From Library Journal
In 1956, Ernest Hemingway visited dying Spanish author Baroja and told him that the Nobel prize he had recently won rightfully belonged to him. Certainly, there is much in the substance and narrative brevity of Baroja's 100 books that Hemingway admired. Published in 1909 as the third part of a trilogy, this fast-moving novel of youthful exuberance set in the Basque country of Spain during the last Carlist wars (1872-76) features the shenanigans of the closet liberal Zalacain. Instinctively rather than intellectually philosophical, the orphan Zalacain emerges as a hero unbound by convention who pushes his destiny to the limit, often escaping from his predicaments only in the 11th hour and becoming successful as a Carlist agent, smuggler, kidnapper of nuns, and lover of many women. Although this novel does require an understanding of a time and place not well known to Americans, Diendl does an admirable job of providing this in his brief introduction.?Jack Shreve, Allegany Coll. of Maryland, Cumberland
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Language Notes
Text: English (translation)
Original Language: Spanish
Original Language: Spanish
