The Grandee   By: Armando Palacio Valdés (1853-1938)

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Heinemann's International Library

Edited by Edmund Gosse

THE GRANDEE

ARMANDO PALACIO VALDÉS

THE GRANDEE

Heinemann's International Library.

Edited by EDMUND GOSSE.

Crown 8vo, in paper covers, 2s. 6d., or cloth limp, 3s. 6d.

1. IN GOD'S WAY. From the Norwegian of BJÖRNSTJERNE BJÖRNSON

2. PIERRE AND JEAN. From the French of GUY DE MAUPASSANT.

3. THE CHIEF JUSTICE. From the German of KARL EMIL FRANZOS.

4. WORK WHILE YE HAVE THE LIGHT. From the Russian of COUNT LYOF TOLSTOI.

5. FANTASY. From the Italian of MATILDE SERAO.

6. FROTH. From the Spanish of DON ARMANDO PALACIO VALDÉS.

7. FOOTSTEPS OF FATE. From the Dutch of LOUIS COUPERUS.

8. PEPITA JIMÉNEZ. From the Spanish of JUAN VALERA.

9. THE COMMODORE'S DAUGHTERS. From the Norwegian of JONAS LIE.

10. THE HERITAGE OF THE KURTS. From the Norwegian of BJÖRNSTJERNE BJÖRNSON.

11. LOU. From the German of BARON VON ROBERTS.

12. DONA LUZ. From the Spanish of JUAN VALERA.

13. THE JEW. From the Polish of JOSEPH I. KRASZEWSKI.

14. UNDER THE YOKE. From the Bulgarian of IVAN VAZOFF.

15. FAREWELL LOVE! From the Italian of MATILDE SERAO.

16. THE GRANDEE. From the Spanish of DON ARMANDO PALACIO VALDÉS.

In preparation.

A COMMON STORY. From the Russian of GONCHAROF.

NIOBE. From the Norwegian of JONAS LIE.

Each Volume contains a specially written Introduction by the Editor.

LONDON: W. HEINEMANN, 21 BEDFORD ST., W.C.

THE GRANDEE

A Novel

by

ARMANDO PALACIO VALDÉS

Translated from the Spanish by Rachel Challice

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London William Heinemann 1894

[ All rights reserved ]

INTRODUCTION

According to the Spanish critics, the novel has flourished in Spain during only two epochs the golden age of Cervantes and the period in which we are still living. That unbroken line of romance writing which has existed for so long a time in France and in England, is not to be looked for in the Peninsula. The novel in Spain is a re creation of our own days; but it has made, since the middle of the nineteenth century, two or three fresh starts. The first modern Spanish novelists were what are called the walter scottistas , although they were inspired as much by George Sand as by the author of Waverley . These writers were of a romantic order, and Fernan Caballero, whose earliest novel dates from 1849, was at their head. The Revolution of September, 1868, marked an advance in Spanish fiction, and Valera came forward as the leader of a more national and more healthily vitalised species of imaginative work. The pure and exquisite style of Valera is, doubtless, only to be appreciated by a Castilian. Something of its charm may be divined, however, even in the English translation of his masterpiece, Pepita Jiménez . The mystical and aristocratic genius of Valera appealed to a small audience; he has confided to the world that when all were praising but few were buying his books.