Emilia Pardo Bazán

A rich and unforgettable tragic-comic novel of sexual intrigue and political scheming, The House of Ulloa is one of the greatest works of nineteenth-century Spanish literature. The House of Ulloa follows pure and pious Father Julián Alvarez, who is sent to a remote country estate to put the affairs of the marquis, an irresponsible libertine, in order. When he discovers moral decadence, cruelty and corruption at his new home, Julián's well-meaning but ineffectual attempts to prevent the fall of the House of Ulloa end in tragedy. Combining gothic elements with humour and social satire, The House of Ulloa is the finest achievement of Emilia Pardo Bazán, a prolific writer, feminist, traveller and intellectual, and one of the most dynamic figures of her time. Brilliantly balancing biting satire and gothic undertones, and evoking a rich sense of place, this is a wonderful novel that deserves to be ranked with the other great books of the period. The Countess Emilia Pardo Bazán was born in 1851 and married at sixteen. After separating from her husband, she embarked on an affair with novelist Benito Pérez Galdós. The House of Ulloa (1886) is generally considered as her masterpiece among her many literary works. Professor Paul O'Prey is Vice-Chancellor of the University of Roehampton, London. Lucia Graves has translated works by Robert Graves, Anaïs Nin, Katherine Mansfield and Carlos Ruiz Zafón, and is the author of a memoir, A Woman Unknown, and a novel, The Memory House.'An absolutely first-rate novelist [...] Bazán's genius lies in the way she mixes comedy, farce, realism and heightened-pitch hysteria with a dash of gothic [...] People may travel by donkey in this book, but it could have been written yesterday' - Nick Lezard, Guardian'Pardo Bazán's mastery of social types and of the political currents that swirled around the liberal revolution are unsurpassed in Spanish literature ... O'Prey and Graves ... avoid awkward literalisms while nonetheless remaining true to the spirit of the original' New Criterion

Por m s que el jinete trataba de sofrenarlo agarr ndose con todas sus fuerzas a la nica rienda de cordel y susurrando palabritas calmantes y mansas, el peludo roc n segu a empe ndose en bajar la cuesta a un trote cochinero que descuadernaba los intestinos, cuando no a trancos desigual simos de loco galope. Y era pendiente de veras aquel repecho del camino real de Santiago a Orense en t rminos que los viandantes, al pasarlo, sacud an la cabeza murmurando que ten a bastante m s declive del no s cu ntos por ciento marcado por la ley, y que sin duda al llevar la carretera en semejante direcci n, ya sabr an los ingenieros lo que se pescaban, y alguna quinta de personaje pol tico, alguna influencia electoral de grueso calibre deb a andar cerca.

EMILIA PARDO BAZ N - Espa a 1851 - 1921

Los pazos de Ulloa Emilia Pardo Baz n

En esta novela se ven las ideas politicas de la escritora a traves de sus personajes. El obrero, como capa social aparece aqui por primera vez en el panorama novelistico espanol. La crisis marcada por la Revolucion de 1868, la emancipacion de la mujer trabajadora y las reivindicaciones laborales del incipiente proletariado constituyen la atmosfera espiritual que envuelve el mundo narrativo de esta obra."

Un viaje de novios Por Emilia Pardo Baz n