Book description
Married to the retired magistrate of Vetusta, Ana Ozores cares deeply
for her much older husband but feels stifled by the monotony of her life
in the shabby and conservative provincial town. And when she embarks on
a quest for fulfillment through religion and even adultery, a bitter
struggle begins between a powerful priest and a would-be Don Juan for
the passionate young woman's body and soul. Scandalizing contemporary
Spain when it was first published in 1885, with its searing critique of
the Church and its frank treatment of sex, La Regenta is a compelling
and witty depiction of the complacent and frivolous world of upper-class
society.
Leopoldo Alas, "Clar n" (1852 - 1901). His only other novel
is Su nico hijo (1891).
John Rutherford is a fellow of The Queen's College, Oxford, where he
teaches Spanish, Spanish-American, and Galician language and
literature. He has also translated Don Quixote by Miguel de
Cervantes for Penguin Classics. For the translation of La
Regenta he was decorated in 1984 by King Juan Carlos of Spain with
the Medalla de Oro al M rito en las Bellas Artes.
