Narrative
La propia
Not translated into English
Synopsis
On his finca, a small bucolic world governed by work and social order, don Julián Oconitrillo holds all the powers of the place: the municipality, the committee building the new church, the progressive party. Married to doña Micaela, he becomes infatuated with the young María Engracia. Warnings pile up, gossip from the workers, reproaches from his wife, mockery from a young cowherd; he disregards them and obtains the girl with the complicity of her mother.
Context
The story entered the Jeux floraux in 1909 under the pseudonym Olielmaber, then appeared in book form in 1912 in the Ariel series; a 1947 collection brought it together with other tales by the author, who had published little until then apart from sketches of manners. Julio Escoto Borge reads in it a logic of degradation: any attack on the established order brings about a fall, even among the innocent. The National Library sees in it the breakdown of the rural idyll, attributed to moral motives but at bottom due to the coffee trade.
Who it is for
A long narrative, in Spanish, in which the speech of the Costa Rican countryside holds a large place.
Prizes and reception
The most remarkable narrative by its author, according to the National Library; honourable mention at the Jeux floraux of 1909.
Sources for this page 2
The pages consulted to check this page.