SOURCE: Kronik, John W. “Buero Vallejo's El Tragaluz and Man's Existence in History.” Hispanic Review 41 (spring 1973): 371-96.

In the following essay, Kronik provides a thematic and stylistic analysis of El tragaluz and views the play as the culmination of Buero Vallejo's dramatic work.

In El tragaluz, Buero Vallejo addresses himself to a problem of existence that pervades his entire dramatic output of the past twenty years: the interrelationship between man and his circumstance, between his inner and outer realities. The play, which began a highly successful run in Madrid on October 7, 1967, is neither a novelty nor a departure in Buero's line of development as a dramatist. Rather, it is a culmination, and as such is a gateway to his art. A probe of its contents gives answers to the questions that Buero has posed across the years through a variety of characters and situations. At the same time...