Leopoldo García-Alas and Ureña (1852-1901), who was nicknamed Clarín, was a renowned Spanish writer who lived during the 19th century. It stood out especially for its narrative, composed of both novels and numerous short stories. He is considered one of the greatest Spanish novelists of the 19th century, along with Benito Pérez Galdós.
Parallel to his work as a storyteller, he was a notable jurist and professor. He wrote numerous essays, as well as reviews and criticisms of literature that were published in newspapers and magazines of the time..
His most famous work is the novel in two volumes The Regent (1894 - 1895), written following the literary currents of naturalism and realism, which framed most of his work as a writer.
This novel portrays and criticizes Spanish society at the end of the 19th century, full of moral corruption, through the experiences of its protagonist, an adulterous woman. It has been compared, for its subject matter, depth and complexity, with other classics of nineteenth-century European literature such as Madame Bovary Y Ana Karenina.
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Leopoldo García-Alas y Ureña was born in Zamora, in northern Spain, on April 25, 1852. He was the third child of Don Genaro García-Alas and Doña Leocadia Ureña.
His father was, at that time, Civil Governor of said city. His mother was born in Asturias, like all his maternal family. This Asturian heritage was very present in García-Alas's work throughout his life.
As a child he enrolled in the Jesuit school located in the convent of San Marcos in the city of León. From an early age he was a diligent and curious student, devoted to the rules and respectful of the faith..
The author's childhood passed between this educational institute and his parents' family home in Asturias. There he was instructed in the library of the residence reading classical literature. Miguel de Cervantes and Fray Luis de León were among his favorites and sparked his love for letters.
At just eleven years old, in September 1863, the young Leopoldo Alas entered the preparatory courses at the University of Oviedo, where he studied arithmetic, theology, ethics, natural history, physiology, and Latin. He obtained his bachelor's degree on May 8, 1869.
In 1871 Clarín moved to Madrid in order to obtain his doctorate in Law. There he met again with some colleagues from the Oviedo high school, who later also made a career as writers and were his close friends forever: Tomás Tuero, Armando Palacio Valdés and Pio Rubín.
In Madrid he studied criminal law, commercial law, forensic practice and procedural theory in depth, as well as other compulsory subjects to obtain a doctorate..
Parallel to the fulfillment of his academic commitments, during his stay in Madrid the young Leopoldo Alas ventured into journalism. As of July 5, 1875, he became a contributor to the newspaper Solfeggio, directed by the Spanish writer Antonio Sánchez Pérez.
The articles of his authorship were signed under the pseudonym "Clarín", since Sánchez Pérez had asked the editors of his newspaper to sign with the name of a musical instrument. From this time on, the alias with which he was known for the rest of his life became popular among his readers and critics..
Clarín's writings in Solfeggio, They were, for the most part, satirical verses or articles, the content of which consisted of harsh literary criticisms of the works of established or new Spanish writers..
It also included political comments, with pointed observations on the members of the governmental and social elite that at that time led the Bourbon Restoration..
The plain Bourbon Restoration was a political movement that promoted and achieved the recovery of the throne of Spain. It was carried out by a member of the Bourbon family, King Alfonso XII, son of Francisco de Borbón and Isabel II, who had been dethroned in the 1968 Revolution..
The new king was crowned on December 29, 1874. This ended the First Spanish Republic that for six years had been led by the Liberal Party of Práxedes Mariano Mateo Sagasta. These events, as expected, caused a stir and discontent among many intellectuals attached to Sagasta's party..
In 1876, Leopoldo Alas published his first stories and some poetry in the Asturias Magazine, Directed by Félix Aramburu, who was a close friend of the author. These stories made a very good impression and were later republished for other magazines and compendia.
In this way, Clarín began to make a name in Madrid and from there in other Spanish cities as a writer, both fiction and narrative and in the journalistic field..
After completing his university courses, which he passed with outstanding performance, he presented his doctoral thesis entitled Law and morality, and on July 1, 1878 he obtained the title of doctor in civil and canon law.
After obtaining the doctorate, he moved for a few months to his parents' farm in the town of Guimarán, in Asturias, a place to which he traveled seasonally on various occasions throughout his life to find peace and inspiration in the Asturian landscapes..
Leopoldo Alas's doctoral work was printed and published in the city of Madrid. This text had the curiosity to be the only one of his writings signed with his real name and not under the pseudonym that made him so popular.
Later, at the end of 1878, he competed at the University of Madrid for the post of teacher in the chairs of economics, politics and statistics. For this he presented several exams and prepared the work Analytical program of political economy and statistics.
However, and despite obtaining outstanding results in the different tests that were applied to him, his appointment to the position was frustrated by the opposition of the VIII Count of Toreno, Francisco de Borja Queipo de Llano, whom Leopoldo Alas had criticized years ago. in your articles for Solfeggio.
