A beautiful and haunting tale of love, betrayal, knowledge, and power, Life's a Dream (La vida es sueno, 1636) is the best known and most widely admired play of Catholic Europe's greatest dramatist, Pedro Calderon de la Barca (1600-1681). Calderon's long life witnessed both the pinnacle and collapse of Spanish political power as well as the great flowering of Spanish classical literature. Michael Kidd's new prose translation renders Calderon's masterpiece into a transparent, modern American idiom that preserves the beauty and complexity of Calderon's Baroque Spanish. The result is a highly readable and adaptable text that is enhanced by a generous selection of supporting materials, including a thorough critical introduction and glossary.