Fuente Sagrada
Fuente Sagrada ("sacred spring") is the title given to an Afrikaans one-act play by Uys Krige (1910–1987).
Contents
The original text
The play is an indictment of the brutality of war and is set in the Spanish Civil War, with salvation of the central character, Marais, serving as a metaphor for the triumph of human dignity amidst the dehumanization brought about by war.
The Spanish title, taken from the name of a holy well of the same name, is intertextually reminiscent of course of Lope de Vega's masterly play Fuente Ovejuna (1612), which recounts the late-fifteenth-century uprising of an Andalusian village against an abusive military commander.
First published in Afrikaans in the collection Alle Paaie Gaan na Rome - Eenbedrywe by Unie-Volkspers in 1949 and later in Die Wit Muur en Ander Eenbedrywe by J.L. van Schaik in 1983. Also included in other collections over the years.
Translations and adaptations
Translated into English by the author himself, using the same title, and published in The Sniper and Other One-act Plays by HAUM in 1964.
Performance history in South Africa
Sources
Ludwig Wilhelm Berthold Binge 1969. Ontwikkeling van die Afrikaanse toneel (1832-1950). Pretoria: J.L. van Schaik.
Gosher, 1988
Geoffrey O’Brien. 2023. Lope Lives! The New York Review of Books [1]
Go to ESAT Bibliography
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