Reviewed by:

• La discreta enamorada / The Cleverest Girl in Madrid by Lope de Vega
• Robin Alfriend Kello

THE FELICITOUS CHOICES on offer in La discreta enamorada / The Cleverest Girl in Madrid begin with the title. An urban comedia composed circa 1606 and set in the bustling city of Madrid, Lope's play explores the tension between forces of desire and obligation in romantic entanglements. While the present connotations of discretion in English might suggest an excess of prudence or a quiet assent to a pact of secrecy, the discreción that distinguishes Lope's Fenisa is the plot-fueling intelligence that allows her to navigate a dizzying palimpsest of love triangles through fortune and stratagem and come out on the other side with Lucindo, her galán of choice. Rather than solely a quality of her character, Fenisa's ingenuity as an architect of enredo becomes a contagion that suffuses the entire plot, dramatizing that only sharpness of mind can match the passions of the heart and articulating that drama itself is born at the intersection of cleverness and desire.

About those love triangles: Lope sets two households in play—one that holds a mother and daughter and another, a father and son. Belisa, Fenisa's mother, wishes to marry Captain Bernardo, who is after Fenisa. She, however, has her eye set on Bernardo's son, Lucindo, himself entangled in a tumultuous game of celos with the courtesan Gerarda, who has captured the attention of Doristeo. To provoke jealousy in Gerarda, Lucindo offers words of love to the gracioso, Hernando, cross-dressed in the role of Estefanía. As Lucindo's fictional lady happens to share a name with Doristeo's sister, a perceived threat to male honor compounds substantial difficulties of courtship already present. If that series of fortuitous complications designed to delight the audience sounds like a familiar Lopean chain reaction of plot device, La discreta enamorada differs from many [End Page 475] comedias by making the parents not only the classic blocking figures they so often are but also rivals to the young lovers.

Donald R. Larson's translation excels by rendering the pleasures of such cleverness in a modern English idiom, allowing audiences to orient themselves within the mounting confusion of the plot and share in the joy of its unexpected twists and the emotional intensity of its characters. As Larson writes in the translator's note, this edition began in a workshop with David Johnston at the 2015 Association for Hispanic Classical Theater (AHCT) conference. Following Johnston's theory of translation as a conversation not merely between two languages, but also between two distinct times and places, Larson aims to follow the spirit of the original work rather than reproduce it with strict fidelity (79–80). Foregoing rhyme while retaining the line breaks of verse and often an elevated register, the translation offers both the taste of a classic and the spice of the present moment. Free from the intimidation of antiquated language or contorted grammar to mirror the conventions of Spanish, Larson centers the mad rush of the plot and pleasure of Fenisa's elaborate ruses. As she says in an aside that casts light on her intentions and abilities: "Oh, my Lucindo / If you can't follow this little scheme I've hatched / You're neither clever nor a son of Madrid; / But if you do understand, and come looking, / Born in Madrid you were, and blessed / with sharp wits!" (707–10). Fenisa's designs test Lucindo's capacity to grasp her cleverness while also ensuring that, if he follows, they will end up together. Readers of this translation might find themselves not only cheering her on but also celebrating the Madrileño resourcefulness she hopes to find in Lucindo.

As a critical bilingual edition with an expansive introduction and copious notes, this volume is ideal for scholars and students of comedia and would serve as a fine entry point for newcomers to that theatrical tradition. Larson and...

 审阅者：

• 
  洛佩·德·维加 (Lope de Vega) 的《La discreta enamorada》/《马德里最聪明的女孩》
•  罗宾·阿尔弗兰德·凯洛

《Ladiscreta enamorada/马德里最聪明的女孩》中提供的最佳选择从标题开始。洛普的这部都市喜剧创作于 1606 年左右，以繁华的马德里市为背景，探讨了浪漫纠葛中欲望与义务力量之间的紧张关系。虽然现在英语中“谨慎”的含义可能意味着过度谨慎或安静地同意保密协议，但洛普饰演的费尼萨的谨慎之处在于她具有推动情节的智慧，使她能够通过命运和命运来驾驭令人眼花缭乱的三角恋重写本。施计，与她选择的加兰一起从另一边出来。芬妮莎作为恩雷多建筑师的独创性不仅仅是她性格的品质，而是一种感染力，弥漫在整个情节中，戏剧化地表明，只有敏锐的头脑才能匹配内心的激情，并阐明戏剧本身诞生于聪明才智的交汇点和欲望。

关于那些三角恋：洛普让两个家庭陷入困境——一个家庭住着母亲和女儿，另一个家庭住着父亲和儿子。费尼萨的母亲贝利萨希望嫁给追随费尼萨的贝尔纳多上尉。然而，她的目光落在了贝尔纳多的儿子卢辛多身上，卢辛多本人正与妓女杰拉达卷入一场混乱的提琴游戏，杰拉达引起了多里斯特奥的注意。为了激起杰拉达的嫉妒，卢辛多向变装成埃斯特法尼亚角色的优雅的埃尔南多表达了爱意。由于卢辛多虚构的女士碰巧与多里斯特奥的妹妹同名，对男性荣誉的威胁加剧了已经存在的求爱的巨大困难。如果说旨在取悦观众的一系列偶然复杂事件听起来像是熟悉的洛普式情节设计的连锁反应，那么《迷恋》与许多[完第475页]喜剧不同，它使父母不仅是他们经常扮演的经典阻碍人物，而且年轻恋人的对手。

唐纳德·R·拉尔森（Donald R. Larson）的翻译出色地用现代英语习语呈现了这种聪明的乐趣，让观众在日益混乱的情节中找到自己的方向，并分享意想不到的曲折和人物情感强度的喜悦。正如 Larson 在译者注中所写，这一版本始于 2015 年西班牙古典戏剧协会 (AHCT) 会议上与 David Johnston 一起举办的研讨会。遵循约翰斯顿的翻译理论，翻译不仅是两种语言之间的对话，而且是两个不同时间和地点之间的对话，拉尔森的目标是遵循原作的精神，而不是严格保真地复制它(79-80)。译文放弃了押韵，同时保留了诗句的换行符和通常较高的语域，既具有经典的味道，又具有当下的趣味。拉尔森没有受到过时的语言或扭曲的语法的威胁，以反映西班牙语的惯例，他集中了疯狂的情节和费尼萨精心设计的诡计的乐趣。正如她在旁白中所说的那样，阐明了她的意图和能力：“哦，我的卢辛多/如果你不能遵循我策划的这个小计划/你既不聪明也不是马德里的儿子；/但是如果你请理解，来看看，/你出生在马德里，并且有幸/拥有敏锐的智慧！” （707-10）。费尼萨的设计考验了卢辛多掌握自己聪明才智的能力，同时也确保如果他跟随，他们最终会在一起。该译本的读者可能会发现自己不仅为她欢呼，还庆祝她希望在卢辛多身上找到的马德里人的足智多谋。

作为一本具有广泛介绍和大量注释的重要双语版本，本书非常适合喜剧学者和学生，也可以作为戏剧传统新手的良好切入点。拉尔森和...