Las Meninas

Quel est le sujet du livre "Las Meninas"

El estreno de "Las Meninas" tuvo lugar en el 9 de diciembre de 1960, en el teatro Español de Madrid; en el mismo escenario, veintiún años antes, había obtenido el éxito que lo consagró como el innovador de la dramaturgia española de posguerra, con su Historia de una escalera. Con el texto sobre Velázquez, Buero mostraba un nuevo ejemplo del buen hacer literario y dramático que en su ya entonces amplia trayectoria había venido mostrando. Buero inauguró una fórmula nueva de abordar el tema de la historia en el teatro, de forma que el drama histórico cubre dos metas: la de recuperar un ayer conflictivo y olvidado, y la de reflexionar sobre acciones y comportamientos que, por ser inherentes al hombre o a la sociedad, son intemporales. Así en "Las Meninas," Velázquez se convierte en el receptor que contempla el dolor humano y las injusticias sociales; los problemas que surgen del enmascaramiento de la realidad por los tópicos y engaños vigentes, y la encrucijada de la responsabilidad del artista, del intelectual ante todo.

Antonio Buero Vallejo was a Spanish playwright considered the most important Spanish dramatist of the Spanish Civil War. During his career he won three National Theatre Prizes (in 1957, 1958 & 1959), a National Theatre Prize for all his career in 1980, the National Literature Prize in 1996, and the Miguel de Cervantes Prize, Spain's highest literary honour, in 1986. From 1971 until his death he was a member of the Real Academia Española.

From 1934 to 1936 Vallejo studied art and painting at San Fernando Escuela de Arte, in Madrid. During the civil war, he served as a medical aid in the Republican army. After the war he was imprisoned for six years. After being released he wrote Story of a Stairway in 1949. This work presented a graphic picture of Spain after the Civil War and won the Lope de Vega Prize, establishing Vallejo as one of the foremost authors in Spain. While other authors left Spain to escape Franco's censorship, Vallejo stayed in Spain and used symbolism to criticize the government. In 1971, he was elected to the Royal Spanish Academy. In 1994 he was awarded the Gold Medal of Merit in Fine Arts and the Gold Medal of the Society of Authors of Spain.

A common theme in his work is Spain's problems during and after Franco. In the tragedies there is always a sense of hope for the future. His works make frequent use of the symbolism of the senses—for example, using the "fiery darkness," in which the protagonist cannot see, as a symbol of Spain's dark situation.