A rich and unforgettable tragic-comic novel of sexual intrigue and political scheming, The House of Ulloa is one of the greatest works of nineteenth-century Spanish literature.
The House of Ulloa follows pure and pious Father Julian Alvarez, who is sent to a remote country estate to put the affairs of the marquis, an irresponsible libertine, in order. When he discovers moral decadence, cruelty and corruption at his new home, Julian's well-meaning but ineffectual attempts to prevent the fall of the House of Ulloa end in tragedy. Combining gothic elements with humour and social satire, The House of Ulloa is the finest achievement of Emilia Pardo Bazan, a prolific writer, feminist, traveller and intellectual, and one of the most dynamic figures of her time.
Brilliantly balancing biting satire and gothic undertones, and evoking a rich sense of place, this is a wonderful novel that deserves to be ranked with the other great books of the period.
The Countess Emilia Pardo Bazan was born in 1851 and married at sixteen. After separating from her husband, she embarked on an affair with novelist Benito Perez Galdos. The House of Ulloa (1886) is generally considered as her masterpiece among her many literary works.
Professor Paul O'Prey is Vice-Chancellor of the University of Roehampton, London.
Lucia Graves has translated works by Robert Graves, Anais Nin, Katherine Mansfield and Carlos Ruiz Zafon, and is the author of a memoir, A Woman Unknown, and a novel, The Memory House.
'An absolutely first-rate novelist [...] Bazan's genius lies in the way she mixes comedy, farce, realism and heightened-pitch hysteria with a dash of gothic [...] People may travel by donkey in this book, but it could have been written yesterday' - Nick Lezard, Guardian
'Pardo Bazan's mastery of social types and of the political currents that swirled around the liberal revolution are unsurpassed in Spanish literature ... O'Prey and Graves ... avoid awkward literalisms while nonetheless remaining true to the spirit of the original' New Criterion
- ISBN10 0140445021
- ISBN13 9780140445022
- Publish Date 30 August 1990
- Publish Status Unknown
- Out of Print 14 January 1999
- Publish Country GB
- Imprint Penguin Books Ltd
- Format Paperback (B-Format (198x129 mm))
- Pages 288
- Language English