"How can a classically structured nineeenth-century play that takes place in interior spaces and has, at least initially, the ambiance of a drawing-room comedy, speak to readers or spectators who still struggle with the poisonous legacy of slavery and racist violence today in the Americas? As the author of this elegant and lively translation, John Maddox, argues in his thoughtful introduction: 'Tapia was a man of his times and a man beyond his times [...] Few national literatures can say their founding father was an outspoken feminist, but Tapia portrayed women’s rights as central to his interpretation of the Rights of Man. In his best moments, he was driven by an urge to understand the Other: women and the enslaved.' [...] Twenty-first century readers may find familiar not just the Shakespearian subtext but also the Countess’s authoritarian use of strategies of manipulation by means of insistent lies (now commonly known as 'gaslighting') as well as by the invocation of absolute societal norms, such as the incest prohibition. [...] John Maddox’s supple translation ably captures the shifting moods of Tapia’s play, from hopeful expectation to shocking tragedy. Almost without anachronism, it brings Tapia’s play into the English language and to the twenty-first century, where its grim message still resonates." —Latin American Literary Review
"Thanks to John Maddox’s translation and critical introduction, the play, now in both Spanish and English, has the potential to reach a bilingual audience. Until this volume, none of Tapia’s works of theatre had been translated into English. ... Who will use this book? The focus on a Puerto Rican author who championed women, who defended abolitionism, and opposed racism makes this work very suitable for studies in a comparative context in Caribbean literature. The array of characters in addition to the tragic Julia (Juliet) include Carlos, the young man of Spanish blood who loves her, his mother, a Countess whose “noble” family has fallen on hard times, and wealthy don Críspulo, who is portrayed as fat and red, an outsider. That don Críspulo’s daughter, Emilia, who is supposed to marry Carlos, turns out to be a half sister to Julia because don Críspulos’s slave María is the mother of both of them, adds to the themes of miscegenation and societal taboos. ...The writings of Alejandro Tapia y Rivera are deserving of wider recognition, and the bilingual and annotated edition of La cuarterona created by John Maddox admirably serves this purpose." —Hispania
