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Publication
Madrid: Espasa-Calpe, DL 1984
Description
With its frank sexuality and searing critique of the Church, "La Regenta" scandalized contemporary Spain when it was first published in 1885. 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. 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 womanas body and soul. Spainas answer to "Madame Bovary, La Regenta" wittily depicts the complacent and frivolous world of the upper class.
User reviews
LibraryThing member japaul22
When I looked into reading this book, I found that it was a Spanish classic published in 1884 that is billed as the Spanish "Madame Bovary". Some of my favorite books are from this era - Anna Karenina, Middlemarch, Germinal, Madame Bovary, etc. so I thought this would be right up my alley. It was
The fictional setting of Vetusta, Spain is beautiful and the language drew me in for the first pages. And then the multitude of characters with multitudes of names for each person began. I've read lots of Russian literature where each person's name takes on different variations, but that was nothing compared to this. Also, Alas introduces many characters up front before they are part of the story, and I always have a hard time with that. In a book with dozens of main characters, I keep them straight best if they are introduced as they become part of the story. So I started off kind of confused, but I figured I had all 800 pages of the book to figure it out.
The premise was both familiar interesting. Ana is a young woman married to a quirky and bumbling older man who is bored. She is looking for fulfillment outside of her marriage and is torn between two men. One is the canon theologian, Don Fermin, who is her Catholic priest and confessor. The other is Don Alvaro, Mesia, who is the town's "Don Juan" - attractive, out-going, and a womanizer. Both men want Ana - Don Fermin being unable to differentiate between his love for Ana's pure religious soul and her beauty and Mesia seeing her mainly as a conquest, but a very desirable one as she seems so unattainable.
Ana herself is torn as well. There is a part of her that desires health, happiness, and nature that she envisions with Don Alvaro, but for the majority of the book she is having what I would describe as religious ecstasies where she gets so wrapped up in religious fervor that she makes herself physically ill. Don Fermin eats this up and loves her all the more for her purity of spirit. There is a lot of exploration of how he feels that he possesses her soul as her spiritual adviser. I read this on my kindle, so I can tell you that 85% of the way into this 800 page novel Ana finally consummates her relationship with Mesia. To be honest, I could not quite decipher what happens at the end in a scene between Don Fermin and Ana. Alas leaves this scene very vague.
So overall, I'm not sure what to say. Most of the time reading this I didn't enjoy it much. There were so many diversions into religious philosophy, many digressions, and also time shifts that didn't make much sense. The action is delayed so long that it became almost meaningless to me. But, then again, there are passages of beautiful writing and insights and I think there is definitely something there worth the time.
If you're a fan of literature from this era or of Spanish literature I'd love to hear some other thoughts on the book so it might be worth a try, but overall I'd have to say pass on this classic.
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also translated by John Rutherford whose translations I've appreciated in the past. What I found, though, was a book that I adored at moments and hated to the point of dreading to pick it up and doing some skimming at other times.The fictional setting of Vetusta, Spain is beautiful and the language drew me in for the first pages. And then the multitude of characters with multitudes of names for each person began. I've read lots of Russian literature where each person's name takes on different variations, but that was nothing compared to this. Also, Alas introduces many characters up front before they are part of the story, and I always have a hard time with that. In a book with dozens of main characters, I keep them straight best if they are introduced as they become part of the story. So I started off kind of confused, but I figured I had all 800 pages of the book to figure it out.
The premise was both familiar interesting. Ana is a young woman married to a quirky and bumbling older man who is bored. She is looking for fulfillment outside of her marriage and is torn between two men. One is the canon theologian, Don Fermin, who is her Catholic priest and confessor. The other is Don Alvaro, Mesia, who is the town's "Don Juan" - attractive, out-going, and a womanizer. Both men want Ana - Don Fermin being unable to differentiate between his love for Ana's pure religious soul and her beauty and Mesia seeing her mainly as a conquest, but a very desirable one as she seems so unattainable.
