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My favorite things Spain, literature
Again lots of peaks but lots of patches too; the distribution is uneven. Here are a few offhand remarks:
1. Cervantes: Book two of Don Quixote is much better than book one, just in case you never got that far. The Trials of Persiles and Sigismuda is a nice try but ultimately it fails at being the undiscovered classic.
2. Calderon: Life is a Dream. The piece of Spanish literature you are most likely not to have read that you should read. Every smart, well-educated person should know this book.
3. Lope de Vega: If not for the commies he wouldn't be nearly so well-known. He is still a good dramatist, though.
4. El Cid: More readable than you might think, and it makes you realize how close they came to being an Arabic society.
5. Miguel de Unamuno: I have some sympathies for him, but if someone tried to write this stuff today, could it even get published? You could say the same about Jose Ortega y Gasset. Some people say the two are polar opposites, but who outside of Spain really cares?
6. Federico Garcia Lorca: It might be wonderful on stage but I find it unreadable.
7. Javier Cercas: Soldiers of Salamis. One of the best novels on wartime guilt, collective memory, and the ambiguous role of the author in a narrative. Recommended, if you are willing to give it a suitably careful read.
8. Pérez-Reverte: It's fun stuff, but I don't know if it will draw attention twenty years from now. Same with Shadow of the Wind. If anything it is symbolic of the Americanization of European literature and I don't mean that in a favorable way.
9. Albert Sanchez Piñol: I loved Cold Skin, originally written in Catalan. His book on the Congo awaits me.
10. Javier Marias is good, especially A Heart so White.
The bottom line: Call me provincial, but I see 1660-1980 as a slow patch, at least for a country of Spain's historic stature.
Maybe some will call for counting Orwell, Hemingway, and others inspired by Spain. Will you argue for Pio Baroja? Or perhaps The Family of Pascal Duarte? In any case literary culture is strong here and I see the future as bright. By the way, I'm always looking for recommendations in Spanish contemporary literature. Is Julian Rios worth reading?
Posted by Tyler Cowen on February 23, 2008 at 04:03 AM in The Arts | Permalink
Comments
I treasure the Don Quixote translation by Edith Wharton. It's interesting how while humanity has such a strong backlog of quality writing, the majority of folk still occupy themselves with newly published works. There is clearly some value in keeping current, but I can't see where it lies.
Posted by: Caravaggio at Feb 23, 2008 6:42:25 AM
Some random additions to your list that have quickly come to my mind:
- Miguel Delibes (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Miguel_Delibes). It's hard to pick up just one of his book but if I had to, today, I would choose Los Santos Inocentes. And the movie based on the book was also great!
- Valle-Inclán (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ram%C3%B3n_del_Valle-Incl%C3%A1n). My favourites: Luces de bohemia (play) and Sonata de Primavera (prose)
- Cela. I have mo sympathies for him whatsoever but La Familia de Pascual Duarte is great, and, in my opinion, La Colmena is even better.
- My Unamuno favourites: San Manuel Bueno Mártir (this is a must) and Abel Sánchez (about envy, which he -rightly in my opinion- called "la lepra nacional"). But this list is probably biased because i'm not a good reader of essays, I prefer to go for fiction and poetry.
- Emilia Pardo Bazán (http://www.cervantesvirtual.com/bib_autor/Pardo_Bazan/ -- found no link in english)
I'm afraid I'm not properly updated regarding Spanish contemporary literature to give good advice (too busy with contemporary literature in Spanish I guess)... but I have a few DONT messages: Lucía Etxebarría, Pérez-Reverte (oh, no, you already read him... one cannot help but wonder why on earth he is sooo full of himself), Juan José Millás...
Posted by: Olivia at Feb 23, 2008 7:51:55 AM
Not really a contemporary, actually a postwar writer, Gonzalo Torrente Ballester is highly recommended. The only Spaniard who truly mastered the latin-american genre par excellence - la literatura fantástica - GTB also wrote a bildungsroman that stands as a masterpiece in any language: "Filomeno, a mi pesar". If you can only read one of his books, "Filomeno" should be your choice.
Posted by: Diogo at Feb 23, 2008 8:27:47 AM
Have you read any Enrique Vila-Matas? His 'Bartelby y compañia' is a classic comtemporary novel (written 1999); see:
http://books.guardian.co.uk/reviews/referenceandlanguages/0,,1282534,00.html
for a review.
