La obra dramática de Manuel Fermín de LavianoEstudio bio-bibliográfico y análisis crítico

Abstract

This study aims to analyze the life and works of Manuel Fermín de Laviano, a Spanish dramatist from the last third of the 18th century. This research is structured in two main blocks. The first one provides a biographic and bibliographic revision of the issue, from a documental search of primary resources to a bibliographic repertory of his plays and poems. Afterwards, the block offers a compilation of critical insights and opinions extracted from secondary resources in order to trace the reception and perception of his works. The second block begins with an identification of the main problems and concerns raised by critics, a task enabled by the previous documental and bibliographic research. Consequently, the aim in this second stage is to answer to the aforementioned issues. The analysis is focused on the study of the development of Laviano’s writing career and the construction of his authorial identity. The first step will be a contextualization of the life and works of this dramatist in the cultural, politic and social dynamics of his time. Secondly, his dramatic and poetic output will be analyzed according to different ways of self-representation as a literary man: the influence of his education for professional purposes, his works as a playwright for theatrical companies, and his strategies aimed at professional appreciation from scholar circuits of literary socialization. Lastly, the main hypothesis of this study will be set forth to solve a critic question: the reasons behind the sudden end of the dramatic career of Laviano.