| Synopsis: |
Part of a collection of translations of all 12 of Cervantes' "Novelas Ejemplares", this second volume contains three of the novels: "The English Spanish Girl", "The Glass Graduate" and "The Power of Blood". Features of each book include individual introductions to the stories by the translators, original Spanish text with facing English translation, and full notes and bibliographies. "The English Spanish Girl" (La espanola inglesa) is a story in the adventurous genre of "The Generous Lover". A young Spanish girl, Isabel, is kidnapped by an English naval captain on a raid on Cadiz in the late 16th century. Cervantes views Queen Elizabeth and the English enemy with tolerance and respect; problems of religion, exile and foreign languages are touched upon, and true love, religious constancy, and resourceful heroic behaviour find their proper reward. "The Glass Graduate" (El licenciado Vidriera) is a story of a young man of obscure origin who seeks and achieves a university education and a degree in law at Salamanca in the early 17th century.The story reveals something of Cervante's memories of his own days in Italy, of his interest in the literary and satirical potential of madness; it also studies the nature of satire - its tempting easiness and its essentially uncharitable nature. "The Power of Blood" (La fuerza de la sangre) is the story of the ruthless rape of a beautiful young girl, Leocadia, by a young nobleman of Toledo, Rodolfo. This is a mysterious story to the 20th century reader, since a rapist seems to be handsomely rewarded, but it must be seen in Christian and symbolic terms, as a story of crime, violated but unstained virtue and reparation, with a conclusion of forgiveness and hope. |