Search results for ""author robert m. fedorchek""

Juan Valera (1824-1905), one of nineteenth-century Spain's most respected authors, wrote novels, short stories, poetry, essays, and literary criticism. The unifying thread of his work is "art for art's sake," that is, beauty as the end and purpose of inspiration and creativity. Two examples in long works of this aesthetic credo are his novels Pepita Jiménez (1874) and the novel translated here, Doña Luz (1879); the former is about a seminarian who falls in love with a young widow, and the latter, is about another young woman, one who seeks to escape the stigma of illegitimacy and lead a quiet life. The introduction discusses Valera's aesthetics and oeuvre and analyzes Doña Luz in relation to them, as well as to other nineteenth-century Spanish and European novels; Notes explain cultural, historical, and literary references; the Select Bibliography lists first editions of Valera's novels, modern editions of Doña Luz, English translation of Valera's novels, and secondary sources.

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Juanita La Larga (1896), the third of Juan Valera's eponymous novels with a female protagonist, unfolds in a small town in nineteenth-century Spain and tells the story of a young girl's romance with a wealthy widower many years her senior. In addition to their substantial difference in years and class, the lovers must contend with the indignation of his imperious married daughter, the public rebuke of a churchman, and the strictures of society. As the novel opens, readers are introduced to Juanita in the exuberance of youth. We witness her maturation into a young woman and along the way we watch as she learns to deal with humiliation, anger, jealousy, and a pride that makes for bittersweet moments. Juanita reveals a cunning personality that is complemented by a dogged determination and an iron will; once she realizes what she wants in life neither the fear of reprisal nor the prospect of ostracism deters her. Other well-conceived, well-delineated characters are Juana, Juanita's mother and village do-it-all; Dona Ines, the haughty, sanctimonious daughter of the widower Don Paco who falls head over heels in love with Juanita and wants to marry her; Don Alvaro Roldan, Dona Ines's dissolute husband; and Don Policarpo, the town druggist. This charming work appears here for the first time in English and is elegantly translated by Robert M. Fedorchek. ""Juanita la Larga"" gives Valera an opportunity to describe, in loving detail, life in an Andalusian hamlet: its social levels, political intrigues, religious observances, rustic amenities, and hearty fare. But above all it offers a vibrant picture of Juanita, a worthy sister to other Valera heroines like Pepita of ""Pepita Jimenez"" (1874) and Luz of ""Dona Luz"" (1879).

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AlarcónOs OOThe NunOO has been praised as a stark depiction of decadence and decline, Captain Poison as a humorous reversal of The Taming of the Shrew, OOMoors and ChristiansOO as an astute commentary on greed, and OOThe Tall WomanOO as an absorbing tale of the fantastic and supernatural. Together the four works show that AlarcónOs imagination in short prose fiction thrived at the middle of his writing career and at the end of it.

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José Maria Eça de Queirós (1845-1900) was a Portuguese author in the realist style, whose work has been translated into 20 languages. The Count of Abranhos was published posthumously, and this is the first time it has been translated into English. Alípio Severo Abranhos, born to poor parents in a small town in the north of Portugal, goes off to spend his boyhood and adolescence with an aunt whose material well-being constitutes, for him, the lap of luxury. And he likes and becomes accustomed to luxury. As he follows a course of study for his bacharel at the University of Coimbra, certain negative character traits come to the fore, and upon completion of his degree he leaves behind a pregnant maid to take up residence in Lisbon. In the capital, he calculates—as a young man with neither position, nor fortune, nor social standing—how to get ahead in life. And the path is through marriage to a young woman of social status and promise of a sizable dowry, both of which can facilitate his rise in politics and government. Alípio’s weapons, his means, are various modes of hypocrisy—social hypocrisy, religious hypocrisy, filial hypocrisy, and political hypocrisy, with dishonesty, cowardice, and a farcical duel thrown in for good measure. Eça, like all accomplished novelists, does not tell us what Alípio becomes, rather he lets us see what he becomes, for with his unerring sense of satire, of character portrayal, and plot movement he lets the Count of Abranhos, with his steps and missteps, inform us himself of what he becomes. And with his actions, Alípio Severo Abranhos emerges as the personification, the very epitome, of the grim state of politics in nineteenth-century Portugal, a state engendered by the dogged pursuit of power. And through the obsequious eyes of Alípio’s biographer and the sycophantic hangers-on who wish to glory in his orbit, readers have a clear picture of the “great” man—a type who exhibits universal characteristics not confined to Eça de Queirós’s native country, nor to his time.

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Juan Valera's ""The Illusions of Doctor Faustino"" (Las ilusiones del doctor Faustino) came out in 1875, one year after the resounding success of his ""Pepita Jimenez"". One of the author's contemporaries, the critic Manuel de la Revilla, considered it among the most important novels of his time and compared it to Flaubert's ""L'Education"" sentimentale on account of the negative influence of Romanticism on the protagonist's character and life.Don Faustino Lopez de Mendoza, scion of an illustrious but impoverished family of the highest nobility, believes himself destined for great accomplishments in the literary world, sees himself as a poet of the first rank, and immerses himself in grand, if not grandiose, illusions.While living in a provincial Andalusian town and dreaming of triumphing in Madrid's artistic circles, Faustino embarks on a discovery of love, anguishes over his impecunious state, and engages in endless self-analysis. Love - or, at all events, a monetarily advantageous marriage - seems to go hand in glove with turning his illusions and dreams into triumphs and realities.He falls for Costanza and is rejected by her; he falls for Maria and she eludes him; he thinks he falls for Rosita then callously scorns her after meeting up again with Maria, who flees from him after a night of lovemaking. Reduced to financial ruin by a revengeful Rosita, Faustino betakes himself to the Spanish capital. Many years later all three women, as well as his daughter Irene (by Maria), converge in Madrid, and how he extricates himself from each relationship and meets his sad end constitutes the denouement of this searching novel that depicts the deleterious effects of the Romantic malaise that swept through western Europe in the early part of the nineteenth century.

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Clarín has been acclaimed as nineteenth-century Spain's most profound short-fiction writer, and Ten Tales features selections that have been singled out by critics as among his best efforts.

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Don Alvaro, or the Force of Fate by Angel de Saavedra, Duke of Rivas (1791-1865), premiered in 1835 in Madrid and changed the Spanish stage forever after. It was the benchmark Romantic play of early nineteenth-century Spain. In this English edition designed for either classroom use or performance, Robert Fedorchek presents a readable translation faithful to the tone and spirit of the original. Joyce Tolliver enhances the book with a rich introduction highlighting the work's lasting significance. The play tells of the torrid love of the mysterious Don Alvaro and the lovely Dona Leonor, and how fate intervenes - by way of Alvaro's role in the ""accidental"" death of Leonor's father - to bring about the extermination of Leonor's family at the hands of the man who loves her to distraction. Although chronologically not the first Spanish Romantic drama, Don Alvaro is generally considered the true exponent of the freedom of expression that Romanticism brought to the theater. It does away with all the Neoclassical rules: it exceeds twenty-four hours; the action takes place in two countries; it mixes high and low; prose alternates with verse; and the characters express, melodramatically and passionately, their innermost feelings. It is also generally considered the first play in the best trilogy, along with Antonio Garcia Gutierrez's El trovador (The troubadour, 1836) and Juan Eugenio Hartzenbusch's Los amantes de Teruel (The lovers of Teruel, 1837).

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