A bestseller in its time with four published editions, Blanca Sol (1889) was a highly controversial novel when it first appeared. Thought by many to be a roman à clef about a well-known woman of Lima's high society, Mercedes Cabello de Carbonera (1842-1909) distanced herself from this criticism by making substantial changes for the second edition and by including a prologue stating her intentions of writing a realist novel, a social novel, inspired in reality, but not a copy. With a well earned reputation as an outspoken feminist writer and contributor to cultural journals in Peru and abroad with essays such as «La influencia de la mujer en la civilización» and «Necesidad de una industria para la mujer», Mercedes Cabello explores in Blanca Sol the consequences of social climbing, adulation, vanity, and excessive narcissistic infatuation, while also criticizing loveless marriage. The eponymous protagonist wryly declares in this regard, «marriage without love was nothing but prostitution accepted by society». The novel tells the story of Blanca Sol's move to social heights, and then her descent into prostitution. Blanca marries a wealthy simpleton to save her family from their lost fortune and maintain her social position. While she lives the life of a socialite, her husband goes into bankruptcy as a result of Blanca's lifestyle. Faced with penury, six children to support, and a husband confined in an insane asylum due to the combined effect of financial insolvency and marital failure, Blanca Sol follows what she thinks is the only road to maintain her past lifestyle: prostitution. Defiant up to the very end, she seeks to take revenge despising society «and scoffing at virtue and morality». Blanca Sol presents many of the themes Mercedes Cabello writes in her essays: pretense, excessive materialism, marriage for convenience, and women's education. The novel combines melodrama and realistic techniques to portrait the vices of Blanca Sol and examine a society that, in the eyes of the author, values gold above all. As Mazquiarán de Rodríguez points out, many critics consider Blanca Sol to be «the first naturalistic attempt at a novel to appear in Peru». Mercedes Cabello de Carbonera is also the author of the novels Sacrificio y recompensa (1886); Los amores de Hortensia (Una historia contemporánea) (1887); Eleodora (1887); Las consecuencias (1889); El conspirador (1892). Additionally, she published the following essays in book form: La novela moderna. Estudio filosófico (1892); La Religión de la Humanidad. Carta al señor D. Juan Enrique Lagarrigue (1893); El conde León Tolstoy (1894). This new critical edition of Mercedes Cabello's novel -fully annotated, conveniently priced, and easily available in the U.S.- is suited for courses on 19th century Latin American literature, women studies that focus on Latin America, Latin American Studies, and literature and cultural surveys on Latin America.

Blanca Sol (Spanish Edition)

Literature & Fiction

Cabello De Carbonera, Mercedes

Literary

Stockcero

This Argentine literary classic, one of the most subtle and perceptive commentaries ever written about life on the frontier, appeared in print initially in serial form. Later published as a book, Una excursión a los indios ranqueles constitutes one of the few literary works that presents a vivid and testimonial account of a peaceful encounter between the native inhabitants of the South and those who consider themselves to be representatives of European civilization and of the Argentina of the future. Esteemed for its humor and narrative originality, Lucio V. Mansilla's Una excursión a los indios ranqueles is comparable to Sarmiento's Facundo and the two complement each other. Mansilla's book offers penetrating observations about the fundamental aspects of the confrontation between "civilization and barbarism," as well as about immigration, racial and ethnic diversity, private property ownership and land tenure. Juan Manuel de Rosas had dominated a large part of the country between 1829 and 1852 and despite having led successful expeditions against the indigenous frontier populations, the situation of the "Indian question" after his fall from power was a problematic one. In 1869, after a peace treaty was signed, Mansilla was sent to the tense frontier zone on a fact-finding mission. Colonel Mansilla, an experienced and cultured aristocrat, as well as a nephew of Rosas' (which he wrote "Rozas), was an exception in his era for his advocacy of an open dialogue as the best solution for the "Indian problem." Eventually the peaceful treaty he sought with the Ranqueles was rejected by the government, which gradually established policies of ethnic cleansing and land expropriation Mansilla, with subtle humor, titled his expedition an "excursion," elegantly minimizing the dangers it entailed and avoiding any allusion to his disobedience to orders. During the trip Mansilla wrote a series of letters to a friend which were later published in La Tribuna of Buenos Aires. His detailed observations offer, besides a sharp-eyed and amusing commentary, quantities of ethnographic information, particularly valuable since shortly after that the majority of indigenous people in the south of Argentina were exterminated or assimilated. This book, as well as his participation in political and social events, established Lucio V. Mansilla as one of the dominating figures of the "Generation of 1880," which is so important in the literary and intellectual development of modern Argentina. This edition, by Saul Sosnowski, is an updated version of the text published by Biblioteca Ayacucho in 1984, to which he has added many very useful footnotes that aid in fuller comprehension of the text.

