Doña Clarines y Mañana de Sol | Page 3

short and plays long, or, in Castilian _el género chico_
and _el género grande_.
The short dramatized picture of national customs known as _entremés_ or sainete has as
continuous and glorious a history as any literary genre in Spain, including as it does the
names of Lope de Rueda (16th century), Cervantes, Quiñones de Benavente (17th),
Ramón de la Cruz (18th) and Ricardo de la Vega (19th). The Quinteros maintain worthily
a tradition in which the great qualities are wit, concision and fidelity to nature, and up to
the present writing these short popular sketches represent possibly the greatest perfection
of their accomplishment. El ojito derecho (1897) is a classic of horse-trading, and only
one of an insurpassable series depicting Andalusian life among the lower classes. The
famous El patio (1900) draws an enchanting picture of domestic arrangements in a house
in Seville.[D] La buena sombra, El flechazo, Los chorros del oro, Sangre gorda and very
many others, which, like those previously cited, are written in the Andalusian dialect, are
thumb-nail sketches caught in the streets and patios of Seville. But, following the lead of
Ricardo de la Vega, the Quinteros have woven a thread of sentiment into their scenes
from popular life, and thus given them a relief and truthfulness which the sainetistas of
the earlier centuries would have scorned to consider possible. La pena, El chiquillo,
_Nanita, nana_ are masterpieces, pure and simple, of sincere, unexaggerated realism, and
one knows not where to turn for a parallel, unless to Dickens, who touched childhood
with a hand more loving than any other's.
[Footnote D: The authors define a sainete as a form restricted to one act, and depicting
manners of the lower classes only. Hence El patio (in two acts), and the pasos mentioned
further on, are not sainetes, for the characters are not taken from the laboring classes. The
term cuadro de costumbres would perhaps cover them all.]
It was the Quinteros who started the now declining fashion of "andalucismo" on the stage,
but they were also the first to work away from it. The pasos de comedia are short pieces,
but they are differentiated from the sainete type by the station of the dramatis personae,
who are not of the working class. They speak Castilian, not Andalusian, the scene is laid
farther north, and the interest is sought in fine psychology, instead of popular manners.
_Mañana de sol_ (1905) contains a delicate mingling of philosophy and humor with the
faintest suggestion of pathos, and the same qualities appear in A la luz de la luna (1908),
as fanciful and dainty as one of De Musset's
Proverbes. El agua milagrosa (1908) is a
delightful revelation of human nature, and _El último capítulo_ (1910) equals it in
shrewd psychological observation. Such dramatic pictures as these are a permanent and
worthy addition to Spanish literature.
So much cannot always be said for the more ambitious flights of the Quinteros. Many
times they have tried comedy on a large scale, and tragic figures are not lacking in their
long list of created characters, but their success has not been uniform in the broader field.
In it are to be found marks of haste in construction, the inevitable harvest of intellects not
allowed to lie fallow, and even of concession to popular applause. When they are content
with observation or satire they are supreme, as in the interesting zarzuela, El estreno
(1900), a vivid glimpse behind the scenes at a "first night"; and in El amor en el teatro

(1902) and El amor en solfa (1905), which exhibit the love-scene as it is rendered in
various types of play and opera. But when the authors grow serious they approach the
danger line, for it is then that a tendency to sentimentality shows unpleasantly at times,
which in the purely objective studies serves only to cast a glow of poetry. The public, too,
has been overcritical with its favorite funmakers whenever they have tried to convince it
that their talent is not confined to provoking laughter; their future has been to a certain
extent circumscribed by past successes, and they are not granted a fair hearing. So one
must set down as unsuccessful attempts at high comedy or drama La dicha ajena (1902),
La musa loca (1905), _La casa de García_ (1904), and La zagala (1904), the last two
with almost tragic endings; perhaps even Malvaloca (1912), in spite of its lofty aim and
generous teaching. Los Galeotes (1900) is too well rounded and solid a play to be
included in the same category. In El amor que pasa (1904) we are shown the longing for
a finer life which may beset sensitive womankind in a provincial town. La escondida
senda (1908) sings the praises of quiet country life; _Doña Clarines_ (1909) is a