The Comedy of Foreigners

Professor Earle takes as his subject a comedy in prose by the 16th-century poet and playwright Francisco de Sade Miranda. It was probably written in Italy in 1523-24 and is based on the Roman comedy of Plautus and Terence. Although it is one of the earliest literary works of the Portuguese Renaissance, little attention has ever been paid to it, because the comedy is set in Sicily and has no Portuguese characters. However, Professor Earle argues that Sade Miranda's intention was to portray Italian life at a period of considerable political tension both in Italy itself and in the wider Mediterranean world.