Alberti and Mayakovski: Subverting the Mystery Play

What is it about?

This article looks at humor and modernist aesthetics in Rafael Alberti’s Farsa de los Reyes magos (1934) and Mayakovski’s Mystery-Bouffe (Мистерия-буфф, 1918) as a means to gauge Spanish responses to Russian futurism during the 1930s. Both plays parody the medieval mystery play, which also had a didactic intent, as they contemplate modernity.

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Why is it important?

Few works have compared Spanish literature of the left to that of the Soviet Union, even though there were clearly a number of connections between the two. The article demonstrates the importance of humor for creating a social literature. It also highlights some of the similarities between European avant-garde movements, reading these works as simultaneously futurist, surrealist, and expressionist.