Life Is A Dream

The drama contained in this volume is one of the most celebrated of all Calderon's writings. "Life Is A Dream" (in Spanish "La Vida Es Sueño), has been translated into many languages and performed with success on almost every stage in Europe but that of England. So late as the winter of 1866-7, in a Russian version, it drew crowded houses to the great theatre of Moscow; while a few years earlier, as if to give a signal proof of the reality of its title, and that Life was indeed a Dream, the Queen of Sweden expired in the theatre of Stockholm during the performance of "Life Is A Dream". In England the play has been much studied for its literary value and the exceeding beauty and lyrical sweetness of some passages.