Prof. García-Martín Publishes Article in Cervantes

Elena García-Martín, Associate Professor of Spanish, published "Empathy, Catharsis, and Altruism in Cervantes’s Los tratos de Argel, Read as a Redemptorist Play" last month.

This article views Los tratos de Argel (a play by Cervantes often classified by critics as a minor, weaker play) as a Redemptorist play; that is, as a drama intended to be performed as part of a ceremony destined to collect alms to recover captives from slavery. I argue that reading the play through the lens of the Redemptorist celebrations helps make sense of some of the elements that are currently perceived to be dramatic flaws. Also that, through this context, Los tratos de Argel gains further significance as a sociological document helpful in elucidating variations in the cultural dynamics of empathy in Cervantes’s era.

"Empathy, Catharsis, and Altruism in Cervantes’s Los tratos de Argel, Read as a Redemptorist Play." Cervantes. 38.2 (Dec. 2018) https://muse.jhu.edu/issue/39690