Inspired by the similarities between human existence and the seasons, Ramón del Valle-Inclán created 4 modernist stories known as the Sonatas tetralogy. From that highly regarded series comes this 1904 masterpiece. It chronicles a Don Juan's passion for a beguiling young aristocratic woman who intends to take the veil. The only available dual-language edition.

"This book is a collection of eleven essays devoted to the work of Ramon del Valle-Inclan (1866-1936). Long the recipient of critical analyses from various perspectives, Valle-Inclan's writing has nevertheless been virtually neglected in the gender-based criticism that has given rise to important studies of his contemporaries in other European literatures. This means that his diverse female characters have not been fully examined, that many scholars continue to consider him an unqualified misogynist, and that a marked effort to surmount gender constraints, present throughout his work, has not been acknowledged, much less explicated. This lack of study is intimately related to a much broader lacuna in Hispanic literature and scholarship, for the working of gender norms and their interaction with economic, religious, and political institutions inscribed in the literature of turn-of-the-century Spain have only recently begun to receive detailed study." "The essays in this volume identify, explore, and interrogate issues of gender with respect to Valle-Inclan's writing. The results offer an altered portrait of Valle-Inclan in which attitudes attributed to him are questioned and reevaluated. In particular, studies of several strong female characters indicate that he envisioned a far more complex role for women than has formerly been recognized." "Three previously published essays were chosen to provide a grounding in work on gender and Valle-Inclan. The remaining essays were written for this volume. As an orientation for the reader and in order to assure that the collection will be of use and interest to non-Hispanists as well as specialized readers, an introduction to the collection defines the intentions of the editors, discusses the essays with respect to current criticism, and places Valle-Inclan and his writing in turn-of-the-century Spanish history and aesthetics. As a whole, the collection reads as far more than the sum of its individual essays, prompting a fuller appreciation of both Valle-Inclan and the social and cultural system to which he belongs."--BOOK JACKET.Title Summary field provided by Blackwell North America, Inc. All Rights Reserved

Published by Boydell & Brewer Inc.

The Cambridge Companion to the Spanish Novel presents the development of the modern Spanish novel from 1600 to the present. Drawing on the combined legacies of Don Quijote and the traditions of the picaresque novel, these essays focus on the question of invention and experiment, on what constitutes the singular features of evolving fictional forms. It examines how the novel articulates the relationships between history and fiction, high and popular culture, art and ideology, and gender and society. Contributors highlight the role played by historical events and cultural contexts in the elaboration of the Spanish novel, which often takes a self-conscious stance toward literary tradition. Topics covered include the regional novel, women writers, and film and literature. This companionable survey, which includes a chronology and guide to further reading, conveys a vivid sense of the innovative techniques of the Spanish novel and of the debates surrounding it.

The dream of “progress” that animated many nineteenth-century artistic and political movements gave way at the turn of the century to a dissatisfaction with the Industrial Civilization and a recurrent pessimism about a future dominated by mechanization. Art Nouveau, which was both a style and a movement, embodied this dissatisfaction, marking the turn-of-the-century period with an aesthetic that consciously set out to revolutionize literature, the arts, and society within the framework of a brutalizing, wildly burgeoning Industrial Civilization. Generally associated with northern European culture, Art Nouveau also had a great impact in the south, particularly in Spain. A Dream of Arcadia is the first work to explore Spain’s fertile and imaginative Art Nouveau. Through the eyes of four major Spanish writers, Lily Litvak views several different aspects of the turn-of-the-century struggle against the advances of industrialism in Spain. Her interpretation of the early works of Ramón del Valle Inclán, Miguel de Unamuno, José Martínez Ruiz (Azorín), and Pío Baroja exposes a longing for a preindustrial arcadia based on a return to nature, the revival of handicrafts and medieval art, an attraction to rural primitive societies, and a revulsion against the modern city. Set against the European literary and artistic background of the period, her observations place the Spanish manifestations of Art Nouveau within the context of the better-known northern phenomena. Of particular interest is her discussion of the influences of John Ruskin, William Morris, and the Pre-Raphaelites, which demonstrates how the general European mood was articulated in Spain. Litvak concludes that Valle Inclán, Unamuno, Azorín, and Baroja must be considered as more than simply fin de siècle writers, for they became part of a general movement, generated by Art Nouveau, that spans an entire century. A Dream of Arcadia demonstrates that Art Nouveau was more than a flash on Europe's artistic horizon; it is a philosophy with ramifications that have led to communes, handcrafted articles, and nomadic adolescents in search of truth.