SOURCE: A review of La doble historia del doctor Valmy, in Modern Languages Journal, Vol. 70, No. 4, Winter, 1986, pp. 440–41.

In the following review, McKay praises Buero Vallejo's La doble historia del doctor Valmy and recommends it as part of an undergraduate curriculum.

Buero Vallejo's nineteenth performed work has much to offer Spanish language students as a drama of provocative intensity. This edition commends itself superbly as that vehicle: it will challenge young readers, already grappling with identity crises and the meaning of social responsibility, to search further for the reality of their relationship with others. A lengthy play of symbolic realism, La doble historia del doctor Valmy deals earnestly with such themes as torture, guilt, self-deception, cowardice, evasion, human isolation, and the breakdown of caring and redeeming communication. It was written in 1964 but not performed in Spain until after Franco's death. While Buero strongly deplores the cruelty of police...