The Chimera

Pardo Bazán, Emilia, condesa de, 1852-1921Project Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

4.0

Word count: 800K words
Chapters: 80

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.La Quimera by condesa de Emilia Pardo BazánAuthor: Pardo Bazán, Emilia, condesa de, 1852-1921,Language: Spanish, Class: PQ: Language and Literatures: Romance literatures: French, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, Release Date: Aug 21, 2015

Editor's review

La Quimera is a novel by the Spanish writer Emilia Pardo Bazán, with the Spanish original released free by Project Gutenberg. Pardo Bazán was a key representative of nineteenth-century Spanish realism and naturalism. The book revolves around the tension between artistic ideals and real circumstances; the title "La Quimera" (The Chimera) itself hints at the spiritual predicament brought on by the pursuit of illusory goals. The work continues the author's detailed portrayal of the social environment and her characters' psychology, and its language carries the elegance and reflective quality of nineteenth-century Spanish fiction. For readers learning Spanish, it is an original-language text for encountering nineteenth-century literary language and expanding literary vocabulary; for readers studying Spanish literature or women's writing, it offers a sample of how a woman writer of the time handled idealist themes. Read it at a slower pace and pay attention to the symbolism in the narration and the characters' inner monologues. As a public-domain e-book, this edition has no modern annotations; reading alongside a Spanish dictionary or a bilingual edition is recommended.

Who it's for

A good fit for

Learners with intermediate or higher Spanish reading ability who wish to engage with literary texts in the original
Readers studying nineteenth-century Spanish realist and naturalist literature
Literature enthusiasts interested in women's writing and idealist themes
Readers who need a free public-domain Spanish text for classroom use or self-study

Not a good fit for

Beginners with weak Spanish foundations who cannot yet read long original sentences smoothly
Readers seeking a modern annotated edition or an academic version with a detailed introduction
Readers who prefer fast-paced plots and have limited patience for nineteenth-century psychological description

Reading tips

Read one chapter first to gauge the language difficulty, then decide whether to read closely sentence by sentence or read extensively for the gist.
Keep a Spanish dictionary at hand and note recurring keywords and symbolic expressions as you go.
Read alongside background material on the author's life and nineteenth-century Spanish literature.
After finishing, try writing a character analysis in Spanish to test your understanding of the text.

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

What Spanish level is this book suitable for?

Intermediate or higher Spanish reading ability is recommended, enough to handle longer complex sentences and literary expression. Beginners who dive straight into the original are likely to struggle; they might start with a bilingual edition or a simplified version as a bridge, then return to the original.

Does this edition include annotations or an introduction?

This is a public-domain electronic text released by Project Gutenberg, typically containing only the original text without modern scholarly annotations or an introduction. For background explanation, pair it with literary history materials or choose an annotated print edition.

What does the title "La Quimera" mean?

In Spanish, "quimera" means "phantom, fantasy, an impossible dream," and also refers to the chimera monster of myth. The title suggests the work deals with the gap between ideals and reality; as you read, watch whether the goals the characters pursue carry an illusory quality.

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About the author

Pardo Bazán, Emilia, condesa de, 1852-1921 Author

Emilia Pardo Bazán (1852–1921) was a Spanish writer of noble birth. Her work has received relatively limited attention in the Chinese-speaking world, and publicly available material on her remains insufficient, yet her writing holds an important place in Spanish literary history. Her novels are often set in the Galician countryside of northwestern Spain, with a realistic touch that attends to social customs, family ethics and character psychology. Her major works include Los pazos de Ulloa, La madre naturaleza, La Tribuna and Morriña. She also wrote short stories and essays on love, marriage and women's circumstances, marked by detailed narrative and keen observation. Nineteen of her works are held in this collection, commonly classified under inspirational growth, suggesting that her writing also offers readable reflections on growth and life themes.