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Author’s Dedication
- The Catholic University of America Press
- Chapter
- Additional Information
Juanita la Larga 3 tothemostexcellentmarqusdelavegadearmjo My dear friend: I don’t know whether this book is a novel or not. I’ve written it with very little artistry, combining recollections of my adolescence and even of my childhood, which were spent in various parts of Córdoba. So as to have free rein for conceiving a story line, I do not specify the place or town in which the tale unfolds , and instead invent one giving it a fictitious name, but I believe that the practices and customs, the characters, the passions , and even the incidents in my tale have been able to occur naturally, and perhaps have occurred, so that I, in a certain sense, am more of a trustworthy, reliable historian than a novelist rich in imagination and inventiveness. If it were not for the fact that this kind of novel—a faithful copy of reality and not a creation of the poetic spirit—is all the rage, I would not hold my work in high regard. Nor is it meritorious because it elevates the soul to a higher plane, nor because it tries to demonstrate a religious, political, social, psychological, or metaphysical thesis. Juanita la Larga does not purport to demonstrate nor does it demonstrate anything at all. Its merit, if it has any, must be that it is amusing. I amused myself a great deal writing it, but one should not 3 4 Juanita la Larga infer from this that those who read it will also be amused. On the contrary, it is entirely possible that all the amusement has been exhausted on writing it and that I will hand it over to the public stripped clean, like someone who eats a piece of meat and discards the bone. I had thought from the very outset about dedicating this novel—let us call it that—to you, but the aforementioned considerations made me waver and had me on the verge of not doing the dedication. If I do not teach anything because there is no thesis in the novel and because I dislike didactic poetry, and if I do not amuse because, on composing it, I’ve absorbed the substance of the amusement that there was in the novel, what am I going to dedicate that deserves to be dedicated? Despite the above, I later persisted in doing the dedication, and am now doing it, based on two reasons. The first is that I’m persuaded you will receive this book with benevolent indulgence, disregarding its scant merit, as it is a token of my constant friendship and the gratitude that I owe you, for past favors as well as recent favors, inasmuch as not long ago you once again became my chief. The second is that my book can be considered like a mirror or photographic reproduction of people and things in the province in which I was born and in which you are one of its most illustrious magnates. Although the depictions and portraits that I draw may be lacking in grace, I feel that they clearly reflect the love with which I’ve drawn them, and this cannot help but lend them charm and make you and [54.166.141.52] Project MUSE (2024-03-29 13:22 GMT) Juanita la Larga 5 the public well disposed to them. As a result I’m inclined to hope that you will like my book and that the public will too, if not as much as you, then enough to forgive or overlook the many shortcomings that they’ll find in it. I entreat you, therefore, to accept my poor offering because of the good and fond intentions with which I dedicate it to you and also that you consider me your devoted friend. Respectfully yours, Juan Valera “. . . this baby girl, who will be the principal heroine of our story, came to be called Juanita la Larga.” Signed Juan Valera, whose image is seen lower left. Issued by the Spanish Post Office, 1995. ...