Don't forget that Castillian is only one of the *five* official languages of Spain. Until you can read, as well as Castillian, Catalan, Basque, Galician and Occitan I don't think you'll be able to fully appreciate 'Spanish' culture.
For example, Joanot Martorell is a celebrated Catalan (Spanish?) author who is accredited with writing the first modern novel in Europe, 'Tirant lo Blanc':
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joanot_Martorell
Posted by: Christopher Ireland at Feb 23, 2008 9:06:46 AM
Enrique Vila-Matas is seconded. I prefer Bartleby & Co. to Montano's Malady. Am only reading these in English translation. Eager for more to appear.
Cold Skin was fun. Didn't know about Pandora in the Congo. Should have spotted it on the Complete Review.
Posted by: badger at Feb 23, 2008 10:01:14 AM
Prof.Cowen,
I do not agree with you on reading Frederico Garcia Lorca.His comedy plays like "Shoe Maker's Prodigious Wife", "Butterflies Evil Spell" etc are great to read.
Posted by: GVV at Feb 23, 2008 10:01:42 AM
Tyler,
Thanks for the recommendations. For El Cid, you put a link to "Life is a Dream." I think you meant to put the following link or something like it:
http://www.amazon.com/Poem-Cid-Language-Penguin-Classics/dp/0140444467/ref=pd_bbs_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1203779768&sr=1-1
Posted by: David R. Henderson at Feb 23, 2008 10:19:23 AM
Señor.
It is the poetry and lyrical prose of Spain that revived in ther "edad de plata" of the early 20th. Century. For Garcia Lorca, you may find much of his drama hard to take, but his poetry is the stuff dreams are made of. For prose of the period, read Azorin on Castilla, or Platero y Yo.
If you are interested in current fun stuff, read Alfredo Ussia "Las Memorias del Marques de Sotoancho" and its sequels.
And re-read Book 1 of Don Quixote when you have the leisure and inclination to savour it.
Posted by: David Heigham at Feb 23, 2008 10:38:59 AM
Fuentovejuna by Lope de Vega is ranked second only to Don Quijote.It would be perfect pick for your Law and Literature Course.
Tirant Lo Blanch is one of the best cavalry novel Its the only one but for don Quijote were the main character is a rwal human being and not a comics superheroe.
When Hemingway won the Nobel Prize , he went to Pio Baroja and said : "
Maestro, this prize belong to you".
"If not for the commies he wouldn't be nearly so well-known. He is still a good dramatist, though."
He wrote 1400 plays novel and poetry .He is called The Fexix Of Ingenuity"
He is well known in the Western world.
Baltazar Gracian Oraculo de la Prudencia is the spanish Prince or Art of War. It even did the New York Times best sellers list in the 90 when Wall Street was looking for instructions.
For sure Life is Dream is among the 5 most important plays in history with Oedipus Rex , Prometheus Bounded ,Medea and Hamlet
"but I see 1660-1980 as a slow patch, at least for a country of Spain's historic stature. "
yes , after Luis de Molina founded economic liberalism and Juan de Mariara. monetarism, there were nothing much to do.
Posted by: juancarlos at Feb 23, 2008 11:15:01 AM
Not quite on the same level as these other works, but I enjoy the literary mysteries of Arturo Pérez-Reverte, particularly his novel "El club Dumas" (which was un-made into a truly terrible movie with Johnny Depp).
Posted by: Sean Stickle at Feb 23, 2008 11:19:42 AM
Ahh, Spanish culture.
Enjoy a nice Tempranillo for me.
Posted by: ShortWoman at Feb 23, 2008 2:41:59 PM
Antonio Munoz Molina's Beltenebros is quite good, in a noir-ish sort of way.
How about Rubén Darío?
or Lazarillo de Tormes?
Posted by: Dave at Feb 23, 2008 6:11:07 PM
Perhaps you could recommend some nonfiction--narrative histories for example. I am enjoying Vicens Vives' _Approaches to the History of Spain_ and am wondering what else like it is out there.
Posted by: John Murray at Feb 23, 2008 6:56:51 PM
I also recommend the poetry of Gustavo Adolfo Becquer
Posted by: enrique at Feb 23, 2008 8:00:27 PM
Not Cela?