Four years later, on July 12, 1882, he was finally appointed professor of political economy and statistics for the University of Zaragoza, through an official gazette..
On August 14, 1883, by Royal Order, he obtained the position of professor of Roman law at the University of Oviedo and some time later he was entrusted with the chair of natural law at the same institution..
Simultaneously with his teaching work, between the late 1870s and early 1880s, he continued to write. He made literary criticisms and political comments that were published in Madrid newspapers such as The Impartial, Comic Madrid, The balloon Y Illustration.
These articles earned him sympathy and enmity among the writers. Academics and figures from public life in Madrid and Asturias were very attentive to his work as a novelist.
The journalistic writings of Leopoldo Alas were compiled in a volume entitled Clarín Solos. This work was published in 1881, and its prologue was in charge of the playwright José Echegaray.
As a teacher, he excelled in each of the subjects under his charge. He gained fame for his scrupulous and correct ways of evaluating, as well as for his thoughtful and unorthodox classes. In them, he required his students to analyze more than memorize concepts and diagrams..
Although some considered him excessively strict, he became highly respected by his colleagues and students in both Madrid and Oviedo. He always showed rectitude and dedication in his teaching work, in which he carried out the rest of his life.
On August 29, 1882 he married in La Laguna, Asturias, with Doña Onofre García Argüelles and García Bernardo. The wedding took place at the family residence of his fiancee. A year later the couple moved to Oviedo. They had three children: Leopoldo, born in 1884, Adolfo, in 1887 and Elisa, in 1890.
His eldest son, Leopoldo García-Alas García-Argüelles, was also an outstanding figure of letters from his native Oviedo. He held the position of Rector at the University of this city in 1931. He also devoted himself to political life as a member of the Republican Radical Socialist Party and was assassinated by the Franco regime..
Clarín and his wife had other notable descendants, such as the doctor Alfredo Martínez García-Argüelles, also killed by the Franco regime, and the contemporary writer Leopoldo Alas Mínguez..
During 1883, while he was teaching the chair of Roman law in Oviedo, the author wrote what was considered his masterpiece and one of the great European novels of the 19th century., The Regent.
This work was inspired by the capital of the Principality of Asturias and its people from different social strata and with different prejudices, which Leopoldo Alas understood in depth.
This despite being born into a privileged social class and enjoying fame as a writer, as well as good financial compensation for his status as a professor..
The Regent it was published in two parts. The first was published in 1884, in the workshops of the Cortezo publishing house in Barcelona, and the second volume was printed a year later, in 1885..
This novel adheres to the literary trend called naturalism, whose main standard-bearers so far were the French writers Guy de Maupassant and Émile Zola.
The novel received both positive reviews for its exquisite narrative and negative for its controversial and objectionable plot for the time. In addition, it was considered similar to the masterpiece of French literature: Madame Bovary, by Gustave Flaubert.
One year after the publication of The Regent, In 1886, a compilation of stories of his authorship was published, entitled Pipe. In 1890 it was published in the Madrid publishing house of Fernando Fe His only son, Clarín's second important novel, which did not have the notoriety of the first.
Leopoldo Alas also ventured into political life. He became an elected councilor for the Oviedo City Council by the republican party, to which he was always related.
It was linked after the Restoration to the political ideals of Emilio Castelar, who aspired to establish democratic ways in public institutions in Spain. In the City Council he was part of the Finance Commission.
In the 1890s, already in his forties, he felt the need to become more attached to religious ideas and the search for God. These new concerns were reflected in his literary work, particularly in Change of Light, one of his most famous stories.
In 1894 he explored dramaturgy with the play Teresa, premiered on March 20 of that year at the Spanish Theater in Madrid, one of the most important stages in Spain. This theatrical piece did not get good reviews or good reception from the public, who considered it anti-theatrical..
In 1900, with his health already very deteriorated, Leopoldo Alas was commissioned to translate the novel Job, from Émile Zola, whom he deeply admired. This work occupied him during the last two years of his life.
In May 1901 he moved to León, where he spent a few months surrounded by relatives and friends in the celebrations for the reconstruction of the cathedral in that city. Upon his return to Oviedo, he was diagnosed by his nephew, the doctor Alfredo Martínez García-Argüelles, with intestinal tuberculosis.
He died on June 13, 1901 at the age of 49, at his residence, surrounded by his wife and relatives. His body was veiled at the University of Oviedo, where he spent most of his teaching life. He was buried in the municipal cemetery of El Salvador, in Oviedo.
As for the narrative of Leopoldo Alas, critics have commented a lot about its closeness to the naturalism of Émile Zola. This essentially deterministic current aims to expose situations, places and characters with objectivity and precision..
Clarín's work fulfilled these characteristics, describing in an almost physiological way behaviors and circumstances in his novels and stories. In addition, it incorporated in a scathing and sharp way social criticism, which is also part of the precepts of literary naturalism..
