Spanish Tales for Beginners
Los Consejos de un Padre, Casilda, La Florecita Azul, Temprano y con Sol, El Premio Gordo, El Pájaro en la Nieve, La Ajorca de Oro... Esta antología reúne relatos breves, fragmentos y poemas líricos de autores españoles del siglo XIX y comienzos del XX, como José Echegaray, Emilia Pardo Bazán, Pedro Antonio de Alarcón, Armando Palacio Valdés y Gustavo Adolfo Bécquer. Pensada para quienes empiezan a leer en español, la obra escoge textos que son buena literatura, que retratan la vida española moderna y que resultan amenos sin ser demasiado difíciles. Las historias mezclan fábulas, escenas costumbristas, cuadros sentimentales y composiciones en verso.
Más que un simple manual, el libro busca despertar el interés por la civilización de España y servir de puerta de entrada al estudio de su rica y variada literatura. Sus páginas reflejan la vida, las costumbres y las aspiraciones del pueblo español, combinando la ternura, el humor, la crítica social y la emoción poética. Conserva la lengua viva de su época y demuestra que aprender un idioma puede ir de la mano del placer de leer buenas historias.
How it begins
I N selecting these Spanish Tales for Beginners , three objects have been kept in view: (1) that they be good literature, (2) that they portray modern Spanish life, and (3) that they be interesting and not too difficult in language and thought. Some of the stories do not conform to all three rules,—the first two, for instance, do not portray modern Spanish life; but I hope that most of them will be found to conform fully. A few short lyric poems have also been included, since poetry forms an integral part of literature. Verse, moreover, is better for oral work and memorizing than prose. Spain has a rich and varied literature, from which other nations have freely drawn,—a literature that gives true expression to the life and aspirations of the Spanish people. The selections in this volume are taken from literary works that have been written in the past fifty or sixty years, and although they are inferior in some respects to the great master-pieces of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, I believe that they have literary excellence, and they have, besides, the advantage of being written in the language of today and of describing present-day life.
Text from Project Gutenberg, public domain.