The weekly Phoenix: the reception of Lope de Vega through the Semanario Pintoresco Español (1836-1857)

Abstract

The 19th century and, within it, the press which served as the carrier of the surrounding reality have yet much to contribute to the research on the reception of Lope de Vega among the authors of the Spanish Golden Age. On this matter, the extraordinary success of the Semanario Pintoresco Español (1836-1857) allows for the observation of the course of Lope’s image throughout a long period and its eclecticism brings together the most diverse aesthetic-ideological perspectives. In order to encompass such heterogeneity, we analyze five texts which represent three of the main contents published in the magazine, the biographical articles, the short stories and the bibliographic studies, revealing, despite their differences, a growing interest in approaching the Phoenix’s figure, on the basis of his literature and translating the author to contemporary coordinates.