James A. Parr, sin par (1936–2022): Editor, Bulletin of the Comediantes 1973–98 PART II

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• James A. Parr, sin par (1936–2022)Editor, Bulletin of the Comediantes 1973–98 PART II
• Edward H. Friedman

I ALWAYS WILL CHERISH MY CONTACT with James Parr. He was a revered colleague, mentor, and friend for over forty-five years. As I was completing my graduate studies at Johns Hopkins University, I submitted an essay on Calderón's El mayor monstruo, los celos to Bulletin of the Comediantes, and it would be my first published article. This was in 1974, and I had the opportunity to meet James Parr, editor of the Bulletin of the Comediantes, at the December 1975 Modern Language Association convention in San Francisco. I used the occasion to express my profound gratitude. From the beginning of our interaction, Jim Parr showed himself to be gracious, generous, and wise. The group known as the Comediantes generally held a banquet at MLA, to get together as comrades, naturally, but also to welcome new members of the community of early modern (then Golden Age) theater scholars. A guiding force of this blend of academics and collegiality was Everett W. Hesse, who founded the Bulletin of the Comediantes in 1948 and served as its editor until 1972. Jim Parr not only followed Everett Hesse as editor of the journal, but he maintained the tradition of supporting young scholars and engaging devotees of the comedia in a variety of dialogues. He had a style that was learned, critical, and empathetic; that is, he had many ideas to share and superb people skills, which made him a first-rate scholar and teacher. I read Jim's publications with great interest, and I truly enjoyed corresponding with him and seeing him at conferences.

In 1989, under the auspices of the Arizona Center for Medieval and Renaissance Studies at Arizona State University, where I taught at the time, I applied to direct a National Endowment for the Humanities six-week summer institute for college teachers on the topic of Don Quixote. I invited Jim Parr, whose groundbreaking Don Quixote: An Anatomy of Subversive Discourse (Juan de la Cuesta, 1988) had just appeared, to codirect the program with me, and he accepted. We received the grant, and Jim rented the home of an ASU professor for the period. We had an outstanding group of applicants, and those chosen—specialists in Hispanic and English literature and one in history—were exceptional. They ranged from established scholars to recent graduates of doctoral programs. The schedule included visits by six Cervantes scholars and a number of events outside the classroom. I depended on Jim to [End Page 23] stimulate the participants, who were studious, creative, and motivated, but who had to deal with the stifling summer heat of the Phoenix area. The dates of the institute were 19 June to 28 July. Jim was a model of the good sport: demanding in the best sense of the term, yet understanding of the particular circumstances of each individual. There were infinite details to bear in mind. It was a pleasure, albeit a challenge, to coordinate the schedule and activities with Jim, even in those relatively few instances in which we (politely) agreed to disagree. We had the proverbial happy campers despite the constant temperatures well over 100 degrees. I credit Jim with setting a positive and cordial tone to the proceedings. I needed a brilliant, calm, adaptable, and confident partner to carry this off, and Jim delivered in all respects.

What bound me to Jim, along with his spirit of good will and his affable personality, was our mutual focus on—arguably, our obsession with—early modern drama, Cervantes, criticism and metacriticism, and theory. I eagerly looked forward to every new publication of his, and I was never disappointed. I was extremely honored to succeed him as editor of the Bulletin of the Comediantes, joining him and Everett Hesse at the helm of the journal they created and brought forth with style and vigor, Jim for twenty-six years. My tenure as editor, from 1999 to 2016, was especially meaningful and a genuine source of pride, following in such distinguished footsteps.

Jim trained a company of scholars who justifiably have sung his praises. He seemed never to...