"The Memoirs of the Marquis of Bradomín," translated by Robert M. Fedorchek

The Memoirs of the Marquis of Bradomín: Spring, Summer, Autumn, and Winter Sonatas, by Ramón del Valle-Inclán, translated by Robert M. Fedorchek, Introduction by John C. Wilcox. Ramón María del Valle-Inclán (1866-1936), one of early twentieth-century Spain's most celebrated authors, wrote short stories, novels, plays, and poetry, as well as sui generis works that he called esperpentos, or theater of the grotesque. In much the same way that he cultivated style in his literary creations, he invented a distinctive persona when, having left his native Galicia, he appeared in Madrid in long hair, flowing beard, and pince-nez secured by a black ribbon, and in dress that was picturesque, eccentric, and, by some standards, outlandish. The Sonatas are stages in the life of the Marquis of Bradomín, a man whose very aunt calls him (in Winter) "[t]he most admirable of Don Juans: ugly, Catholic, and sentimental." The four appeared between 1902-05 and produced a mild sensation in Spain, a cause célè