Spanyol
Jose Maria Llanas Aguilaniedo (1875-1921) is one of the most relevant and less know characters of the Spanish turn of the XIXth Century culture. His heterogeneous and particular works encompass aesthetics treatises, scientific papers, publications on criminology and hygiene, and three novels that bear witness to the new directions assumed by the narrative and the cultural obsessions of the period. Navegar pintoresco (1903), his second novel, deals with the life of Alvaro Pacheco, whose nervousness and hypersensitivity grow after the death of his twin sister, Maria de los Angeles. One night, while strolling through Madrid, Alvaro sees a mysterious young woman in a balcony; fascinated by the image he initiates a passionate relation. Though a third character, Berta, seems to be the cure to the unnamed maladie that stifles Alvaro, the youth will keep on sinking in his dissatisfaction while embracing the most radical aesthete dandy gestures seen in a Spanish literature character. This edition aims to highlight some of the key aspects of the novel by connecting it to its literary and cultural context.
