Women and Servants

Barbara Fuchs brings into english the first translation of Lope de Vega's recently rediscovered  Mujeres y Criados  ( Women and Servants ). The first modern Spanish edition of the play (Editorial Gredos, S.A., 2014), thoroughly edited by Syracuse professor Alejandro García-Reidy, adds yet another fine comedy to the copious dramatic works of the  Fénix de los Ingenios . The comedy (circa 1613–14) exhibits Lope de Vega's mature metrical style and a well-choreographed interplay of multiple plots. This urban comedy subverts the expected social norms of seventeenth-century Madrid and gives women and servants the wherewithal to dupe nobles and fulfill their amorous desires.