Posted by: notsneaky at Feb 23, 2008 11:39:30 PM
Stay away from Lazarillo de Tormes unless you have a real love of the picaresque. Among the living, check out Juan Goytisolo.
Posted by: dominic at Feb 23, 2008 11:46:48 PM
I also recommend Eduardo Mendoza
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eduardo_Mendoza
Posted by: at Feb 24, 2008 11:08:06 AM
re: Life is a Dream. Is the linked book the prefered translation, or just the one that Amamzon happens to stock? I noticed two very different translations on Gutenberg.org.
Any suggestions on a specfic transalation, or doesn't it matter?
Posted by: dzot at Feb 24, 2008 2:44:13 PM
You forgot the wonderful Alejandro Casona and his great plays. He lived most of his productive life in Buenos Aires, Argentina, where he wrote most of his literature, but he is of spanish origin, was born in Spain, live there until he`s thirties I believe, and chose to die there.
Have tried reading Lorca`s "La Casa de Bernarda Alba"? Anything but unreadable...But you have to get used to the jargon.
Posted by: Luis Zemborain at Feb 24, 2008 3:16:06 PM
Unreadable -- why?
"El Cantar del Mio Cid" was probably the reference, el Cid was the man.
Posted by: Rose at Feb 24, 2008 8:08:41 PM
Carmen Laforet, "Nada."
Posted by: Georgia V. at Feb 24, 2008 10:56:28 PM
Second to Juan Goytisolo among the living. I would add Salinas' _Vispera Del Gozo_ and Ortega y Gasset's _Meditations on Hunting_. There was another... Celebration in the Northwest by ...Matute, maybe?
Posted by: Pennyfeather at Feb 25, 2008 11:12:48 AM
Tyler,
I read you almost daily, so please excuse the first-name basis. I wish I had not missed your visit to Madrid, as I would have loved to be at your talk, and I hope you enjoyed the food around the center.
Here are some recommendations I think you will like. In vaguely chronological order:
Quevedo: _El buscón_ (the real title is longer, but that's how everyone calls it). Picaresque, episodic, epistolary first-person account of being down and out in XVIIth century Spain. It's fascinating in its depiction of the social strata, and the economist in you will enjoy reading its insight on how Spain's "hidalguía" (pride of nobility, and boasting of not working) destroyed the kingdom's economy. It's also still quite readable in terms of language. If you can read modern Spanish, just get a student's edition with footnotes from Cátedra, and you will be able to navigate the passages where too much knowledge of contemporary society is implied. A lot of English novel, from Tom Jones (indeed all of Fielding) to Vanity Fair, have an enormous debt to Spanish picaresque novel, of which _El buscón_ is the prime example.
I concur with you that the Spanish XVIIIth century is quite bleh. However, you are discounting the XIXth century prematurely. We had our Realist and Naturalist movements, as most of Spain managed to avoid the Enlightment when the French were kicked out... but writers were caught in the thinking bug, and wrote about life around them. Just two writers and two novels:
Leopoldo Pérez Galdós: _La de Bringas_. A novel about class and standing in a society that wishes to aspire to the comfort of modernity while preserving the traditions of a Catholic monarchy. Also quite funny and terrible.
Leopoldo Alas, "Clarín": _La regenta_. This has recently been translated into English, and by "recently" I mean "in the last ten years or so". This is a story of passion and adultery between the young wife of a provincial judge and a young and manly priest in the local cathedral. I read it ages ago, but I remember it as part satire of provincial society, part psychological examination of passion and repression. Imagine the bastard child of Madame Bovary and Heathcliff, and you have your priest.
In the early XXth century, you missed Valle Inclán, his sonatas are quite short evocations of medieval nostalgia in contemporary (turn of the century) settings. And short enough to read in a night. His poems are also worth reading. Just try _Rosa de sanatorio_. Best experienced by listening to it read by José Luis Moreno Ruiz at the beginning of his radio program.
Post-war, not to be missed are:
Luis Martín Santos: _Tiempo de silencio_. A quite harrowing story about a doctor involved with a poor family after a girl's abortion. Pellucid prose. He would have been great, had he not died young in a car accident.
