Jacinto Benavente

Spanish playwright born in Madrid. He gave up studying law to pursue a career in writing. He wrote 172 plays before his death in the same city, and was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1922.

His first play, A Nest of Others (1894), was followed by a series of plays, including The Celebrities (1896), Food for the Beasts (1898), Saturday Night (1903), and The Governor's Wife (1908), which revitalized the Spanish theater scene, which had been stagnating under the trend of over-the-top, technical melodrama that had begun with Etchegaray. His elegant satires criticized the decadence and hypocrisy of the upper and middle classes in Madrid, but works such as Madame (1908) and A Cursed Love (1913) were rural tragedies that even used local dialect. His most famous work is Constructed Interests (1907), whose characters show a modern spirit, and he also wrote children's plays such as The Prince Learned from Books (1914). His social satires are said to have been based on his experiences during his time touring Europe as a circus impresario.

[Aiko Suga]

"The Artificial Interests" (translated by Nagata Kanjo) (Iwanami Bunko)

Source: Shogakukan Encyclopedia Nipponica About Encyclopedia Nipponica Information | Legend

スペインの劇作家。マドリードで生まれる。法律の勉学を断念して文筆の道に入る。同市で死去するまでに172編の戯曲を書き、1922年にはノーベル文学賞を受賞した。

　処女戯曲『他人の巣』（1894）に続く『名士達(たち)』（1896）、『野獣の餌(えさ)』（1898）、『土曜の夜』（1903）、『知事夫人』（1908）など一連の作品で、エチェガライに始まる大仰で技巧的なメロドラマ風潮のなかに停滞していた当時のスペイン演劇界を刷新活性化した。上品な風刺で、おもにマドリードの上・中流階級の退廃・偽善を批判しているが、『奥様』（1908）や『呪(のろ)われた恋』（1913）などは方言も使われている田舎(いなか)の悲劇。代表作は登場人物に近代精神がうかがえる『作りあげた利害』（1907）で、ほかに『書物で学んだ王子様』（1914）など児童劇もある。彼の社会風刺はサーカス興行主としてヨーロッパを巡った時期の体験を素材にしたといわれている。

［菅　愛子］

『永田寛定訳『作りあげた利害』（岩波文庫）』

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