Politics of Farce in Contemporary Spanish American Theatre (North Carolina Studies in the Romance Languages and Literatures)

The Politics of Farce in Contemporary Spanish American Theatre is the first book-length study of the role of farce in Spanish American theatre. Spanish American playwrights have realized that farce's "lack of power" and marginality can become a resourceful way to confront aggression and censorship, while rejecting the possibility of eventually becoming part of the oppressive center. This book underscores the tendency of Spanish American farce for self-parody, its capacity to uncover and also carry out a profound critique of their nations' artistic, social, and political rituals. To use and transgress farce simultaneously, as a considerable number of Spanish American playwrights are doing, is to recognize the reality and power, as well as the limits, of laughter.