Jacob Bidermann is generally considered the best of the Jesuit dramatists not only in his native Germany but also throughout Europe. Each of his many literary works--which include lyric poems and prose stories, as well as plays--is written in Latin, the language of the Catholic Church. Their purpose was to edify the students in Jesuit schools while sharpening their linguistic skills; by being performed, the plays were intended to have the same effects on the educated public. Bidermann's preeminence as a dramatist is because of the liveliness of his characters, and making the characters interest his audience was his chief artistic concern. The characters draw the spectator into the plays so that he or she will heed the works' religious messages. For the same purpose Bidermann combined humorous and serious elements in his dramas, which are anything but Aristotelian. Loosely constructed, they include not only comedy and tragedy...