Legends and Letters is an English translation of one essay, fourteen legends, and the four "Literary Letters to a Woman" by Gustavo Adolfo Becquer, one of nineteenth-century Spain's greatest lyricists. Much of Becquer's fantasy and creative flow finds stimulation in the light, aura, and mystery of the moon, and in the essay "By the Light of the Moon" we are given a glimpse into the inspiration of numerous legends, especially "The White Doe," where in the moon's light "objects take on a fantastic hue," and "The Moonbeam," where moonlight "spreads a soft melancholy over all of nature." The legends are a singular type of short brief journeys to a bygone time. They are a world of heroic architecture, exotic personages, haunted ruins, and majestic cathedrals; a world in which the protagonist pursues the ephemeral, the ethereal, the beautiful, and the mysterious; a world in which the protagonist - in search of love, which is to say in search of woman - frequently risks madness or death. They are grouped here into four categories. The first, Impossible Love, is comprised of "Green Eyes," "The Moonbeam," and "The White Doe," legends that reflect the poet's yearning for an ideal love and an ideal woman with sentiments that find an echo in his verse. The second, Divine Intervention in Seville and Toledo, contains "Master Perez the Organist," "The Gold Bracelet," "The Kiss," and "The Christ of the Skull," tales that evoke celestial music, retribution, and wrath. The third, The Devil's Disciples, includes "Believe in God," "The Devil's Cross," and "The Miserere," stories of satanic protagonists and satanic deeds. And the fourth, Visitors from the Hereafter, is made up of "Haunted Mountain," "The Cave of the Moorish Woman," "The Promise," and "The Gnome," legends that are replete with supernatural occurrences, dark nights of foreboding, illusory images, spirits, and genies. In the four "Literary Letters to a Woman" Becquer considers the nature of inspiration and discusses woman as poetry, beauty, love, and religion. The views expressed in them amount to unifying themes because they are constants in both his verse and his prose fiction. From the letters the reader will see that the correlation is not only between the legends and letters, but between the letters and poems (Rimas) as well.
Author
Gustavo Adolfo Domínguez Bastida, better known as Gustavo Adolfo Bécquer, was a Spanish post-romanticist writer of poetry, short stories, and nonfiction now considered one of the most important figures in Spanish literature. He adopted the alias of Bécquer as his brother Valeriano Bécquer, a painter, had done earlier. He was associated with the post-romanticism movement and wrote while realism was enjoying success in Spain. He was moderately well known during his life, but it was after his death that most of his works were published. He is best known for his intimate, lyrical poems and for his legends; more importantly, he is remembered for the verbal decor with which he impregnated everything he wrote. A Romantic poet above all else, Bécquer infused every single line he wrote with sensorial intensity, and his Legends still serve today as some of the most brilliant examples of prose poetry. Always including elements of the supernatural, Bécquer imbued his legends with a gothic sensibility, depicting gnomes, ghosts, enchanted fortresses and monasteries, and men and women who succumb to vanity or desire. Other lesser-known, but none less valuable, works include his "Cartas Desde mi Celda" ("Letters from my Cell") and "Cartas Literarias a una Mujer" ("Literary Epistles to a Woman") which adopt an intimate, contemplative style similar to Thoreau in "Walden." Here we find him ruminating at length on the subjects that characterize his poetic works: love, the purpose of art, folklore, the seductive pull of ancient ruins—and, of course, women. An essential figure in the canon of Hispanic letters, and an obligatory reading in any Spanish-language High School, he is today considered the founder of modern Spanish lyricism. Bécquer's influence on 20th century poets of the Spanish language is felt in the works of poets such as Octavio Paz, Giannina Braschi, Antonio Machado, Juan Ramón Jiménez, Pablo Neruda and many more.