Camilo José Cela: He wrote a lot, and in his last years for far too long at each stretch, in my opinion. Read his early stuff: _Viaje a la alcarria_ or _La familia de Pascual Duarte_. _La colmena_ is also quite good, very impressionistic. However, he pales in comparison to...
Gonzalo Torrente Ballester. He lived very long and was very prolific. I have not read any of his later works, though my family loved _Filomeno, a mi pesar_ and _El rey pasmado_. In my opinion, however, his great est work was in the 70s. La saga-fuga de J.B._ is a world-class masterpiece of magic realism seen through the filter of north american experimental literature. Torrente Ballester lived and taught in the USA, so his novel is both informed by Cortázar and Cheever, García Märquez and John Barth. And he the prose just flows, and he is *hilarious*. For a more classical, more social-realist novel, you can also go for his earlier trilogy of _Los gozos y las sombras_ (_El señor llega_, ). I confess only having seen the TV series as a child, but hey. I am not passing a test here.
Miguel Espinosa: Not very well known, more of a "cult" author. He wrote an essay about the United States (_Reflexiones sobre Norteamérica_) with a clear Hegelian slant, but it's a short volume and I think you would enjoy it. His novels range from the very experimental, cerebral and conversational _Escuela de mandarines_ to the very autobiographical (apparenty his girlfriend left him for another woman and he became a bit unhinged) _La tríbada falsaria_.
Eduardo Mendoza: His first four novels are masterpieces. Two of them (_La verdad sobre el caso Savolta_ and _La ciudad de los prodigios_) are historical novels about a change of regime in Spain through the microcosm of Barcelona: Savolta is about the Civil War period, and Ciudad is about the rise of the Catalan burgeoisie between the XIXth and the XXth century. The other two, _El misterio de la cripta embrujada_ and _El laberinto de las aceitunas_, are about
Félix de Azúa. Poet, novelist, essayist (he is a Professor of Aesthetics at Universitat de Barcelona). I like him in all three roles, but I recommend you go for his _Historia de un idiota contada por el mismo_, a funny fictionalised autobiography that mirrors the evolution of Spanish society from the late 60s and 70s up into the 80s.
José Antonio Millán. Disclaimer: he is a close friend. But as we only became friends after I interviewd him so he could dedicate to me his short story collections, I think fair is fair. The books in question are _La memoria y otras extremidades_ and _Sobre las brasas_. They are published by Sirmio or El Acantilado, and they went ignored in Spain, but received a very good review in an American journal. Go figure. _Nueve veranos_, his third collecton, is up for download from his site, but (and he'll read this and hate me for even daring to think it) it's merely very good: the earlier collections were perfect.
Ah, and one collection of poems. The only three contemporary Spanish poets that I brought with me when I left Spain were Moreno-Ruiz, Azúa (both of them mentioned above) and Luis Alberto de Cuenca. De Cuenca's _El otro sueño_ manages to recapitulate the whole history of modernism without abandoning the genteel traditions of metric and rhyme. And he is quietly funny and smart without being less poignant for it, and manages to speak for everyman and everywoman without losing the voice of his sex, his class, and his time.
There could be more, but it already is bedtime.
Thanks for blogging. And you can skip Julián Ríos without a qualm. Really.
Posted by: Javier Candeira at Feb 27, 2008 7:35:48 AM
Miguel Delibes is one of the best writers ever, Spanish or not (really). His complete works have been recently published as a compilation.
Benito Perez Galdos is a classic. Used often as an example of how to write good Spanish (same would apply to Delibes, by the way). His "Episodios Nacionales" are great fun. Perez Reverte often imitates the Episodios Nacionales style, but I find his books really fun too, particularly the Alatriste saga. By the way Perez Reverte's books written twenty years ago still sell like hot cakes today and are really fun to read (The Husar, The Fencing Master). They age well ...
Among contemporaries, I don't think Antonio Munoz Molina has been mentioned. His "El Jinete Polaco" (The Polish rider?)is excellent.
Finally, Mario Vargas Llosa has Spanish nationality although he is of course more of a Peruvian writer (absolutely recommended either way).
Posted by: Ignacio at Feb 27, 2008 3:35:30 PM
The Forging of a Rebel, by Arturo Barea...a beautifully written memoir of his experiences before and during the Civil War. My review here.
Posted by: david foster at Feb 27, 2008 9:39:32 PM
