Novelas Cortas
Novelas Cortas gathers a selection of short stories by the Spanish writer Pedro Antonio de Alarcón, presented here for readers and students of Spanish. The collection opens with "La Buenaventura," in which a sly old gypsy named Heredia arrives at the Captain General's headquarters in Granada to claim a reward for identifying the feared bandit Parrón, recounting his uneasy encounter with the murderous outlaw. Other tales—among them "El afrancesado," "El libro talonario," and "Moros y cristianos"—range across humor, intrigue, and episodes drawn from Spanish history and everyday life.
The stories showcase Alarcón's clear, lively style and his gift for vivid characters and brisk, suspenseful narration. Their enduring appeal lies in the incidental sidelights they cast on Spanish customs, wit, and historical memory, from rural banditry to patriotism and faith. Accessible yet rich in local color, the collection captures the flavor of nineteenth-century Spain and remains a beloved introduction to one of its most engaging storytellers.
How it begins
The following stories from Alarcón are offered to the student of Spanish in the belief that the easy style, the interest of the narrative, and the incidental sidelights that they throw on Spanish life and history will make the book a welcome one in the earlier stages of study. The stories have been very fully annotated, and nothing that seemed to offer any real difficulty has been passed over. All proper names have been explained, with the exception of a few too well known or too insignificant to justify comment. The notes are further reënforced by an Idiomatic Commentary , to be studied in connection with the text. By frequent reviews and by oral drill in translating the idioms from either language to the other, with changes of person, tense, etc., wherever possible, the Commentary should enable the student to attain to a real mastery of the idioms that are here tabulated. Easy exercises for translation into Spanish are added. They are based on very short passages from the text, and are so graded and arranged as to afford a systematic review of the elements of grammar, a drill which beginners always need.
Text from Project Gutenberg, public domain.