Una Excursion a Los Indios Ranqueles (Spanish Edition)

Mansilla, Lucio V.

Travel

Since its publication in 1554, Lazarillo de Tormes has continued to fascinate and confuse its readers: is it an autobiography or the product of a creative mind, thus, a work of fiction? Is the author really anonymous? Was a new genre created with Lazarillo, or is it a mere precursor? This novella is read, studied, and taught as a canonic work of the picaresque although some scholars ascertain that the genre was born five years later with Mateo Alemán's Guzmán de Alfarache. By using a postmodern looking glass it may become possible to calibrate much of what has been said about Lazarillo de Tormes. The awareness of the historical moment can make the reader come to the realization that Lazarillo speaks openly about an unfortunate if not despicable reality fraught with famine and abandonment in a society ruled by prejudice and persecution in the name of God, the Monarch, and the Church. Four editions were published in 1554 (Alcalá, Amberes, Burgos y Medina del Campo), yet the Spanish Inquisition prohibited the book in 1559; it was not until the 1800s that it was brought back to light, even though it was translated and reprinted continuously throughout Europe. For over four and a half centuries, Lazarillo has provoked polemics having to do with realities that are not removed from our present-day world. This new edition seeks to present the so-called picardías of the young lad that sets forth the title of this timeless text while discovering the connection that it continues to have with the outcasts, in particular the abandoned and abused children of all times. This edition by prof. Asima F. X. Saad Maura includes a clear foreword, an exhaustive set of notes and a detailed chronology that allows the modern reader understand in depth the text and fully enjoy reading this cornerstone of the hispanic literature.

La Vida de Lazarillo de Tormes (Spanish Edition)

ANONYMOUS

Contemporary

La hija del bandido o los subterraneos del Nevado (1887) is Refugio de Barragan de Toscano's second novel. Full of adventure and intrigue this romantic text follows Maria as she tries to undo her bandit father's misdeeds and through actions of courage and kindness earn a position in the highly class-stratified society of late eighteenth century Mexico. During this time Mexico was still a colony of Spain and the novel depicts how the soon-to-be nation was ravaged by marauding bandits that terrorized the countryside. They kidnapped women, assaulted stagecoaches and robbed unarmed, defenseless travelers. Vicente Colombo is the typical bandit leader, except for one thing- he has a daughter whom he loves and must somehow accommodate in social society. In keeping with the theme of many national novels of the era Barragan limns the beauty of the Mexican countryside- its valleys, mountains, flora and fauna. La hija should be read alongside Mexican bandit classics such as Ignacio Altamirano's El zarco (1901), and Manuel Payno's Los bandidos de Rio Frio (1888). The exceptionality of this bandit novel written by a nineteenth-century Mexican woman is her portrayal of the female protagonist as an independent, active young woman who takes charge of her destiny and overcomes the social stain of being a criminal's daughter. In her novel Barragan, portrays Maria not as a subservient subject but as a willful actor who wants to live with dignity, thus introducing a unique proto-feminist nationalist vision- though marked by the author's religious tendencies- within Mexico's foundational fictions.

