This volume presents a new approach to Spanish Baroque drama inspired by Foucauldian discourse
archeology whose rare fusion of meticulous philology and ambitious theory will be exciting and
fruitful both for specialists of Spanish literature and for anyone invested in the history of
European thought. Detailed readings are dedicated to some of the most prominent plays by Lope
de Vega and Calderón de la Barca both autos sacramentales (El viaje del alma El divino Orfeo
La lepra de Constantino) and comedias (El castigo sin venganza El príncipe constante El
médico de su honra). The archeological perspective cast on the plays implies an integration of
their discourse-historical foils from pagan antiquity through the Middle Ages and the
Renaissance as well as a discussion of related discourses mainly theological philosophical
and historiographical. A separate excursus suggests a reconsideration of the common manner in
which the discursive relation between the Middle Ages the Renaissance Mannerism and the
Baroque is conceptualized.
