatre people in
both countries and on specific productions. The first section of the
book includes overviews of Spanish-language theatre performed in France,
Spanish theatre performed in French translation, and French theatre
performed in Spain. The second section contains four chapters on
individual authors with strong bicultural backgrounds: Emmanuel Robles,
Eduardo Manet, Francisco Nieva, and Carlos Semprun-Maura. The plays
chosen for analysis are rich examples of metatheatricalism and
intertextuality in which literary or historical texts from one nation
are reworked in the other language. With production photos and an
appendix of English translations of play titles cited in Catalan,
French, and Spanish.
