A popular playwright searching for worthy readers: author strategies for self representation in "Al deshonor heredado vence el honor adquirido", play by Manuel Fermín de Laviano

Abstract

In this paper, we study the play "Al deshonor heredado vence el honor adquirido", written by Manuel Fermín de Laviano. Firstly, we focus on its poetic configuration as a spectacle military thesis play. In this genre, the scenography techniques from popular commercial theatre and an enlightened thesis inclined to individual merit and paternalistic monarchy are mixed. Secondly, we point out its printed publication as a self-conscious effort by Laviano in order to give a professional status to his written work. Then, this could be understood as an act of self-promotion as an author in literary circles in Madrid. At last, we analyse this play as a proof of a failed strategy by Laviano, unable to adapt his works to the parameters of erudite literature at the end of 18th century.