ARMANDO PALACIO VALDÉS was born on the 4th of October, 1853, at the
village of Entralgo, in the mountains of Asturias, where his parents
possessed a country-house and surrounding estate. His mother belonged to
an old family of landed gentry. His father, a lawyer by profession, was
in temperament emotional, and endowed with much imagination and an
extraordinary talent for story-telling; these qualities rendered his
society so agreeable that he attracted the sympathies of all who
approached him. Sr. Valdés has said of his father, with characteristic
modesty: "If I possessed but the half of his imagination and narrative
talent I do not doubt that I should be a good novelist."
Most of the members of his mother's family resided in Avilés (a maritime
town of Asturias, described in _Marta y María_ under the name of Nieva),
and between this town and Entralgo the Valdés alternated their
residence, passing the winter in the former and the summer in the
latter. Thus early the future novelist learned to know the life of
sea-faring folk and also that of country people and farmers.
At the age of twelve he began his secondary education at Oviedo, where
he was under the care of a paternal uncle. This city, the capital of
Asturias, is described in _El Maestrante_ under the name of Lancia.
Although entering fully into the pleasures of school life he was a
faithful student, and soon acquired a taste for both science and
literature, aided in no small degree by the stimulus of other eager
youths whose acquaintance he made. His friends, however, considered at
this time that he was better endowed for the former.
At seventeen he went to Madrid to begin the study of law, to which he
devoted himself with great enthusiasm. His sole ambition now was to
become a professor of political economy. He was admitted to membership
in the famous literary and scientific club _El Ateneo_, studying deeply
in its library and taking an active part in its labors. Before the end
of his law course he was elected first secretary of the section of moral
and political science of that association.
Sr. Valdés celebrated his admission to the bar by the publication of
several articles on philosophic and political subjects which attracted
the attention of the proprietor of the _Revista Europea_, at that time
the most important scientific periodical in Spain. In spite of his
extreme youth--he was then but twenty-two years of age--the editorship
of this review was entrusted to him, and he successfully fulfilled its
duties for three years.
Nothing as yet made the young editor imagine that he was to become a
novelist. But in order to add to the interest of his publication he
began to produce a series of literary portraits of orators, poets and
novelists. This task revived the literary inclinations of his early
years, and abandoning the control of the _Revista_, he wrote his first
novel, _El Señorito Octavio_, a work which the author himself regards as
of little merit, too lyric, and marred by a straining after effect. His
friends, however, were quick to see the talent displayed, and their
encouragement stimulated the production of a second novel, _Marta y
María_, which is perhaps the best known of all. It was the occasion of
the author's introduction to the American public through an article by
Mr. W. Dean Howells in Harper's Magazine.
Since then Sr. Valdés has continued to produce new novels at the rate of
one each year or every two years. Those which have enjoyed the greatest
popularity in Spain are _La Hermana San Sulpicio_ and _Los Majos de
Cádiz_, novels of Andalusian life, in spite of the author's not being a
native of that province.
In the summer of 1882 Sr. Valdés met, in the small coast-town of Candás,
Asturias, a young lady of fifteen, Luisa Prendes of Gijón (the Sarrió of
_El Cuarto Poder_), who in the year following became his wife. The newly
wedded pair established their household in Madrid, but were not destined
long to enjoy their happiness, for eighteen months after their marriage
Sra. Valdés expired in the arms of her husband, leaving him an infant
son nine months old. This fatal event is the most important in the life
of our author. From this time on he has lived devoted to his son,
reading, writing, and retired from all political and literary commotion.
Such are the biographical data which Sr. Valdés has thought fit to give
to the public. More personal details he has not divulged, such
"confessions" appearing to him both absurd and a profanation. But there
is a key of which those who are interested in the life and character of
the novelist may avail themselves, without violating his reserve. This
key he gives us himself in a sentence which vindicates the personality
of all art, "subjective" or "objective," realistic or romantic. "We
novelists," he says, "write our biography, though disguisedly, in the
works which we create." And he adds: "In mine is found almost all that
has affected me in my life, but most particularly in _Maximina_."
