PEREDA, JOSE MARIA DE (1833-1906), Spanish nov elist, was born at Polanco near Santander, and began his literary career by contributing articles to a local journal, La Abeja mon taiiesa, in 1858. In 1864-71 appeared his powerful realistic sketches of local life and manners under the title of Escenas mon taiiesas, and a second series was published under the title of Tipos y paisajes (1871). These were followed by Bocetos al temple (1876), Tipos trashumantes (1877), and El Buey suelto (1877), which was intended as a reply to the thesis of Balzac's work, Les Petites miseres de la vie conjugale. More and more pessimistic as to the political future of his country, Pereda took occasion in Don Gonzalo Gonzalez de la Gonzalera (1879), to ridicule the revolu tion as he had seen it at work, and to pour scorn upon the nou veaux riches who exploited liberalism for their personal ends. Two novels by his friend Perez Gald6s, Dona Perfecta and Gloria, drew from Pereda a reply, De Tal Palo tel astilla (1880), in which he endeavours to show that tolerance in religious matters is disastrous alike to nations and to individuals. The Esbozos y rasgunos (1881) is of lighter material, and is less attractive than El Sabor de la Tierruca (1882), a striking piece of landscape which won immediate appreciation. In Pedro Sanchez (1883) Pereda leaves his native province to portray the disillusion of a sincere enthu siast who has plunged into the political life of the capital. Pereda's masterpiece is Sotileza (1884), a vigorous rendering of marine life by an artist who perceives and admires the daily heroisms of his fisher-folk. It has often been alleged against the author that he confines himself to provincial life, to lowly personages and to unrefined subjects, and no doubt an anxiety to clear himself from this absurd reproach led him to attempt a description of society at the capital in La Montdlvez (1888), which is certainly the least interesting of his performances. In
La Puchera (1889) he returned to the marine subjects which he knew and loved best. Again in Peiias arriba (1895), his love of country life is manifested in the masterly contrast between the healthy labour of the fields and the squalid life of cities.
Pereda belongs to the native realistic school of Spain, which, founded by the unknown author of Lazarillo de Tonnes, was continued by Mateo Alerna.n, Cervantes, Quevedo, Castillo Solorzano and many others. With the single exception of Cer vantes, however, the picaresque writers are almost entirely want ing in the spirit of generous sympathy and tenderness which con stitutes a great part of Pereda's charm. His realism is purely Spanish, as remote from Zola's moroseness as from the graceful sentimentality of Pierre Loti. Few 19th-century writers pos sessed the virile temperament of Pereda, and, with the single exception of Tolstoy, none kept a moral end more steadily in view. This didactic tendency unquestionably injures his effects. Moreover, his grim satire occasionally degenerates into somewhat, truculent caricature, and the excessive use of dialect and techni cal terms which caused him to supply Sotileza with a brief vocabulary is a grave artistic blemish. But he saw, knew, under stood character ; he created not only types, but living personages, such as Andres, Cleto and Muergo in Sotileza, Pedro Juan and Pilara in La Puchera; and he personified the tumult and calm of the sea with more power than Victor Hugo displayed in Les Travailleurs de la mer. His descriptive powers were of the highest order, and his style, pure of all affectations and embellish ments, is of singular force and suppleness. With all his limita tions, he was as original a genius as Spain produced during the 19th century. (J. F.-K.)