A Neurodivergent Character

Abstract

Chapter 1 discusses neurodivergent characters. This chapter analyses Lope de Vega’s eponymous ‘dama boba’ [daft lady] Finea, from La Dama Boba (1613). Finea challenges static, stilted ideas of neurodivergent representation. This chapter argues that reading Finea and other characters for resonance with present-day neurodivergent experience enables us to appreciate neurodivergence as an aesthetic phenomenon. Finea’s resistance to normative teaching methods evokes both early modern and present-day experiences of academic ableism. The chapter explains the ways in which La Dama Boba is shaped by, and responds to, contemporary debates about neoplatonic love and the education of women. A new reading of the play is advanced: one in which Finea does not lose her daftness at the end of the play, but vitally learns through and with it from start to finish.