Dona Luz: A Novel

Juan Valera (1824-1905), one of nineteenth-century Spain’s most respected authors, wrote novels, short stories, poetry, essays, and literary criticism. The unifying thread of his work is art for art’s sake, that is, beauty as the end and purpose of inspiration and creativity. Two examples in long works of this aesthetic credo are his novels Pepita Jimenez (1874) and the novel translated here, Dona Luz (1879); the former is about a seminarian who falls in love with a young widow, and the latter, is about another young woman, one who seeks to escape the stigma of illegitimacy and lead a quiet life. The introduction discusses Valera’s aesthetics and oeuvre and analyzes Dona Luz in relation to them, as well as to other nineteenth-century Spanish and European novels; Notes explain cultural, historical, and literary references; the Select Bibliography lists first editions of Valera’s novels, modern editions of Dona Luz, English translation of Valera’s novels, and secondary sources.