Armando Palacio Valdés

Armando Francisco Bonifacio Palacio y Rodríguez-Valdés (4 October 185329 January 1938) was a Spanish novelist and critic.

Biography Palacio was born at Entrialgo in the province of Asturias on 4 October 1853, eldest son of Silverio Palacio y Cárcaba, a lawyer, and Eduarda Rodríguez-Valdés y Alas, an aristocrat. His brothers, Atanasio and Leopoldo, also were writers.

His first writings were printed in the Revista Europea. These were pungent essays, remarkable for independent judgment and refined humour, and found so much favor with the public that the young beginner was soon appointed editor of the Revista. The best of his critical work is collected in Los Oradores del Ateneo (1878), Los Novelistas españoles (1878), Nuevo viaje al Parnaso and La Literatura en 1881 (1882), this last being written in collaboration with Leopoldo Alas.

In 1881 he published a novel, El señorito Octavio, which shows an uncommon power of observation, and the optimistic promise of better things to come. In Marta y Maria (1883), a portrayal of the struggle between religious vocation and earthly passion, somewhat in the manner of Valera, Palacio Valdés achieved a popular triumph.

A collection of his short stories appeared in English translation in 1935.

Works

Semblanzas literarias (1871) Los oradores del Ateneo (1878) El nuevo viaje al Parnaso (1879) La literatura en (1881), with Leopoldo Alas El señorito Octavio (1881) Marta y María (1883) Aguas fuertes (1884) El idilio de un enfermo (1884) José (1885) Riverita (1886) Maximina (1887) El cuarto poder (1888) La hermana San Sulpicio (1889) La espuma (1890) La espuma (1891) La fe (1892) El maestrante (1893) El Orígen del Pensamiento(1893) Los majos de Cádiz (1896) La alegría del capitán Ribot (1899) ("The Joy of Captain Ribot", 1900) Tristán o el pesimismo (1906) La aldea perdida (1911) Los papeles del doctor Angélico (1911) Años de juventud del doctor Angélico (1918) La novela de un novelista (1921) Cuentos escogidos (1923) La hija de Natalia (1924) El pájaro en la nieve y otros cuentos (1925) Santa Rogelia (1926) Los cármenes de Granada (1927) Testamento literario (1929) Sinfonía pastoral (1930) El gobierno de las mujeres (1931) Obras completas (1935) Álbum de un viejo (1940) El Crimen en Calle de la Perseguida (Unknown)