This book distinguishes itself from other editions of El nuevo mundo in that it is the first
critical edition of the play by Lope de Vega that in the absence of a known manuscript is
based on the existing three princeps editions: Madrid Barcelona and Pamplona 1614. This
critical edition is also unique in its juxtaposition of Spanish poetry with an English prose
translation. The introduction to this bilingual critical edition places El nuevo mundo within
the ideological context of seventeenth-century theater suggests 1600 as the date of the play's
composition explains the purpose of allegory shows the challenges of staging the play offers
a stemma of recent editions and analyzes the rhyme scheme of the Spanish verse.
