Menéndez Pelayo and the Spanish novel of the second half of the 19th century

Abstract

The following article focuses on exposing the opinion of Menéndez Pelayo about the Spanish novel of the second half of the 19th century. The relationships between the genres of novels and tales are aspects analyzed by Don Marcelino at a time when tales were part of the literary production of the time. Menéndez Pelayo tries to carry out the analysis in an objective, critical and impartial manner; however, he had a preference for the works written by Valera, Pereda and Alarcón, to whom he devoted much time of his study. The critical studies of Don Marcellin on the other writers belonging to realism-naturalism are practically conspicuous by their absence. Finally, it should be noted that from the fusion between the epistle and the critical article, we can extract the vision of the author on the great Spanish novel of the second half of the nineteenth century.