La Hija del Bandido (Spanish Edition)

Barragan De Toscano, Refugio

As he wrote La casa de Bernarda Alba, Federico Garcia Lorca explained: "drama is poetry that escapes the book and becomes human. And as it is being made it talks and shouts, cries and despairs". Lorca saw in theatre the most perfect means to reach people's souls, more immediate and effective than poetry, and he kindled this possibility even amidst difficult times. Lorca is, mainly, a poet, and as so his plays possess great visual as well as linguistic virtue. The last of the rural tragedies -Bernarda Alba was preceded by Bodas de sangre (1933) and Yerma (1934)- was finished in June 1936. It was meant to open in Buenos Aires in October, played by the Margarita Xirgu company, but Lorca was murdered in July. War events postponed the opening until 1945, but in Spain the play would stay banned until 1964. The plot is deceivingly simple: Bernarda Alba exerts a tyrant control upon her daughters, who live as prisoners within her house walls. The conflict is deprivation of freedom, blown up to tragic proportions by the death of Bernarda Alba's second husband and her decision to impose eight years of strict mourning. But this mourning goes far beyond the usual black clothing: during the following eight years no one will leave the house, and no man will enter. The reclusion is the results of them being women of a certain social position. The authority/freedom conflict is visible through the submission of the feminine condition -the subtitle Drama of women in the towns of Spain highlights this-. Freedom is stifled by the prejudices of a social class enslaved by appearance and tortured afraid by gossip. Lorca's theatrical experience is highly noticeable in his way of highlighting the conflict without superfluous details: lighting, costumes, text and language, and the actresses' movements, everything is measured to the last millimeter. And the closing words of the main character become a remarkable premonition of what would shroud Spain during many following years. "And I do not want sobbing. Death must be stared in her face". "¡Silence, silence I have said! ¡Silence! Professor Borja Rodriguez-Gutierrez adds to this edition a clear introductory essay that dismantles Garcia Lorca's clockwork mechanism, while introducing annotations that allow the reader to fully grasp the meaning of this influential cornerstone of Hispanic letters.

La Casa de Bernarda Alba (Spanish Edition)

Garcia-Lorca,Federico

Dramas & Plays

Francisco Delicado's Portrait of Lozana: The Lusty Andalusian Woman describes a community of Spanish Jewish conversos who flee from the Inquisition and settle in Rome, Italy, during the first third of the 16th century. A surprisingly modern novel which uses colloquial street language novel to provide a vivid description of a lower class Roman neighborhood as seen by Spanish immigrants at the bottom of the social hierarchy. The central character is a woman, beautiful, witty, rootless and itinerant, who attempts to live independently in Rome. We learn her story through her dialogues with an array of characters, each one with a very individual voice, that create a sense of immersion in a 16th century Roman neighborhood. The "Auctor" engages actively in the text with his characters, even discussing the process of writing, foreshadowing the works of Miguel de Cervantes. This classic text is a striking prefiguration of the modern novel, with its polyphonic voices, metafiction, and the extraordinary interaction of the Auctor with his characters. Prof. Tatiana Bubnova, of the Universidad Nacional Autonoma de México, based the edition on the original (Venice, c.1530 ) at the Osterreichische Nationalbibliothek in Vienna, and the facsimile edition by Antonio Perez Gomez (Valencia, 1950). The text without modernization allows students to become familiar with the 16th century Spanish book. The critical apparatus takes into account the ideas of former editors and provides extensive documentation and explanation of sources, sayings, proverbs, quotes and idiomatic expressions, introducing readers in the many dimensions of this engaging novel.

