Don Bartolomé de Alva was a mestizo who rose within New Spain's
ecclesiastical hierarchy when people of indigenous heritage were
routinely excluded from the priesthood. In 1640 and 1641 he translated
several theatrical pieces from Spanish into Nahuatl, yet this prodigious
accomplishment remained virtually unknown for centuries.
Nahuatl Theater, Volume 3 presents for the first time in English the
complete dramatic works of Alva, the only known plays from Spain's
Golden Age adapted into the lively world of Nahuatl-language theater.
Alva's translations-"The Great Theater of the World," "The Animal
Prophet and the Fortunate Patricide," "The Mother of the Best," and a
farcical intermezzo-represent ambitious attempts to add complex, Baroque
dramatic pieces by such literary giants as Lope de Vega and Pedro
Calderón de la Barca to the repertory of Nahuatl theater, otherwise
dominated by sober one-act religious plays grounded in medieval
tradition. The Spanish sources and Alva's Nahuatl, set on facing pages
with their English translations, show how Alva "Mexicanized" the plays
by incorporating Nahuatl linguistic conventions and referencing local
symbolism and social life. In their introductory essays, the editors
offer contextual and interpretive information that provides an entrée
into this rich material.
As the only known adaptations of these theatrical works into a Native
American language, these plays stand as fine literature in their own
right.
