Francisco Nieva and Postmodernist Theatre

Critical and conceptual, this study examines and advances the debate on postmodernist theater by presenting the works of Francisco Nieva as bona-fide examples of this avant-garde school. It also redefines the existing historical boundaries of literary postmodernism by asserting Spain's role in shaping that history through the 1940s neo-avant-garde movement known as "Postismo," which thrived even in the face of suppression from Franco's government. Through examples and analysis, the text argues that Postismo was the earliest systematic manifestation in the Iberian Peninsula of literary postmodernism as recognized today and that Nieva is not only Postismo's chief proponent but also its only legitimate playwright.