Ramón Maria del Valle-Inclan: The Dead Man's Finery and The Captain's Daughter Las galas del difunto and La hija del capitán

Las galas del difunto/ The Dead Man's Finery(1926) and La hija del capitan/ The Captain's Daughter(1927) are two of four tragic farceswritten by Ramon del Valle-Inclan for the theatre. Translated here for the first time into English, the plays demonstrate the dramatist's evolving theory of the esperpento as a satirical genre. Las galas del difunto/ The Dead Man's Finery is a short dramatic incursion into the life of JuanitoVentolera/ Johnny Bluster, a decommissioned veteran of the Spanish-American War who steals a dead man's clothes in order to woo a prostitute. A recreation of the Don Juan legend, the play takes the problematic, protean and devilish Don Juan and sets his outrageous behaviour in a very particular social and historical context. La hija del capitan/ The Captain's Daughter is the most historically and politically oriented of Valle-Inclan's works for the theatre. A man is killed and the accident of his death sets off a chain of events in which exploitation and self-interest are the orchestrating forces, concluding in a military coup that topples the government. An overt satire of the rise to power of General Primo de Rivera in 1923, the play dispenses with the individual protagonist and portrays a society in crisis. Notorious for his recondite use of language, in these plays Valle-Inclan emphasises the popular idiom without ever falling into picturesque realism; rather than recreate accurate modes of speech he creates a mode of expression that brings together all the play's characters, regardless of their status or place in society. The emphasis on incongruity and contrast creates a peculiarly sarcastic tone that permeates the dialogue. The plays are accompanied by a critical introduction and notes to guide the reader or director of these plays, both fine examples of Valle-Inclan's expressionistic and experimental theatre.