The Nun and Other Stories

by Pedro Antonio de Alarcón, Robert M. Fedorchek (Translator)

Alarcon's "The Nun" has been praised as a stark depiction of decadence and decline, "Captain Poison" as a humorous reversal of The Taming of the Shrew, "Moors and Christians" as an astute commentary on greed, and "The Tall Woman" as an absorbing tale of the fantastic and supernatural. Together the four works show that Alarcon's imagination in short prose fiction thrived at the middle of his writing career and at the end of it.

180 pages, Hardcover

Published March 1, 1999

About the author

Pedro Antonio de Alarcón y Ariza was a 19th century Spanish novelist, author of the novel El Sombrero de Tres Picos (The Three-Cornered Hat, 1874). The story is an adaptation of a popular tradition and provides a lively picture of village life in Alarcón's native region of Andalusia. It was the basis for Hugo Wolf's opera Der Corregidor (1897) and Manuel de Falla's ballet The Three-Cornered Hat (1919).
Alarcón wrote another popular short novel, El capitán Veneno ('Captain Poison', 1881). He produced four other full-length novels. One of these novels, El escándalo ('The Scandal', 1875), became noted for its keen psychological insights. Alarcón also wrote three travel books and many short stories and essays.
Alarcón was born in Guadix, near Granada. In 1859, he served in a Spanish military operation in Morocco. He gained his first literary recognition with A Witness' Diary of the African War (1859-1860), a patriotic account of the campaign.

Reviews

[Jeff Hobbs · Rating 3 out of 5]

Read so far:

The Nun--2
Captain Poison (aka Captain Veneno's Proposal of Marriage) (El Capitan Veneno)--2
Moors and Christians (Moros y Cristianos)--3
The Tall Woman (aka The Street of the Wolf) (La Mujer Alta)--3
***
The Friend of Death (El Amigo de la Muerte)--2
The Gypsy's Prophesy--3
The Nail (El Clavo)--3
The Stub-book--3