The following are, in chronological order, the novels of Valdés,
produced between the years 1881-1899; _El Señorito Octavio_, 1 vol.;
_Marta y María_, 1 vol.; _El Idilio de un enfermo_, 1 vol.; _José_, 1
vol.; _Aguas fuertes (novelas y cuadros)_, 1 vol; _Riverita_, 2 vols.;
_Maximina_, 2 vols.; _El Cuarto Poder_, 2 vols.; _La Hermana San
Sulpicio_, 2 vols.; _La Espuma_, 2 vols.; _La Fe_, 1 vol.; _El
Maestrante_, 1 vol.; _El Origen del Pensamiento_, 1 vol.; _Los Majos de
Cádiz_, 1 vol.; _La Alegría del Capitán Ribot_, 1 vol.
Beside these he has written the following critical works: _Los Oradores
del Ateneo_, 1 vol., 1878: _Los Novelistas Españoles_, 1 vol., 1878;
_Nuevo Viaje al Parnaso_, 1 vol., 1879; _La Literatura en 1881_, 1 vol.,
in collaboration with Leopoldo Alas.
Valdés, if we must classify him, belongs to the ranks of realism. In
fact, Mr. J. Fitzmaurice Kelly declares that "he has a fair claim to
rank as the chief of the modern naturalistic school." But we must hasten
to modify this definition by restriction in one direction, amplification
in another. This modification is necessary because Valdés has known how
to maintain his originality amid the strife of schools, the seductions
of praise, and the onslaught of adverse criticism. Blanco García speaks
of him as a convert to naturalism, but we feel that his literary creed
as manifested practically in his novels, theoretically in the prefaces
to _Marta y María_ and _La Hermana San Sulpicio_, is the result of a
natural bent of mind foreshadowed in his early affection for science,
just as we may trace much of his fine description and character-drawing
to his early observation of city, sea and country. To differentiate in
the novelist what he derives from the general point of view which he has
adopted from the measure of originality which marks his work, is the
real difficulty in attempting to characterize Valdés.
He chooses his material throughout from contemporary Spanish life. His
work is based on an exactness of observation that shows him to have
thoroughly studied the _milieux_ which he describes. His _tertulias_,
aristocratic or plebeian, the envies and vanities, the petty intrigues,
the fervors of religion, feigned or real, the flirtations and grand
passions, all pulsate with life and truth, no less than the setting of
nature with which his characters are so intimately interwoven that it
seems as much a part of them as their words and acts. "The labor of
Palacio amounts to cutting from the immeasurable canvas of reality
heterogeneous portions, of warp coarse or fine, smooth or rough,
according to the order in which they attract his eye, and demand the
embroidery of his fancy and his pen."[B] In the choice of these
"sections" we can divine the predilections of the artist. He is an
optimist at heart and believes in the possibility of human nobleness,
and so prefers the brighter colors of his palette. Not that his pictures
lack in shadow: as a faithful novelist he does not hesitate to describe
scenes of gloom and even horror, when they form naturally part of the
story; he does so undeterred by any scruple. But though he believes that
everything is worthy of being painted, he does not insist too much upon
unpleasant detail, and often, as in the account of the quarrel between
the mothers of José and Elisa in the present novel, cuts short a
description of the ugly and sordid and turns with relief to brighter
things. Even his baser characters, whose defects are brought out with
remorseless justice, are not lacking in all human virtue and not seldom
are explained, if not excused, by heredity or the circumstances of their
environment. Valdés has a wide knowledge of life and though as a true
realist he abstains from personal comment, we feel that he deeply
sympathizes with human nature. For him _tout comprendre, c'est tout
pardonner_. It is with shafts of gentle irony that he transfixes human
foibles, an irony softened by the play of a delicate humor which is one
of the most potent charms of his work. Valdés too, is a poet and knows
how, not to idealize, but to emphasize the ideal and æsthetic elements
that exist already in the most ordinary life, to weave from them a veil
of poetry which softens the too familiar features of prose.
