The splendid development given to the novel is the boast of the Spaniard of to-day. Out of essays on local manners as written by Larra, Minano, Mesonero Romanos and Estebanez has grown the regional novel which portrays the life of southern Spain in the works of Fernan Caballero (Cecilia Bohl de Faber, 179(-1877), that of the north and of the capital in the stories of Pereda (1834-95), that of eastern Spain in the novels, often tracts, of Blasco Ibiiiez, that of her Galicia in the fiction of the Countess Pardo Bazin (b. 1851), that of various places in the narratives of Palacio Valdes, and that of the whole land in the many psychological novels of Perez Gald6s. The last named has also cultivated the historical novel with extraordinary skill through four series of stories, each containing 10 novels, which cover the course of national events from the reign of Carlos IV down through the mid point of the 19th century. Somewhat of the naturalism of Zola and the de. Goncourt broth ers is visible in the productions of one or an other of these authors, but it is not usually carried to morbid extremes. Juan Valera (1824-95) can hardly be associated with the realistic novelists, and yet he is not an idealist; his geniality and sprightly fancy have won him many admirers. The number of the other writers of prose fiction that might be men tioned is simply legion. Perforce mention of them is omitted here, as also of the many prose writers who have gained well-merited praise for their historical and critical labors. Neverthe
less, record must be made of the highly cul tured and acute literary critic, the late Menen dez y Pelayo, and of the brilliant philologist, Menendez Pidal. Notable among the lyricists since the middle of the 19th century are Becquer (1837-70), whose beautiful poems are often pure music, and the cynically but not un pleasantly pessimistic Campoamor. Lyric verse and novels are constantly appearing in un diminished profusion. The events of the World War have provided scope for the imagination of Blasco Ibanez in his 'Cuatro Jinetes del Apocalipsis' and his Nostrum.' See AMADIS DE GAULA ; CELESTINA, THE; DON QUIXOTE; POEM OF THE CID.
Bibliography.— Fitzmaurice-Kelly, (History of Spanish Literature' (best consulted in the second Spanish edition: it has a copious bibliography) ; Ticknor, (History of Spanish Literature' (antiquated in part, but useful for its analyses of masterpieces; it does not treat of the greater part of the 19th century) ; Menendez y Pelayo, 'Antologia de Poetas Liricos Castellanos' (this treats of the history of Spanish poetry from the earliest times down to the Golden Age in the introductions to its various volumes) ; Cueto, 'La Literatura Espanola del Siglo XVIII' ; Blanco Garcia, (La Literatura Espanola en el Siglo XIX); Ford, (Main Currents of Spanish Literature.'