La Lozana Andaluza (Spanish Edition)

Delicado, Francisco

Ifigenia: Diario de una señorita que escribió porque se fastidiaba (Diary of a young lady who wrote because she was bored, 1924) is the first of two novels by the Venezuelan writer Teresa de la Parra (Paris, 1889-Madrid, 1936). Her second, much shorter novel, Las memorias de Mamá Blanca (1929), was one of the few authored by a woman to be admitted to the Spanish American canon before the radical rereading of the tradition by feminists in the 1970s and 80s. Ifigenia, however, was long neglected, in part, due to the controversy it ignited when it first appeared and its subtle and even deceptive use of a first person narrative. Recently, the contemporary Mexican novelist Carmen Boullosa has described Ifigenia as "one of the most convincing, intelligent, and seductive novels in [the Spanish] language," and called its republication "an elemental and necessary act of literary justice." In her own times, Teresa de la Parra mingled with the European and Latin American avant garde, but resisted its fascination while taking note of its lessons. Instead, she opted to respect the basic narrative rules of the 19th century, but used these to describe a very modern conflict: women's need for economic and intellectual independence, and the tragic and far from edifying fate reserved for those who fail to achieve it. Eugenia, the novel's young, naive, but ambitious, intelligent, and well-read protagonist/narrator, tells her own story, at first in a confidential letter to her best friend, and then, to the ever forgiving indulgence of "Dear diary." The narration is by turns witty, even mockingly funny, presumptuously self-important, and poignant as it reveals the temptations and doubts of an all too inexperienced young woman pressured to choose among too few alternatives. Eugenia's confessional tale takes us on a mesmerizing tour through the confined universe of an upper class señorita in the Caracas of the early 1920s. At first her journey seems a safe and even promising one, but soon enough the reader discovers that her comparatively privileged world bears little resemblance to paradise. To grow, to mature, to understand, in this world mean to eschew ones better judgment, to become diminished, to live life as a string of renunciations. The title hints at sacrifice. To join this social order is to become a sacrificial victim, true, but the voice we listen to (socially constructed, like all voices) is compelling proof that everything urgently needs to be rethought. The novel itself forces us to rethink, and paradoxically does so by appearing to respect the very rules that suffocate its heroine. In this edition Elizabeth Garrels (MIT) provides a critical foreword and notes to assist the reader in discovering the richness and complexity of this longtime underestimated novel.

Ifigenia (Spanish Edition)

De La Parra, Teresa

Parra, Teresa De LA

United States

Between wars (1918-1939) Benjamin Jarnes (1888-1949) was considered among the most appreciated Spanish writers, and his novels were distinguished by the European critiques of the time. "Locura y muerte de Nadie", along "Paula y Paulita", "Escenas junto a la muerte" and "Teoría del zumbel", belong to a fiction cycle, unique in the peninsular narrative of those years; novels in which Jarnes experiments with the new forms of metafiction to highlight the existential condition of the human being in the newly technified mass society. "Locura y muerte de Nadie", simultaneously "agonic" and "carnivalesque" fiction, was written -in its first version- on the verge of the great depression (1929), and its second version dates from the Spanish civil war (1937). In his novel Jarnes sets his focus on the main role, a "nobody", and the mass characteristics individuals display in our society. But also, with the female character, Matilde, Jarnes explores the individualistic characteristics that may still remain. The second version was left unpublished until 1962, and Jarnes both forgotten in his Mexican exile and devalued by the Spanish literary post-war critiques. Finally, and due to the new literary theories, specially after the '90s, a growing number of critiques, the "new jarnesians" are restablishing Benjamin Jarnes' works their prominent standing, clearly among the best Spanish literature of the XXth Century. This Victor Fuentes, annotated edition of "Locura y muerte de Nadie", is aimed both at the general reader as well as the scholar and student, and makes a great reading for courses on modern and avant garde peninsular literature.

Locura y Muerte de Nadie (Spanish Edition)

