The 15 best works of Spanish literature

If you are an inveterate reader, the saying "there is not enough life to read all the books in the world" will sound familiar to you. Effectively, this is impossible; but the selections help, and a lot, to know what to read at all times.

Today we present you a list of the 15 best works of literature in Spanish, from the late Middle Ages to the 20th century, which will surely brighten up your rainy and cold autumn afternoons. Enjoy reading.

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15 works of Spanish literature that you cannot miss

Prepare the pencil and take aim. Here is a list of the best works in the history of literature in Spanish.

1. Tragicomedy of Calisto and Melibea (La Celestina), by Fernando de Rojas (ca. 1500)

Popularly known by the name of one of her characters, Celestina, the old pimp who has become synonymous with matchmaker. The work is extraordinarily long (21 acts in its final version), which is why many authors refer to it as a "dialogue novel." The story revolves around the clandestine love affairs of the young Calisto and Melibea;

It is a didactic work, since it emphasizes the tragedy that follows the fact of being carried away by passions. However, at the time the work was interpreted differently, since many intellectuals, such as the humanist Juan Luis Vives, advised against it for inciting carnal pleasure.

2. the sonnets by Garcilaso de la Vega (c. 16th)

Considered one of the greatest poets in the Spanish language, Garcilaso de la Vega brought Italian classicism to Spain. During his trip to Italy in 1522 he got to know the work of Petrarch and Jacopo Sannazaro; these authors, and also classical writers such as Virgil or Ovid, greatly influenced his poetic work. His sonnets are the best example of Italianate poetry in Spanish..

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3. The life of Lazarillo de Tormes and his fortunes and adversities, anonymous (1554)

This short novel, by an unknown author, is a corrosive denunciation of the society of Spain in the 16th century. Through the testimony of Lázaro, a poor boy from humble origins who constantly changes masters in order to survive, we look at the social reality of the moment. Lazarillo de TormesIt is the mother of the so-called picaresque novels, stories that revolve around beggars, rogues and thieves, and that accuse a remarkable realism in the social portrait of him.

4. The Ingenious Gentleman Don Quijote of La Manchaby Miguel de Cervantes (1605-1615)

We are before one of the most important works of universal literature; according to some sources, the most read after the Bible. The story of Don Alonso Quijano, a poor hidalgo who spends the day reading books of chivalry and, consequently, loses his mind, has moved generations of readers. Considered by many to be the first modern novel, The Quijote he makes a mocking and scathing critique of chivalric novels and courtly love.

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5. The fables by Felix de Samaniego (1784)

Many people know about Samaniego's fables, but are unaware that he is the author. sure they sound familiar The Ant and the Grasshopper and The fox and the grapes. The author of these didactic and moralizing tales was Félix María de Samaniego, a profoundly enlightened Spanish writer who satirized on human customs and vices, politics and even the clergy, and he was a member of the Royal Basque Society of Friends of the Country. His fables have passed down to posterity not only as children's stories, but also as an evening critical of society, as was usual among the 18th century enlightened people.

6. the rhymes and legends by Gustavo Adolfo Bécquer (1871)

If there is any author with whom we identify Romanticism in the Spanish language, it is Bécquer. However, technically, his work takes place when Romanticism had already disappeared from the European scene. What difference does it make. Their rhymes and legends, a collection of poetry and short stories in the Gothic style, continue to fascinate its readers more than 150 years after its publication.

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7. The Regent, by Leopoldo 'Alas' Clarín (1884)

It is undoubtedly one of the greatest monuments of Castilian literature; an absolutely essential read. The 19th century is the golden age of the novel, and in Spain the naturalistic guidelines of neighboring France are all the rage. The Regent not only collects these realistic precepts, but also introduces elements of the psychological novel, by including interior monologues that show us the emotional state of the characters. The work narrates the story of Anita Ozores and the triangle she maintains with the three men in her life: her husband, the Regent of the Court (hence her nickname, the Regent); her lover, the ladylike Álvaro Mesía, and her confessor, the magisterial Fermín de Pas.

8. Fortunata and Jacinta, by Benito Pérez Galdós (1887)

It is another of the literary monuments that Castilian literature has left us. Galdós carries out a dissection of Madrid at the time through the story of two women: Jacinta, from the upper class, and Fortunata, who belongs to the popular classes. The link between the two is Juan, husband of the first and lover of the second. Through excellent descriptions and rich psychological characterizations, Galdós plunges us into the intimate life of the characters, their miseries and their hopes.

9. bohemian lights, by Ramón María del Valle-Inclan (1920)

Inaugurator and masterpiece of the theater of the grotesque, as the author himself called it, bohemian lightstakes us to the underworld of Madrid at the beginning of the 20th century. The protagonist, Max Estrella, is a poor blind writer who lives in misery. During his last night on earth, he is accompanied by a multitude of characters, each one more bizarre and bizarre.

10. Blue…, by Rubén Darío (1888)

This collection of short stories and poetry by the Nicaraguan Rubén Darío is, according to many authors, the beginning of Spanish-American modernism. Darío himself described the work as Parnassian, very French. Not in vain, during his adolescence, the poet had already been imbued with the literature of the Gallic country, especially the work of Victor Hugo. Blue…It has a beautiful language full of suggestive images and a remarkable French musicality.. And all this, written by a young man of only 21 years.

11. Poet in New Yorkby Federico Garcia Loca (1940)

Compilation of the poems that the famous poet from Granada wrote during his trip to the United States and Cuba in 1929 and 1930. The poet coincides in New York with the economic and social reality that has marked the recent crash of 1929. The collection of poems, which is considered his best work, was published posthumously in 1940, four years after his murder.

12. Nothingby Carmen Laforet (1945)

The work avoided the dangerous paths of Franco's censorship practically by a miracle. The censors on duty authorized it because, according to them, it was a "bland" novel, "without major incidents." We have to thank the little sense that the censors of the moment had, since thanks to it Nothing saw the light. The story revolves around a girl from the provinces who comes to study in Barcelona. Through her testimony, Carmen Laforet paints a portrait of the lethargic society of the Spanish postwar period. A colossal work, framed within existentialism, which has emerged as one of the best novels in Spanish of the 20th century.

13. The city and the Dogsby Mario Vargas Llosa (1963)

First novel by Nobel Prize-winning Peruvian writer Mario Vargas Llosa, who won the Biblioteca Breve award in 1962. Vargas Llosa is part of the so-called Latin American boom, an explosion of masterpieces by distinguished authors such as Vargas Llosa, Borges or Cortázar himself. The story of The city and the Dogs takes place in a military academy, where several young people must develop their personality under a harsh military regime. The author criticizes this type of education and the humiliation that it entails.

14. one hundred years of solitudeby Gabriel Garcia Marquez (1967)

The best-known work of the also very well-known Gabriel García Márquez. During the IV International Congress of the Spanish Language, held in Cartagena de Indias in March 2007, the novel was considered one of the most important in the Spanish language. Indeed, the story of the Buendía family, narrated through its seven generations, is one of the most translated and read novels in the world.

15. between curtains, by Carmen Martín Gaite (1958)

In a town in rural post-war Spain, a group of young girls interact and exchange vital experiences, marked by the tedium of living in a remote, secluded place where nothing new ever happens. When the new German teacher, Pablo Klein, shows up in town with his fresh new ideas, he causes a stir that will shake the girls' convictions. Carmen Martín Gaite won the Nadal prize with this novel, the first she published and which is considered one of the best works in Spanish of the 20th century.