Epic Drama Today? Radical Paradoxes and Three Plays in Spanish

Abstract

Shedding a light on epic drama conduces us to consider two radical paradoxes: first, a political paradox, since epic drama is supposed to serve the proletarian class, whereas proletarians are unable to actually support it; second, a narrative paradox, in that it seems to contradict the Aristotelian theory by confusing the two fundamental modes of imitation. Nevertheless, the aesthetic innovations brought by epic drama are still alive in spite of the outdated political and revolutionary dogmatism on which it was supposedly founded. The thesis is illustrated by examples from three significant contemporary plays in Spanish: Rashid 9/11 from Jaime Chabaud (Mexico), Himmelweg from Juan Mayorga (Spain) and Huevos from Ulises Rodríguez Febles (Cuba).