Jarnes, Benjamin

"Viaje a la Habana" (Madrid: 1844) written by the Countess of Merlin, neé María de las Mercedes Santa Cruz y Montalvo, is one of the most seductive texts of Spanish American Romanticism, forerunner of the Caribbean "journey to the source," as it narrates the re-encounter with colonial society from which the author had parted soon after adolescence. Focused on colonial Havana, "Viaje a la Habana" traces the topography of the colonial city, considered the jewel of the overseas Spanish colonies, as the narrator wanders along childhood scenarios remembering relatives and long-lost family members. Merlin's African wet nurse, her uncle Montalvo, mulata divas, Creole women, even commercial agents, are evoked with poetic emotion, while the presence of other groups that compose early Cuban nationality can be felt in the background: portraits of the sugar aristocracy are sketched along with poetic renditions of "guajiros" in the countryside. Part of a longer work dedicated to "La Havane", published the same year in Paris, "Viaje a la Habana" is an editorial enigma as there is no mention of a translator, nor do we know for sure why the Countess chose to cut down the longer French edition. With a foreword and biographical notes by Gertrudis Gomez de Avellaneda, "Viaje a la Habana" is the Countess of Merlin's most important work, continuing the autobiographical production begun with by "Mes douze premières années" (1831), translated by Agustín de Palma as "Mis doce primeros años" (1838). The second memoir, "Souvenirs et Mémoires", (1836) follows young Mercedes reunited once more with her family in Madrid; her marriage with general Antoine-Christophe Merlin (1771-1839) during the French occupation of Spain; and the couple's dramatic escape through the Pyrenees after Bonaparte's defeat. During her married life (1812-1839), Mercedes Merlin establishes a highly successful literary salon in Paris, a role that sparks her transformation into a writer. Despite passing the majority of her adult life in France, Merlin never looses her strong ties to the island and her concern about its progress and welfare, a recurring topic both in "La Havane" and "Viaje a la Habana". Stemming from the author's hybrid imagination as Cuban and French, "Viaje a la Habana" expands our understanding of Spanish American Romanticism, as it reveals the prolonged colonial condition of the island of Cuba at the moment of awakening to a national conscience. As travel writing, this autobiographical text reverts the conventions of the eighteenth-century "grand tour" as it replaces the exoticism of Italian landscape and ruins with the faraway geography of the Caribbean island. In this edition, Professor Adriana Méndez Rodenas underlines the foundational character of the text, adding critical notes and bibliography that helps the modern reader understand and enjoy Mercedes Merlin's delightful prose.

Viaje a la Habana (Spanish Edition)

Biographies & Memoirs

Montalvo, Mercedes

Community & Culture

Jorge Isaacs' María is perhaps the best known, most frequently read 19th century Spanish American novel, but at the same time, the most often misunderstood by modern readers and critics alike. The novel has been labeled by some critics as a real tear-jerker that seeks to revive, and to share with the reader, the loss of a first love. The story is recounted by Efraín, a first-person narrator, who tells it in retrospection, reconstructing the events and feelings of the moment, but in many instances reacting to that past in the emotional framework of the present. The abundant weeping in the tale has been marked as the most criticized narrative device used by Isaacs, causing modern audiences being little able to appreciate the sentimentality of the tear-filled novel. This persistent complain indicates the lack of knowledge about the "age of sensibility" and the idea of masculinity that spread throughout western European literature and culture during the second part of the 18th century and the 19th century. The notion of sensibility was a powerful force in the development of social thinking, art, and philosophy. It was associated with beliefs of sympathy, virtue, benevolence, tender feelings, and compassion, thus being considered the essential link between the human body and the psychological, intellectual, and ethical faculties of humankind. In this way, sensibility was a prominent feature of the novel after the second parte of the 18th century. This notion required a man of sensibility, whose sensitive personality combined reason and romantic emotion, and was able to shed tears without losing his masculinity. This expression of emotion and copious tears run through the pages of 18th and 19th century novels almost without inhibition. Ideas of sensibility and masculinity that influenced Isaacs' composition of his novel and are evident in the representation of all his characters, particularly in Efraín. Locating Isaacs' narrative work within its proper historical context, shows the deep knowledge of the culture of sensibility the author possessed, and how he used those rhetorical postulates to structure his novel. As versed in the field of medicine of his time, and a great reader of literature, the author's erudition became part of the organization of the fictional world he created. In this edition Dr Flor María Rodriguez-Arenas foreword explains these characteristics, and her footnotes help the modern reader understand an often obscure regional vocabulary.

Maria (Spanish Edition)

Isaacs, Jorge

History & Criticism

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