Sweet Name

Concha EspinaProject Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

3.3

Word count: 225K words
Chapters: 23

Summary

Project Gutenberg was the first provider of free electronic books, or eBooks. Michael Hart, founder of Project Gutenberg, invented eBooks in 1971 and his memory continues to inspire the creation of eBooks and related technologies today.Dulce Nombre (Novela) by Concha EspinaAuthor: Espina, Concha, 1869-1955,Language: Spanish, Class: PQ: Language and Literatures: Romance literatures: French, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, Release Date: Dec 27, 2013

Editor's review

Dulce Nombre is a novel by the Spanish writer Concha Espina (1869–1955), digitized and released in the original Spanish by Project Gutenberg. Espina is known for delicate descriptions of landscape and psychological portrayal of characters; her works are often set in the countryside and mountains of northern Spain and concern women's destinies and family ethics. The book serves as an introductory text for understanding Spanish women's writing in the first half of the twentieth century: its narrative pace is slow, emphasizing atmosphere and emotional development rather than strong plot momentum. Reading it offers a sense of the lyrical tone characteristic of Spanish-language literature and a chance to observe how the author presents social class and gender circumstances through everyday scenes. For Spanish learners, the book is moderate in length and strongly literary, making it an optional text for the transition from intermediate to advanced level, though a certain vocabulary base is required.

Who it's for

A good fit for

Intermediate and advanced Spanish learners who wish to engage with original literature
Readers interested in Spanish women's literature and Spanish-language fiction of the first half of the twentieth century
Literary readers who enjoy lyrical description, slow pacing, and inner character focus

Not a good fit for

Beginners with weak Spanish who cannot yet read original long sentences independently
Readers who prefer strong plot and fast-paced suspense or action fiction
Readers who need modern scholarly introductions and detailed annotations to enter the text

Reading tips

Read one chapter first to gauge the language difficulty, then decide between close and extensive reading to avoid giving up midway.
Keep a notebook to record character relationships and place names; Spanish names and rural settings are numerous, and organizing them makes it easier to follow.
Read landscape and psychological passages closely and read aloud to feel the rhythm; read dialogue and plot-advancing sections extensively.
After finishing, look up the author's life and the geography of northern Spain to help understand the work's regional character.

About the publisher

Project Gutenberg United States · Founded in 1971

Project Gutenberg is a digital publishing project focused on public-domain ebooks. Its publishing direction centers on classic literary works whose copyright has expired, covering genres such as poetry, drama, fiction, and epic. Representative books include Lyrical Ballads by Wordsworth and Coleridge, Proust's Du côté de chez Swann, Shakespeare's Macbeth and The Complete Works of William Shakespeare, Homer's The Iliad, Dante's La Divina Comèdia: Purgatòri, Cervantes's The History of Don Quixote, Volume 2, and Grahame's The Wind in the Willows. Its author resources consist mainly of classic Western writers such as Wordsworth, Proust, Shakespeare, Homer, Dante, Cervantes, Grahame, and Tolstoy. Its publishing feature is the provision of freely accessible ebooks in EPUB and Kindle formats; it is not a traditional publisher, and publicly available information is limited.

FAQ

How difficult is the Spanish in this book?

It is a strongly literary Spanish text with relatively long sentences and dense description, suitable for readers with intermediate or higher reading ability. Beginners may start with a bilingual edition or selected chapters before gradually entering the full text.

What is Concha Espina's style as a writer?

She was an important Spanish novelist of the first half of the twentieth century. Her works are mostly set in the countryside of northern Spain, with delicate prose emphasizing landscape and psychological description, often involving women and family themes, and tending toward lyricism rather than plot-driven narration.

Does this edition have annotations or an introduction?

The public-domain electronic text released by Project Gutenberg mainly presents the original content and usually does not include a modern scholarly introduction or detailed annotations; readers needing background material should consult relevant research literature separately.

Comments

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About the author

Concha Espina Author · Spanish · 1869–1955

Concha Espina (1869–1955), whose full name was María de la Concepción Rodríguez-Espina, was a Spanish woman writer born in Santander and died in Madrid. She is best known for the novel La Niña de Luzmela, and also wrote El Jayón, Dulce Nombre, Agua de Nieve, Ruecas de Marfil, La Esfinge Maragata and the play El Jayón: Drama en tres actos; seven of her works are held in this collection. Her writing draws largely on Spanish rural life, with delicate prose and close attention to her characters' fates and local customs. Nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literature 25 times over 28 years, she continued writing after going blind in 1940, a testament to her literary standing and perseverance. Public information on her early education and specific writing career is limited.