Humanities > Biblical theatre: Joseph!
ABOAB, ISAAC DE MATTATHIAS (1631-1707).
Comedia de la vida y sucessos de Josseph.
Manuscript in Spanish, on paper.
Amsterdam, 1685.
MS X86 Ab7
Rare Book and Manuscript Library
During the Golden Age of Spanish literature, a number of plays were written about the Biblical story of Joseph. The play shown here, Comedia de la vida y sucessos de Josseph, was the only one written by a Jew. Isaac de Mattathias Aboab was the child of crypto-Jews who fled the Inquisition in Portugal in the early 17th century, and eventually settled with many of their former compatriots in the welcoming city of Amsterdam.
The play is written in Spanish, although it also includes traces of Aboab's native Portuguese and Ladino (Judeo-Spanish). This play uses themes from Jewish historical texts such as Sefer Ha-Yashar, which do not appear in the other "Joseph" plays. In addition, it is clear that, Aboab was familiar with Spanish literature as well, as shown by similarities in his play to Miguel de Carvajal's Tragedia Josephina and Lope de Vaga's El Caballero de Olmedo.