There has been a steady development in the work of this author. Not so
much in style, of which he has shown himself a master almost from the
outset of his literary career. Not so much, either, in ideas, literary
or general, though he never repeats himself, and each succeeding work
brings to light new treasures of his mind. Rather should we say that his
understanding of life has grown more comprehensive and more calm, and
that he gives us more and more of his originality and less and less of
the phase of literature which he still undoubtedly represents. In a
recent letter to the present editor he says, apropos of _El Capitán
Ribot_: "_Verá V. que me aparto cada día más del gusto predominante en
la literatura moderna._" There is more synthesis of character, less
analysis, and a distinct philosophy, indicated in earlier works, begins
to stand out clearly as the final rounding of his view of life. It is a
philosophy of sublime morality for its own sake and because immorality
is fatal, the philosophy of a man who believes in the sanity of virtue
and the wholesomeness of work, and who abhors sin without the hopes and
fears inspired by theology. For Valdés is not orthodox; more than one of
his novels is iconoclastic in this respect; but such is his sympathetic
comprehension of attitudes of faith that we feel that his religion is
deep and pure in spite of its dispensing with creed.
Blanco García has only words of praise for _José_. He calls it "an idyll
of truth, impregnated with the most chaste tenderness." "Valdés," he
says, "shows himself penetrated by the panoramas of the sea and coast,
and studies affectionately the manners and customs of a fishing-village,
and an every-day story of two young people crossed in love, which
furnishes the basic theme. The struggles of José, the chief character,
who lends his name to the book, with his vixenish mother, with the
rigors of fate and the fury of the waves, to gain the hand of his adored
Elisa, and the heroism with which he suffers, and resigns himself, and
triumphs over adversity, lend to the novel an epic hue, combined with
realistic exactitude and beautified by the aureole of religious
feeling." No less interesting, though in a different way, are the cold
and calculating _señá_ Isabel, the henpecked school-master, and above
all D. Fernando, the decayed nobleman, the incongruities of whose
situation afford full scope to the author's sympathetic humor. Mr.
Howells finds room for criticism in the final treatment of this
character. "The author," he says, "helps himself out with a romantic and
superfluous bit of self-sacrifice, and spoils the pleasure of the
judicious in his work by the final behavior of an otherwise admirably
studied hidalgo." It seems to us, on the contrary, that the _dénouement_
was indicated: compelled to abandon the home of his race, and having
accomplished his final mission of uniting the much-tried lovers, he
dies, without dishonor, leaving behind him a grateful memory in the
hearts of his friends.
It was in critical work that Valdés first essayed his powers, prior to
entering upon his career as a novelist. This early criticism is somewhat
destructive in trend, but valuable as showing a thorough knowledge of
the subjects treated and also "a fineness of touch, a delicacy of irony
and a correct taste,"[C] which have not abandoned him in his later work.
The style of Valdés is sure and simple, devoid like the personality of
the author of all pose. There is no unnecessary expansion of
descriptions, nor any useless display of erudition, although on occasion
he gives evidence of wide reading. _La Fe_ particularly shows him versed
alike in theology and philosophy, nor would it be easy to find a better
comprehension of mysticism. His composition is equally balanced. As a
rule, each character, each episode is treated within the limits of its
importance. There is neither haste nor a too fond dwelling on detail; if
there be a defect, it is on the side of sobriety: we could readily
forgive his arresting the course of the story for the sake of a few more
descriptions such as that at the end of Chapter VI. of the present
novel.
Valdés' work has been greatly admired both at home and abroad: on the
whole, perhaps, he has won more consideration out of Spain than in it.
This is perhaps natural, seeing his heterodoxy in matters of religion
and the conservatism of his countrymen in this respect. In Spain, as has
been stated, his two Andalusian novels have been most popular. In
England _La Espuma_ and _Maximina_ are best known. In America we are
most familiar with _Marta y María_, _Maximina_ and _La Hermana San
Sulpicio_, through the translations of Mr. Nathan Haskell Dole. In
France, Germany, Russia, Sweden, Holland and Bohemia translations of
different of his works have seen the light. This international fame may
well be taken as a prophecy of the future. The relative youth of the
author allows us to hope for still greater things from his pen. But
though his career is not yet closed, and though we lack the perspective
of time to enable us to form a final judgment, this much may already be
regarded as certain, that the novelist has attained a position in the
literature of his country which posterity will recognize and honor.