Manrique’s Moonlight Madness: A Tale of Dreams and Delusions
Manrique’s Moonlight Madness
I. The Dreamer
Noble Manrique, born amidst war, remained engrossed in a troubadour’s letter. He ignored the castle’s bustling courtyard where grooms tamed foals, pages trained hawks, and soldiers sharpened their weapons. His mother would often inquire about his whereabouts, only to receive vague replies from servants. Manrique cherished solitude, often seeking solace in the cloister, by the river, or among the rocks, lost in his poetic dreams.
In solitude, his imagination
Read MoreThe Life and Misadventures of Lázaro de Tormes
Birth and Family
Know your honor that my name is Lázaro de Tormes, son of Thomas and Antonia Gonzales Perez, natives of Tejares, a village of Salamanca. I was born in the River Tormes, and here comes my nickname. It happened this way: My father worked in a watermill on the banks of the river, and one night, while in the midst of work, my mother came into labor and I was born there, in the river.
When I was eight, my father was accused of stealing some of the flour and was arrested. Later, he became
Read MoreThe Other Girl: A Spanish Comedy of Errors
The Other Girl: A Spanish Comedy of Errors
Act One
Scene I
Don Diego and Simon wait at the inn for Irene and Doña Paquita. Don Diego leaves her room and speaks with Simon. He shares a secret with Simon, who initially misunderstands the plan to marry Don Diego to the sixteen-year-old Doña Paquita. Simon believes the plan involves Don Diego’s nephew, Don Carlos. Don Diego’s true intention is to marry Doña Paquita himself, despite his age (fifty-nine).
Scene II
Doña Paquita arrives with her mother,
Read MoreSpanish Legends: Monte de las Ánimas & More
El Monte de las Ánimas
On the night of All Saints’, a cousin tells his cousin Beatrice the story of the Monte de las Ánimas. The mountain was where the king sent half-warrior, half-monk soldiers to defend against the Arabs, insulting the Castilian knights. The knights ambushed and massacred the soldiers on the mountain, burying them in the chapel. Since then, on the Day of the Dead at midnight, their souls appear, wrapped in shrouds.
Beatrice’s cousin, Alonso, offers her a jeweled feather from
Read MoreMario Vargas Llosa: A Literary Journey Through His Works
Mario Vargas Llosa: A Literary Exploration
Early Works and Literary Influences
Aunt Julia and the Scriptwriter
This novel intertwines episodes from Vargas Llosa’s first marriage with the melodramatic radio dramas of Pedro Camacho. It showcases the power of literature to create new worlds and explores themes of love, storytelling, and the blurring of fiction and reality.
The War of the End of the World
Based on historical events in late nineteenth-century Brazil, this novel explores the Canudos rebellion
Read MoreDecameron: Tales of Love, Wit, and Human Comedy
Giovanni Boccaccio
Italian humanist writer and is considered the father of Italian prose, and the creator of the novel and the renewal of the ancient epic. He spent his childhood in Florence, and soon abandoned trade for a career in law and subsequent cultivation of the arts under the guidance of distinguished scholars at the court of Anjou. His stay in Naples inspired him on stage and the atmosphere of the works evoke the figure of Fiammetta, his beloved, present in much of its production and saw