The Politics of Agriculture: Dramatizing Agrarian Plight in Lope's Fuenteovejuna

In his perceptive work on the interrelationship between history and literature, Louis Montrose advocates a resituation of texts within their contexts, which leads to "a reciprocal concern with the historicity of texts and the textuality of history" (20). For Montrose, aesthetic works can historicize the past and provide an understanding and explanation of times past, but they cannot provide an objective portrayal of history (20).1 It is in this spirit that I would like to approach Lope's Fuenteovejuna (161 0-1614). To resituate Lope's renowned drama within its socio-historical context is to make possible a more profound understanding of the various contemporary pressures that inform its plot. Disciplines Spanish Literature | Theatre and Performance Studies Comments This article is from Bulletin of the Comediantes 55 (2003): 9–21. Posted with permission. This article is available at Iowa State University Digital Repository: http://lib.dr.iastate.edu/language_pubs/17 THE POLITICS OF AGRICULTURE: DRAMATIZING AGRARIAN PLIGHT IN LOPE'S FUENTEOVEJUNA CHAD M. GASTA Iowa State University For Robert L. Fiore, tireless mentor and friend In his perceptive work on the interrelationship between history and literature, Louis Montrose advocates a resituation of texts within their contexts, which leads to "a reciprocal concern with the historicity of texts and the textuality of history" (20). For Montrose, aesthetic works can historicize the past and provide an understanding and explanation of times past, but they cannot provide an objective portrayal of history (20).1 It is in this spirit that I would like to approach Lope's Fuenteovejuna (161 0-1614). To resituate Lope's renowned drama within its socio-historical context is to make possible a more profound understanding of the various contemporary pressures that inform its plot. One such prominent focus in the play is related to issues of agrarian policy and reform that were chief concerns during Lope's lifetime. Indeed, crop production and storage, depopulation and famine, in addition to other agrarian troubles of the late sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries, are all included in the play in various references. The question is, then, what role do these socio-economic agrarian topics play in a work about a 1476 village revolt that culminated in the tumultuous overthrow and violent murder of the town Comendador, Fernan Gomez de Guzman? It is my contention that the