{"product_id":"9781908343017-tirso-de-molina-marta-the-divine","title":"Tirso de Molina: Marta the Divine","description":"\u003cmeta content=\"text\/html; charset=utf-8\" http-equiv=\"Content-Type\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eTirso de Molina's  Marta the Divine  (c. 1614-15) is a spirited comedy about an ingenious young woman who fakes religious piety in order to avoid an arranged marriage imposed upon her by her father.\u003cbr\u003eTirso de Molina's  Marta the Divine  (c. 1614-15) is a spirited comedy about an ingenious young woman who fakes religious piety  in order to avoid an arranged marriage imposed upon her by her  father. Marta's false religiosity becomes a cover for sneaking  her boyfriend into her house and, to all intents and purposes,  having a sexual relationship with him without her credulous  father suspecting a thing. The stakes involved in this risky  gambit are particularly high because her boyfriend, Felipe, is  also the man who has killed her brother.  In this fast-moving  play that celebrates the victory of youth over age, of love over  revenge, little is held sacred, as circumstances spiral to the  point of outrageousness. Not surprisingly,  Marta  has been a controversial play over the years, condemned for immorality and  salaciousness by some, championed as an anticlerical tract by  others. Readers and audience members over the years have puzzled  as to what Tirso wants us to make of the title character and her  behaviour.  Is she a cautionary example, a sly hypocrite, whom we  are to hold at a critical distance?  Or she is a sympathetic  comic heroine, even a proto-feminist, whose cause we are to  embrace?No matter one's perspective,  Marta  is memorable because of the audaciousness and resourcefulness of the title character. Marta  is a great stage creation, and the plot Tirso builds around this  trickster has the feel of the archetypal, transcending the time  and place of its creation. At the same time,  Marta  is a surprisingly comprehensive satire of the Spanish empire of its  day. Through a variety of subtle touches, Tirso paints a picture  of an imperial capital plagued by avarice and hypocrisy. The play  has some puzzling elements or 'problems' from a technical point  of view, but the irresistible force of its comic energy has  appealed to readers and audiences for nearly 400 years.This edition presents the play for the first time ever in English  translation. The translation is accompanied by the Spanish text,  translators' note and a substantial introduction.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Rarewaves","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":40903026802785,"sku":"9781908343017","price":26.25,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0092\/7504\/8033\/files\/orig_27784148.jpg?v=1722069152","url":"https:\/\/www.rarewaves.com\/products\/9781908343017-tirso-de-molina-marta-the-divine","provider":"Rarewaves.com","version":"1.0","type":"link"}