Gracioso

Thegracioso(pronounced[ɡɾaˈθjoso]) is aclownorjesterinSpanish comedyof the 16th century. Clarín, the clown inPedro Calderón de la Barca'sLife is a dreamis recognized as a gracioso.

Benjamin Ivrydescribes thegraciosoas "scatological, sexual, anti-feminist, anti-Semitic, and a vehicle for wild, anti-heroic satire. A gross trickster with license to every obscenity, a gracioso could also be poignant, but mostly he burlesqued eroticism by declaring as identical hermaphrodites, homosexuals andeunuchs.

Northrop Fryeidentified him as a type oftricky slave.

Alborada del gracioso,the fourth movement ofMiroirs(1904–05) byMaurice Ravel,is a musical portrait of agracioso.

References

• This article incorporates text from a publication now in thepublic domain:Wood, James,ed. (1907). "Gracioso".The Nuttall Encyclopædia.London and New York: Frederick Warne.