Ana herself is torn as well. There is a part of her that desires health, happiness, and nature that she envisions with Don Alvaro, but for the majority of the book she is having what I would describe as religious ecstasies where she gets so wrapped up in religious fervor that she makes herself physically ill. Don Fermin eats this up and loves her all the more for her purity of spirit. There is a lot of exploration of how he feels that he possesses her soul as her spiritual adviser. I read this on my kindle, so I can tell you that 85% of the way into this 800 page novel Ana finally consummates her relationship with Mesia. To be honest, I could not quite decipher what happens at the end in a scene between Don Fermin and Ana. Alas leaves this scene very vague.
So overall, I'm not sure what to say. Most of the time reading this I didn't enjoy it much. There were so many diversions into religious philosophy, many digressions, and also time shifts that didn't make much sense. The action is delayed so long that it became almost meaningless to me. But, then again, there are passages of beautiful writing and insights and I think there is definitely something there worth the time.
If you're a fan of literature from this era or of Spanish literature I'd love to hear some other thoughts on the book so it might be worth a try, but overall I'd have to say pass on this classic.
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LibraryThing member starbox
"Plenty of intrigues, plenty of petty politicking, plenty of material interests", 12 October 2015
This review is from: La Regenta (Penguin Classics) (Paperback)
Verified Purchase(What is this?)
This review is from: La Regenta (Classics) (Paperback)
A mammoth read at 700 pages plus, but an absolutely
The eponymous Regenta is the judge's wife, a beautiful young woman living in a chaste marriage with an elderly husband. Her confessor, Don Fermin, encourages her in the excessive religious observance to which she is prone, but is falling in love with her himself... Meanwhile local man-about-town, Alvaro, has vowed to conquer this supposedly virtuous lady, though he is only too aware of his ever-present rival ("I've raised the siege but how do I know that he hasn't mined his way in?")
The three main characters have a wonderful supporting cast: the other priests who are jealous of Don Fermino's success, and are plotting his downfall; the young society women of the town; double-dealing servants and the comical members of the gentlemen's club. Not to mention Ana's husband, whose life revolves aroung hunting and the theatre; and Don Fermino's conniving mother, with her lard poultices!
This is a book that will draw you in, right from the first chapter, in which Don Fermino has ascended to the church tower where he is surveying the local people with his telescope...
Superb translation too; I don't know how this work is so little-known, it's marvellous.
This review is from: La Regenta (Penguin Classics) (Paperback)
Verified Purchase(What is this?)
This review is from: La Regenta (Classics) (Paperback)
A mammoth read at 700 pages plus, but an absolutely
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superb one, up with Trollope, Tolstoy and all the greats.The eponymous Regenta is the judge's wife, a beautiful young woman living in a chaste marriage with an elderly husband. Her confessor, Don Fermin, encourages her in the excessive religious observance to which she is prone, but is falling in love with her himself... Meanwhile local man-about-town, Alvaro, has vowed to conquer this supposedly virtuous lady, though he is only too aware of his ever-present rival ("I've raised the siege but how do I know that he hasn't mined his way in?")
The three main characters have a wonderful supporting cast: the other priests who are jealous of Don Fermino's success, and are plotting his downfall; the young society women of the town; double-dealing servants and the comical members of the gentlemen's club. Not to mention Ana's husband, whose life revolves aroung hunting and the theatre; and Don Fermino's conniving mother, with her lard poultices!
This is a book that will draw you in, right from the first chapter, in which Don Fermino has ascended to the church tower where he is surveying the local people with his telescope...
Superb translation too; I don't know how this work is so little-known, it's marvellous.
Show Less
LibraryThing member hbergander
Comparing FLAUBERT, Madame Bovary, TOLSTOY, Anna Karenina, EҀA DE QUEIRÓZ, Basilio, and ALAS CLARÍN, La Regenta: There are similarities and influences of a naturalism, which I like, although all these novels in some passages are a bit monotonous.
Subjects
Language
Original publication date
1884 to 1885
Physical description
743 p.; 17 cm
ISBN
8423921190 / 9788423921195
Local notes
1a ed.; 743 p
Other editions
La Regenta by Leopoldo Alas (Paper Book)