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Leopoldo Alas "Clarín" | |
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| Born | Leopoldo Enrique García-Alas y Ureña (1852-04-25)25 April 1852 Zamora, Spain |
| Died | 13 June 1901(1901-06-13) (aged 49) Oviedo, Spain |
| Pen name | Clarín |
| Occupation | Novelist, short story writer, journalist, critic, professor |
Leopoldo Enrique García-Alas y Ureña (25 April 1852 – 13 June 1901), also known asClarín, was aSpanishrealist novelist and journalist born inZamora. His inflammatory articles, known aspaliques (“chitchat”), as well as his advocacy ofliberalism and anti-clericalism, made him a formidable and controversial critical voice.[1] He died inOviedo.
Alas was born in Zamora, fromAsturian parents who moved to that city. He spent his childhood living inLeón andGuadalajara, until he moved toOviedo (Asturias) in 1863. There he studied for theBachillerato (Secondary Education) and began his law studies. He lived inMadrid from 1871 to 1878, where he began his career as a journalist (adopting the pen-name "Clarín" in 1875) and he graduated with thethesisEl Derecho y la Moralidad (Law and Morality) in 1878. He taught inZaragoza from 1882 to 1883. In 1883 he returned to Oviedo to take up a position as professor of Roman law.
Above all, Clarín is the author ofLa Regenta, his masterpiece and one of the best novels of the 19th century. It is a long work, similar toFlaubert'sMadame Bovary, one of its influences. Other influences includedNaturalism andKrausism, a philosophical current which promoted the cultural and ethical regeneration of Spain.
La Regenta is special for its great wealth of characters and secondary stories, while the main character's description is left slightly unfocused and vague. On the other hand, the downfall of the provincial lady has a place amidst two very diverse suitors: the most handsome man in the city and the cathedral's priest. The depiction of this priest is a key part of the book.
For the description of the provincial atmosphere and the city's collective life,Clarín used techniques such as the internalmonologue or the free indirect style, which makes the story be narrated by the characters themselves and allows the reader to witness and experience their intimacy.
In 1890, he published a new novel,Su único hijo. Even though most critics consider it as a lesser novel in comparison withLa Regenta, it is equal to the former in the skill with which the technical resources are used.Su único hijo was originally meant to be the introduction to a trilogy, but aside from an outline and a few fragments of the two sequels,Su único hijo was Clarín's last full-length novel.
Apart from these works,Clarín is also the author of magnificent stories and of a large number of journalistic articles. He also wrote an essay, "La Literatura en 1881" (1882), in collaboration withArmando Palacio Valdés.
Leopoldo Alas remains a rather enigmatic figure in the Spanish literary world, leaving a legacy that encouraged the search for God andhumanism simultaneously. This aberrant confluence has facilitated the presence of various interpretations regarding the author's writings, most noticeably of his masterpiece,La Regenta.
| See also … |
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 Quotations atWikiquote |
 Media atWikimedia Commons |
 Works atWikisource |
 Works atProject Gutenberg |
 Works atDomínio Público |
 Works atDominio Público |
| Works atCervantes Virtual |
