Three Major Plays: Fuente Ovejuna/The Kight from Olmedo/Punishment Without Revenge

This is a great presentation of three of the best Golden Age Spanish plays, which reveal psychological complexity in the context of rapid action. This translation of the plays is excellent in keeping the feel of their fast pace while giving graceful phrases to the characters. The three plays are first the most famous "Fuente Ovejuna" (which is a formula for civil disobedience against the unjust rulers), followed by "The Knight from Olmedo" ( a story of love, heroism, and jealosy which reveals how justice was enacted in that era), and finally "Punishment Without Revenge" ( a story of fiery love and how it burns its victims). The only thing I wished was that this could have been a bilingual edition with the Spanish on one page and the English on the facing page so we could correlate the beauty of the two languages. However, it is really a delight to be able to read a modern translation of these works.

If you think Cervantes was Spain's Shakespeare, you're dead wrong! 'Twas Lope; perhaps the greatest playwriter in history, after Billy the Bard!