Autumn and Winter Sonatas

The scene has shifted from verdant Italy and steamy Mexico of the Spring and Summer Sonatas to rainy Galicia and wintry Navarre and the court of the pretender Carlos during the final Carlist War in the Autumn and Winter Sonatas. 'Valle-Inclan's descriptive writing comes through delightfully in Margaret Jull Costa's limpid translation, and it is as travelogues as much as ironically satanic love stories that the novellas succeed. The descriptions of gnarled and knotted peasants in Spain and Mexico, and the distinctive local colour of these places, are surprisingly humane and observant for books which so self-consciously espouse the decadent creed.' Katy Emck in The Times Literary Supplement 'The stories have genuine imaginative and dramatic flair, and there is always an underlying tone of irony and persiflage to keep their extravagant tone within limits.' The Irish Times