SOURCE: “Tirso de Molina,” in Hispania, Vol. XXXII, No. 2, May, 1949, pp. 131-40.

In the following essay, Wade discusses de Molina's life and work, focusing on how he used his genius to serve humanity.

Tirso de Molina (born Gabriel Téllez) died in 1648. The tercentenary of his death has occasioned a rebirth of interest in him and his work. Indeed, the resurgence of Tirsian scholarship began some years ago, in Spain, England, and the United States. The appearance of Doña Blanca de los Ríos' long-awaited volume on Tirso¹ was a climactic event that will have scholarly repercussion for years to come. The volume is the first of two which will contain Tirso's biography and the texts of all his plays; the second is scheduled to appear in 1949. The scholarly labors of Father Manuel Penedo, of Santiago Montoto, and of Fray Martín Ortúzar have contributed substantially...