The American public is being introduced to Spain's leading modern writer with two books in translation this fall, illustrating - with fine examples- the two genres in which his reputation is secure over a period of twenty odd years. An extraordinarily powerful novel, The Family of Pascual Duarte is being published by Atlantic Monthly Press in September (see report p. 678). About two weeks later this exquisite travel book appears. It has a deceptive simplicity and can be read solely for the subtle style, the technical brilliance in a fine translation by Mrs. Lopez-Morillas. Few will read it for the tonic quality of the travels themselves, for this records a ten-day walking trip through the Alcarria, a mountainous rural area northeast of Spain, still primitive (back in 1946 when the trip was taken). But all sensitive readers will sense the in??itive understanding of the Spanish people encountered, whether vagabonds (as he himself appeared), travelling salesmen, peddlers, or people of the village-priests, women washing clothes, an idiot beggar boy, innkeepers, and friendly souls who gave him lodging and shared their food. The symbolism - reflecting as it does Spain's "tired body" and "divided soul"- comes through in the selection made of characters portrayed. But what really counts, for this reader anyhow, is the panorama of life and color and character, through vivid descriptions and minute anecdotes. (Kirkus Reviews) --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Product Description
Awarded the 1989 Nobel Prize for Literature, Camilo José Cela has long
been recognized as one of the preeminent Spanish writers of the twentieth
century. Journey to the Alcarria is the best known of his vagabundajes,
Cela’s term for his books of travels, sketchbooks of regions or provinces.
The Alcarria is a territory in New Castile, northeast of Madrid,
surrounding most of the Guadalajara province. The region is high, rocky,
and dry, and is famous for its honey.
Cela himself is “the traveler,” an urban intellectual wandering from village to village, through farms and along country roads, in search of the Spanish character. Cela relishes his encounters with the simple, honest people of the Spanish countryside—the blushing maid in the tavern, the small-town shopkeeper with airs of grandeur lonely for companionship, the old peasant with his donkey who freely shares his bread and blanket with the stranger. These vignettes are narrated in a fresh, clear prose that is wonderfully evocative. As the New York Times wrote, Cela is “an outspoken observer of human life who built his reputation on portraying what he observed in a direct colloquial style.”
Cela himself is “the traveler,” an urban intellectual wandering from village to village, through farms and along country roads, in search of the Spanish character. Cela relishes his encounters with the simple, honest people of the Spanish countryside—the blushing maid in the tavern, the small-town shopkeeper with airs of grandeur lonely for companionship, the old peasant with his donkey who freely shares his bread and blanket with the stranger. These vignettes are narrated in a fresh, clear prose that is wonderfully evocative. As the New York Times wrote, Cela is “an outspoken observer of human life who built his reputation on portraying what he observed in a direct colloquial style.”
- 
-