The term theater which appears in the title of this study must be understood in a broad sense that does not refer exclusively to the performing arts. It does not discount that our reality can be understood as a theatrum mundi, but it is not limited to this definition. Nor does it make exclusive reference to the spectacle produced by the media, or to the Debordian definition of spectacle as the state of subjection of “human beings insofar as the economy has already completely subjected them.” The theater to which I refer is a topos (place or territory), in particular a literary topos.

In classical rhetoric, a topos was a “place” where information could be found. These topoi were thematic categories, common places that helped to delineate the relationships between the ideas that made up a discourse. Our word topic, commonly used in English, originally referred to these themes. The topoi, or loci in Latin, were a tacit part of the Western poetic and literary tradition at least since Homer’s time.

One of the most common literary places is the locus amoenus, or pleasant place, usually an idyllic forest clearing with trees that provide plenty of shade, a meadow and a natural source of water that together offer a sense of well-being and ease, a place of eternal spring, music, dance and, of course, a regenerative sexuality intimately related to the cycles of an exuberant nature.