Riverita

Palacio Valdés, Armando, 1853-1938Project Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

3.8

Word count: 601K words
Chapters: 61

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.Riverita by Armando Palacio ValdésAuthor: Palacio Valdés, Armando, 1853-1938,Language: Spanish, Class: PQ: Language and Literatures: Romance literatures: French, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, Release Date: Aug 28, 2009

Editor's review

Riverita is a novel by the Spanish writer Armando Palacio Valdés, belonging to the nineteenth-century Spanish realist tradition. With delicate strokes it depicts characters and customs, revealing social life and human observation as the plot unfolds; it is both readable and of value in literary history. This edition is a Spanish public-domain electronic version released by Project Gutenberg, freely available and searchable. For readers learning Spanish or studying nineteenth-century Spanish literature, it is an entry point to this author's work; for general literary lovers, it serves as supplementary reading for understanding the Spanish realist novel. Reading it alongside background materials on nineteenth-century Spanish society and literature will deepen appreciation of its characterization and narrative style.

Who it's for

A good fit for

Intermediate to advanced Spanish learners seeking to expand vocabulary and language feel through an original novel
Students and researchers of nineteenth-century Spanish realist literature
Literary enthusiasts interested in Spanish novels of manners and character portrayal

Not a good fit for

Readers with no Spanish who cannot yet read an original novel independently
Readers expecting modern fast-paced plots or strong suspenseful conflict
General readers who prefer Chinese translations and have no intention of reading foreign-language originals

Reading tips

Read the preface or look up the author's life and creative background before starting the main text
After each chapter, note character relationships and key plot points in Spanish to help trace the thread
Mark regional vocabulary or descriptions of customs temporarily, and look them up together after finishing the chapter
Read in comparison with works by other Spanish realist writers to appreciate similarities and differences in style

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 language is this edition in?

This is the original Spanish edition, released by Project Gutenberg as a public-domain eBook, suitable for readers with some Spanish reading ability.

What background knowledge is needed before reading?

It is advisable to first understand the basic features of nineteenth-century Spanish realist literature and the general profile of Palacio Valdés's work, which makes the characterization and descriptions of customs easier to understand.

What are the features of the Project Gutenberg edition?

Project Gutenberg provides free public-domain eBooks; this is one of its Spanish editions, convenient to download, search, and preserve long-term, but it usually lacks modern publishers' notes and introductions.

Can it be used as Spanish learning material?

Yes, but it is better suited to intermediate and advanced learners. The language belongs to nineteenth-century literary Spanish, with somewhat difficult syntax and vocabulary; reading progressively with a dictionary and background materials is recommended.

Comments

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About the author

Palacio Valdés, Armando, 1853-1938 Author

Armando Palacio Valdés (1853–1938) was a Spanish novelist. Thirty-two of his works are held in this collection, though public information about his life is limited and biographical details remain unclear. He is known chiefly for his novels of manners; the subtitle of his representative work Marta y María: novela de costumbres explicitly identifies it as a novel of customs, devoted to local settings and everyday human relations. Works such as Los majos de Cádiz and La hermana San Sulpicio likewise draw on Spanish urban and rural life, with a gentle tone that blends realism and lyricism. He also wrote La alegría del capitán Ribot, La Espuma, Riverita, and the two-volume The Fourth Estate, whose subjects range across social life and class observation. His works circulated widely in the Spanish-speaking world, some were translated into English, and he belongs to the realist novel tradition in Spain from the late nineteenth to the early twentieth century.