Legends and letters
By: Gustavo Adolfo Bécquer ; translated from the Spanish by Robert M. Fedorchek ; introduction by Rubén Benítez ; drawings by Jane Sutherland.
Contributors: Fedorchek, Robert M., 1938-
Publisher: Bucknell University Press; Associated University Presses
Published: 1995
Place of publication: Lewisburg [Pa.]; London; Crandbury, NJ
Language: eng
Number of pages: 242
Subjects: Bécquer, Gustavo Adolfo, 1836-1870 -- Translations into English
Genres: Translations into English.
Description: Legends and Letters is an English translation of one essay, fourteen legends, and the four "Literary Letters to a Woman" by Gustavo Adolfo Becquer, one of nineteenth-century Spain's greatest lyricists.

Much of Becquer's fantasy and creative flow finds stimulation in the light, aura, and mystery of the moon, and in the essay "By the Light of the Moon" we are given a glimpse into the inspiration of numerous legends, especially "The White Doe," where in the moon's light "objects take on a fantastic hue," and "The Moonbeam," where moonlight "spreads a soft melancholy over all of nature.".

The legends are a singular type of short story: brief journeys to a bygone time. They are a world of heroic architecture, exotic personages, haunted ruins, and majestic cathedrals; a world in which the protagonist pursues the ephemeral, the ethereal, the beautiful, and the mysterious; a world in which the protagonist - in search of love, which is to say in search of woman - frequently risks madness or death.

They are grouped here into four categories. The first, Impossible Love, is comprised of "Green Eyes," "The Moonbeam," and "The White Doe," legends that reflect the poet's yearning for an ideal love and an ideal woman with sentiments that find an echo in his verse. The second, Divine Intervention in Seville and Toledo, contains "Master Perez the Organist," "The Gold Bracelet," "The Kiss," and "The Christ of the Skull," tales that evoke celestial music, retribution, and wrath.

The third, The Devil's Disciples, includes "Believe in God," "The Devil's Cross," and "The Miserere," stories of satanic protagonists and satanic deeds. And the fourth, Visitors from the Hereafter, is made up of "Haunted Mountain," "The Cave of the Moorish Woman," "The Promise," and "The Gnome," legends that are replete with supernatural occurrences, dark nights of foreboding, illusory images, spirits, and genies.

. In the four "Literary Letters to a Woman" Becquer considers the nature of inspiration and discusses woman as poetry, beauty, love, and religion. The views expressed in them amount to unifying themes because they are constants in both his verse and his prose fiction. From the letters the reader will see that the correlation is not only between the legends and letters, but between the letters and poems (Rimas) as well.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references (p. 238-242).
English translations based on selections from two Spanish texts: Leyendas, apólogos y otros relatos. Edición de Rubén Benítez. Barcelona : Editorial Labor, 1974 (for the legends), and Obras completas. 13th ed. Madrid : Aguilar, 1969 (for the letters).
Table of contents: title: Green eyes; title: The moonbeam; title: The white doe; title: Master Pérez the organist; title: The gold bracelet; title: The kiss; title: The Christ of the skull; title: Believe in God; title: The devil's cross; title: The miserere; title: Haunted mountain; title: The cave of the Moorish woman; title: The promise; title: The gnome; title: Literary letters to a woman, I-IV.