Authors

Spanish · 1600–1681

Pedro Calderón de la Barca

Pedro Calderón de la Barca was the supreme Spanish Baroque playwright and Lope de Vega's successor as the dominant figure of the Spanish stage. His Life Is a Dream (La vida es sueño, 1635) — in which the imprisoned prince Segismundo questions whether his brief freedom is real or a dream — is the masterpiece of Spanish philosophical drama and one of the most important plays in world theatre. He wrote over 120 secular plays and 70 autos sacramentales, and was ordained a priest in 1651.