The ultimate purpose of these works is to describe individual or social behaviors that obey certain governing rules of human behavior and through these descriptions incorporate social criticism.
To this literary trend must be added in the case of Leopoldo Alas his political and philosophical affinities, such as liberalism and Krausism, to which several Spanish jurists and academics from the second half of the 19th century were attached..
These philosophical doctrines expose several precepts that are reflected in a certain way in the author's work, such as conditionality, which proposes the way in which social and external conditions affect the destiny of individuals..
Krausism also opposes dogmatism and invites reflection, it also raises God as a container of the world and at the same time transcendent.
It is a pious and altruistic doctrine, although skeptical of traditional religious institutions. All these precepts are reflected in the novels and stories of Clarín.
Sharp observation and analysis are the fundamental bases of the author's literary style. In his stories he incorporates resources such as the long interior monologues of the characters to explain their behaviors and analyze their psyche.
In the descriptions he never fails to add irony and satire as elements that are intended to disturb the reader for moral purposes.
Also noteworthy is the careful and meticulous use of language, both in fiction and in his journalistic work. He was a diligent student of words and an eager for stylistic correctness..
His works are numerous in relation to his short life. He wrote stories and short novels from his time as a young law student in Madrid, which were originally published in magazines and newspapers..
In later years and up to the present, they have been compiled and published in various languages by different publishers..
In life some compilations of his short novels and stories such as Pipe (1886), Moral tales (1896), Raven (1892), Trickery (1892), Mrs. Berta (1892) and The Lord and the rest are stories (1893). Posthumously came to light The rooster of Socrates and other tales (1901) and Doctor Sutilis (1916).
Short stories for newspapers or magazines were an extremely popular literary form in the 19th century, many writers used them to make themselves known. Leopoldo García-Alas mastered the dramatic tension necessary to produce stories of great literary value.
Among his titles in this genre it is worth mentioning: Light Change, An engraving, Torso, González Bribón, The cold of the pope, Queen Margaret, The substitute, The trap, The cough duo, Raven, The elder bear, The priest's hat, At the drugstore, On the train, Speraindeo, Dr. Pértinax, The Who, Don Paco from the packaging, From the Commission, Drum and bagpipe, Doctor Angelicus, A vote, Burgundy, Small dog ... medal, A returnee, The book and the widow, Snob, A candidate, among others.
His work as an essayist and literary critic was also very prominent, his most important titles in this genre were:
- Clarín Solos (1880).
- Literature in 1881 (1882).
- Lost sermon (1885).
- A trip to Madrid (1886).
- Cánovas and his time (1887)
- New campaign (1887).
- Apollo at Paphos (1887).
- My plagiarism: A speech by Núñez de Arce (1888).
- Denim (1889).
- To 0.50 poet: epistle in bad verses with notes in clear prose (1889).
- Benito Pérez Galdós: critical-biographical study (1889).
- Rafael Calvo and the Spanish theater (1890).
- A speech (1891).
- Essays and magazines (1892).
- Small talk (1894).
- Popular criticism (1896).
As for the novels of Leopoldo Alas, the most outstanding is undoubtedly The Regent (1884-1885). The story takes place in a fictional city called Vetusta, which has been understood by readers and critics as a literary representation of Oviedo.
Its protagonist, Ana Ozores, is married to the Regent of the Audience of that city. She is a woman whose dreams and aspirations have been thwarted by an arranged marriage and the oppression of social conventions. The plot reveals double standards, deception and hypocrisy.
Ana de Ozores is then involved in an adulterous relationship with Álvaro Mesía, which ends in disappointment and marginalization for the protagonist.
The novel has more than a hundred characters and embodies the genres of manners, naturalism and realism. Describes in detail each situation, character and place with objectivity, through resources such as the internalized monologue.
The first volume takes place in three days and presents the city of Vetusta and its characters in the manner of a painting of customs. The second volume describes the events that lead the protagonist to be unfaithful to her marriage and her subsequent social marginalization.
It deals with controversial issues for the time such as adultery, double standards within the religious institution and vices within the city government. In 1885 it was published in Barcelona by Daniel Cortezo's publishing house and was vetoed by the Bishop of Oviedo.
In the 20th century it was translated into Italian, French, German, English, Czech and, recently, into Asturian. It was adapted to the cinema, in a film of the same name by the Asturian director Gonzalo Suárez in 1974.
It was also brought to television in a serial format produced by Televisión Española (TVE) in 1995. It also has several theatrical adaptations.
Other novels by Leopoldo Alas are The link (1884), Pelayo's hug (1889), Downhill (1890) and His only son (1890), in whose plot the family as an institution is also questioned.
The author had a brief experience as a playwright thanks in part to the impulse of his friendship with José Echegaray. The play was released Teresa (1884), which was written in prose as a one-act dramatic essay.
It was staged at the Spanish Theater in Madrid by the actress María Guerrero. It has been edited and published later in the form of a narrative.
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