Abstract

REYES PALACIOS, Felipe. The Payo (Bumpkin) attributed to Fernández de Lizardi, a comedia de figurones. Lit. mex [online]. 2010, vol.21, n.1, pp.67-82. ISSN 2448-8216.

Direct reflection of a New Spain social practice with Carnival origins, amalgamated with diverse literary and theatrical traditions, Todos contra el payo y el payo contra todos o la visita del payo en el hospital de locos is presented to the historian of theater as an impressive case of cultural hybridism. In spite of its formal adherence to neoclassicism regnant at the beginning of the 19th century, it is connected procedurally with the 18th century comedia de figurón and its remote origins as short comic interlude, and includes the baroque theme of dreaming and disenchantment. Its grotesque focus, as perceived from modernity, permitted its survival through the passage of time, meriting two stagings in the 20th century, in contrast with the rest of the theater of Lizardi, unto whom it has been attributed.

Keywords : Fernández de Lizardi; comedia de figurón; viceregal theater; festival of the madmen; neo-classicism; baroque.