Doña Clarines y Mañana de Sol

Doña Clarines y Mañana de Sol

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Álvarez Quintero, Edited by S. Griswold Morley
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Title: Doña Clarines y Mañana de Sol
Author: Serafín y Joaquín Álvarez Quintero
Editor: S. Griswold Morley
Release Date: June 22, 2005 [eBook #16109]
Language: Spanish
Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
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MAñANA DE SOL***
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Heath's Modern Language Series
DOÑA CLARINES Y MAÑANA DE SOL
por
SERAFÍN Y JOAQUÍN ÁLVAREZ QUINTERO
Edited with Introduction, Notes and Vocabulary by
S. GRISWOLD MORLEY, PH.D. Assistant Professor of Spanish, University of
California
D. C. Heath & Co., Publishers Boston New York Chicago
1915

PREFACE
At present writing it seems to be a fact that no Spanish comedy written within the last
thirty years, perhaps fifty, and making any pretense to literary worth, is available for use
as a text in the United States. With the intention of filling part of the gap, as well as of
introducing to students two contemporary Spanish dramatists, very well known in their
own country, and very well worth while, I have selected these two short plays of the
brothers Álvarez Quintero. While they are not the most important works of these authors,
they are probably the best adapted to school use. The many Andalusian forms in most of
the Quintero comedies debar them wholly, and in others continental plainness of speech
is an obstacle. _Doña Clarines_ and _Mañana de sol_ are not too difficult, are written in
bright and idiomatic Castilian, are entirely fit for class use, and are reprinted without the
alteration or omission of a word in the original. They may well be read in the first year of

a college course in Spanish, or in the second year of the high school. The editing has not
been done with an eye to the needs of absolute beginners.
As no critical writing worth mentioning has yet been directed toward the brothers
Quintero, notwithstanding their great popularity in Spain and Italy, the introduction is
perforce in the nature of pioneer work.
I wish to express my very sincere gratitude to the authors of these comedies, who first
gave their courteous authorization to reprint, and then extended their generosity so far as
to furnish information which would have been wholly inaccessible otherwise. Without
their graciously manifested kindness, this book could obviously never have appeared.
Various colleagues have helped in the interpretation of difficult idioms; to all of them I
convey my hearty thanks, and in particular to Professor Schevill and Professor Bransby
of the University of California.
S.G.M.
UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, February, 1915.

INTRODUCTION
Serafín and Joaquín Álvarez Quintero are brothers, and write in collaboration. They are
among the most popular and prolific playwrights of the day in Spain. Neither
qualification is necessarily flattering, but the comedies of the Quinteros[A] have many
permanent beauties which speak well for the taste of the contemporary Spanish audience.
Even in their farces they are never vulgar, never coarse, and they are not to be
confounded with the many amusers of the crowd in Madrid, the Ramos Carrións, the
Vital Azas, the Carlos Arniches, etc. Their work possesses a distinction and color which
lift it into the realm of literature.
[Footnote A: Picón and Mariano de Cavia write "los Quinteros", but other Spaniards
seem to prefer "los Quintero".]
I
The brothers Quintero have never made public the details of their private life, and no
article of importance seems yet to have been published concerning them. From a little
semi-serious _Autobiografía_, originally printed in _Alma española_ (1904), and from
various other sources, the following facts have been gleaned:
Don Serafín was born on March 26, 1871, and don Joaquín on Jan. 20, 1873, in Utrera,
20 miles from Seville. To this capital the family moved "when the two boys together
measured a yard in height", and there they attended the Instituto. Their dramatic talent
appeared at the earliest possible age, and they composed and acted plays in the patio of
their own house before any other stage could be provided. Their ages were 16 and 15
when Esgrima y amor, a farce, was produced at the Teatro Cervantes in Seville (Jan. 30,
1888). Their father took them to Madrid in October of the same year, in order to give
their talents a broader field. Success did not come at once. For nine years, to provide