Courtiers, troubadours and brawlers: "Don Juan Tenorio" and "El trovador de vuelta"

Abstract

This review compares the works Don Juan Tenorio by José Zorrilla and El trovador de vuelta, by Antonio García Gutiérrez. Both premiered in the 19th century in Spain, a few years apart, and agree on the aesthetics and philosophy of the time, which was already opening the way to modernity. They are brought up by the new annotated editions of these two plays, conceived by L. Fernández Cifuentes and M.L. Guardiola Tey respectively. In the edition of Don Juan Tenorio, a greater bibliography and a detailed analysis of the work stand out in correspondence with the biography of the author and his ideas. It also includes parts that Zorrilla did not incorporate into the final product and there are many documented testimonies about the work. For its part, Guardiola Tey's edition contextualizes the work in its time to show its importance, in addition to providing information about the author at the time of the original premiere. The two editions highlight the importance of two Spanish romantic works that deserve attention for their status as literary classics.