Pedro Antonio de Alarcón was born at Guadix in the province of Granada,
the 10th of March 1833, the fourth of ten children of an old and noble
family, whose wealth had been lost in the wars of the Napoleonic period
and the disorders that had followed. His father destined him for the
bar, and after reaching the baccalaureate at the age of fourteen, at the
_seminario_ of Guadix, he went to Granada to begin his professional
studies, only to be recalled by the _res angusta domi_ to his home,
where perforce he exchanged jurisprudence for theology, and began
preparation for the priesthood.
The boy's heart was not in his professional studies, and his best
efforts were given to other matters; he taught himself French and
Italian, began to write, and formed the project of going to Madrid, to
set up as a man of letters. His parents declined to support him in this
ambition, but Alarcón persisted. Through Torcuato Tárrago, a young
writer at that time living in Guadix, he was introduced to a Cadiz
publisher, who undertook the issuing of a weekly journal, _El Eco de
Occidente_, which was to appear at Cadiz and Granada, and whose literary
redaction was to be entrusted to the two young men. The venture [p. vi]
was successful. After three years' work the savings seemed sufficient,
and on the 18th of January, 1853, Alarcón left home.
He went first to Cadiz, where he gave his attention to matters
concerning the journal, and a month later he reached Madrid,--without
introduction or friends, but with some little money and with a goodly
sheaf of verses, notably an ambitious continuation of Espronceda's
_Diablo Mundo_, all of which he burned, after much interviewing of
publishers. In short, he did not get along at all at the capital, and
when his money was gone and the husks were sour, he made his own the
immemorial custom of the prodigal, and went back to his father's house.
A complete reconciliation followed his return. He had been drawn for
military service: his father purchased his release, and gave him
permission to live in Granada, where he renewed his connection with the
_Eco de Occidente_. In Granada also he found agreeable literary society,
and the year spent there was one of profit to himself and of success for
his journal, in whose management he had an increasing influence and
part.
His first mingling in politics was in 1854, when he took open and active
part in the rebellion that culminated in the mutiny of Vicálvaro (the
30th of June), distinguishing himself by his noisy and militant
radicalism, and gaining the ill-will of many of the elements whose
favor, in his later life, he found it wise to win--the clergy, the army,
the national militia. Before the end of the year he was in Madrid, where
he became the editor of _El Látigo_, the most extreme of the
anti-royalist periodicals. This connection [p. vii] was ended by a
duel, and Alarcón gave up politics for the time, and retired to Segovia,
to restore health broken by irregular living, and to write. _El Final de
Norma_ was the most ambitious work that dates from this time, with a
very great number of short stories and miscellaneous articles published
in various journals, all of which brought him a considerable reputation
throughout Spain. In 1856 he visited Paris and "wrote up" the exposition
of that year for the Spanish press. Towards the end of 1857 he made his
appearance at the theatre of the Circo at Madrid, with his one play, _El
Hijo Pródigo_. The _première_ was riotously successful, but the critics
were against the author, whose personality seems to have been a large
factor in the matter, and the piece was soon withdrawn. In 1859 Alarcón
volunteered for the campaign in Morocco, and after doing excellent
service, was honorably discharged in April, 1860, when he returned to
Spain. The fruit of this military experience was the _Diario de un
testigo de la Guerra de África_, which is of his best work. The book was
exceedingly successful commercially, and the author's profits permitted
him the journeying in France, Switzerland, and Italy, whose story is
told in _De Madrid a Nápoles_, two volumes of fairly acute observation
and superior literary worth. (August, 1860--February, 1861).
From this time until 1873 Alarcón was devoted to an active political
life, into whose details we need not follow him. He was deputy from
Guadix much of the time, and was prominent as a writer for the _Época_,
then as now the first conservative newspaper of Spain, and later as one
of the founders and editors of _La Política_. He had much [p. viii]
success, and we are told that only feelings of personal delicacy stood
between him and the holding of at least one ministerial portfolio. In
1866 he was one of the signers of a celebrated protest of the unionist
deputies, and was dignified by being sent into exile for a time, and
afterwards being forbidden to live in Madrid. In 1863 his father died,
and in 1866 he was married in Granada to Doña Paulina Contreras y Reyes.
From 1873 until his death, July 18, 1891, he lived principally in
Madrid, until 1888 taking a large part in literary life, and not without
some mingling in matters public. In 1875, as one of the early supporters
of the Alfonsine restoration, he was made Councillor of State; and on
December 15th of the same year he was elected to the Spanish Academy, in
which he took his seat about a year later. His pen was very active. _El
Sombrero de tres picos_, _El Escándalo_, _El Niño de la Bola_, _La
Pródiga_, _El Capitán Veneno_, are from this final period, which was
opened with _La Alpujarra_. He gave much time also to revising,
selecting, and destroying, to which process we owe the definitive
collection of works noticed below. In 1887 his powers began noticeably
to fail. In 1888 there was a first hemiplegia--then other attacks
followed in December 1889, and February, 1890, and the final one in
July, 1891.