Publisher's Synopsis
In the original Spanish.En esta novela, cuya aparición suscitó un escándalo literario, acompañado de un éxito editorial, Juan Valera traslada su habitual escenario andaluz a ambientes cosmopolitas bien conocidos por él en su andadura diplomática. En la línea de la novela erótica francesa, el autor dista tanto del naturalismo como la novela de tesis; no escamotea las situaciones atrevidas, pero tampoco preconiza el maor libre y el desprecio de las normas sociales: la realidad emerge artísticamente depurada.In this novel, whose appearance sparked a literary scandal, accompanied by an editorial success, Juan Valera moved his usual Andalusian scenario to cosmopolitan environments well known to him in his diplomatic career. In the line of the French erotic novel, the author is as far from naturalism as the thesis novel; It does not take away the daring situations, but neither does it advocate free expression and contempt for social norms: reality emerges artistically purified.
