Social Justice in Spanish Golden Age Theatre. Erin Alice Cowling, Tania de Miguel Magro, Mina García, and Glenda Y. Nieto-Cuebas, eds. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2021. xvi + 274 pp. $34.95.

Abstract

of Miguel de Cervantes’s exemplary novels, and claims that, in the context of early modern narrative, illegitimacy is “about making and unmaking” (145). This chapter is not free of inaccuracies, such as the remark on the Novelas ejemplares having been published before Cervantes’s Don Quixote (143). Chapter 5, “Lope de Vega’s Bastard Heroes: Pieces and Traces,” discusses illegitimacy in four of Lope de Vega’s plays through themes of absence and presence, and parts and whole. The volume’s conclusion emphasizes the fluidity and legacy of illegitimacy. The book has considerable deficiencies in proofreading. The following examples are part of a longer list. The spelling of Spanish names is inconsistent: “Alfonso IX of León” versus “Alfonso VI of Leon” (8–9); “river Ubierna” versus “River Ovierna” (23, 26); “Fernán Gómez” versus “Martin Gómez” (80, 81), among others. In chapter 3, notes 2 and 14 are identical (136, 138), and the entry for “Wolf” is incomplete in the list of works cited (142). Despite its weaknesses, Reading Illegitimacy in Early Iberian Literature is a valuable contribution to current scholarship. Hazbun embarked on a challenging multi-genre analysis. Her results will facilitate further exploration of illegitimacy in other works and disciplines.