Papers by Mercedes Cabrera
Bulletin of Hispanic Studies, 1987
REVIEWS OF BOOKS range from dramas variously titled 'Clara Fe', 'Speraindeo' and 'La millonaria' ... more REVIEWS OF BOOKS range from dramas variously titled 'Clara Fe', 'Speraindeo' and 'La millonaria' to essays (we think) and, most often, novels such as 'Elegia', 'Meeting monsrruo', and 'El redenror'. Some are completely unidentifiable ('EI infame burgues?', 'Quijada?', 'El libro y el verano?'). Most have disappeared, or were never more than floating ideas hoping for an anchor. Rivkin has assembled six of these fragments, annotated them, and provided us with informative introductions (called prologues) to each one. The volume is prefaced by a justification for reprinting these relatos inconclusos, followed by a useful bibliography, and rounded off with an appendix wherein she gives us not just Alas' contribution to the collectively authored spoof Las virgenes locas (Madrid Comico, 1886), but all the chapters, including those of Vital Aza, Jacinto Octavio Picon, Jose Ortega Munilla, Luis Taboada, etc. The six projects reproduced are: 'Cuesta abajo'; 'Palomares'; 'Tambor y gaita'; 'Sinfonia de dos novelas'; 'Speraindeo'; and his contribution to Las virgenes locas. In her introductions Rivkin discusses the pre-Proustian character of 'Cuesta abajo'; the relationship of 'Palomares' and 'Tambor y gaita' to La Regenta; the complicated genesis and network of relationships of 'Sinfonia de dos novelas' and 'Speraindeo' to Su unico hijo; and Alas' role in creating Las virgenes locas as well as his ambivalent attitude toward melodrama and the nouela folletinesca. All the texts-with the exception of 'Cuesta abajo', buried in the inaccessible pages of La llustracion Iberica (1890-91)-have been published in their entirety before, but the virtue of Rivkin's modestly priced edition lies in its easy availability and generally reliable presentation, marred only by a number of printing errors. A record of frustration, yes, but as Rivkin comments, 'un proceso constante de experirnenracion' (10) as well.
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Papers by Mercedes Cabrera