The best pieces of literature in any language are timeless and universal.
Some of the greatest minds our world has ever seen create these works in an attempt to entertain, teach, and expand your mind through philosophical dilemmas.
You are reading: Greatest books written in spanish
When it comes to literature in Spanish, the most impactful novels and short stories can appeal to both native speakers and those learning the language.
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- why read classic spanish novels?
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- universality
- cultural lessons
- smart language lessons
- 1. “heart so white” by javier marías
- 2. “fog” (fog) by miguel de unamuno
- 3. “The Obscene Bird of the Night” by José Donoso
- 4. “El Criticón” by Baltasar Gracian
- 5. “The Brief and Wonderful Life of Oscar Wao” by Junot Díaz
- 6. “The general in his labyrinth” by Gabriel García Márquez
- 7. “Battles in the Desert” by José Emilio Pacheco
- 8. “of love and other demons” by gabriel garcía márquez
- 9. “the kiss of the spider woman” by manuel puig
- 10. “in the time of the butterflies” by julia Álvarez
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why read classic spanish novels?
universality
As stated above, classic novels in any language are defined by their ability to stand the test of time, and they can only do so by transcending their culture and time period. they connect with something deep inside all of us. they reflect on the life experiences, emotions and conflicts that most people go through or can relate to in some way.
This means it’s easier for language learners to connect with them.
For example, in “Love in the Time of Cholera,” you’ll read descriptions like the smell of bitter almonds drawing you into scenes with familiar sights, sounds, tastes, and smells. the author combines the bittersweet nature of this image with the pain inherent in love, which is a concept we can all identify with.
cultural lessons
In addition to the inherent universality of their themes, the best Spanish-speaking authors add a touch of culture, be it Latin American, European, or a combination of both. they may focus on a particular region or subculture. these authors set their stories in a different place and time, and you will feel immersed in it.
An example of this is Gabriel García Márquez, who wrote historical novels that can teach you what life was like in a certain place and time. furthermore, the writing on it can even give you an idea of what words were used within a certain culture. Again, you can see examples of this in Marquez’s classic “Love in the Time of Cholera,” which takes place in the Caribbean region of Colombia.
smart language lessons
To improve your command of the Spanish language, it is important that you read as much as you can. once you get past the initial stages of learning the language with an understanding of the basic conjugation of common verbs and words, you will only get better by putting your knowledge to good use.
In this blog post, we’ll focus on ten classic stories that have helped define language and art, appealing to readers of various levels, including intermediate and advanced Spanish speakers of all ages.
We recommend that you take notes on these books as you read them, marking or highlighting words that stand out to you. After this exercise, look up these words in your dictionary or thesaurus and pay close attention to how the author uses them to reinforce your command of the language.
You can also switch things up by reading other content, like song lyrics, subtitles from your favorite movie, or interactive subtitles from videos in authentic Spanish from fluentu: expertly crafted subtitles come with a multimedia dictionary on the go mouse over them. , which will improve your comprehension and help you enjoy reading even more.
our recommendations for Spanish novels
1. “heart so white” by javier marías
This Spanish novel written by Madrid-born Javier Marías was a defining literary work of the 1990s.
“heart so white” delves into the life of a married man. The story uses flashbacks to tell us about his past, including a tragedy that occurred before he was born and would affect his entire life.
The novel ultimately focuses on what it means to be married and the pain inherent in being in love.
one of the iconic passages in the novel is the following:
telling in a deformed manner, telling the factsdistorts the facts and distorts them and almost denies them, everything that is told becomes unreal and approximate even though it is true, the The truth does not depend on the fact that things were and did happen, but on the fact that they remained hidden and are unknown and are not told.
The only truth is the one that is not known or transmitted, the one that is not translated into words or images, the one that is covered up and not found out.
This passage speaks to the imperfect and biased nature of memory, as telling (telling) a story changes and distorts the facts (distorts the facts and misrepresents them). Marías uses these words to describe the human element in the telling of a story: the narration always takes you one step further from the truth.
one of these verbs, deform, reminds us of the nature of the deformity, which can be a physical imperfection, and uses it to define the narrative here.
Take another close look at this line:
…the only truth is the one that is not known nor transmitted, the one that is not translated into words or images, the covert and undiscovered.
In this segment, the humanity of telling a story is further explained. real truth is not “known” or “transmitted” or “translated.” all these words are human functions that change the facts through the human interpretation of the truth.
Within the novel itself, this section adds tension to the story due to the fact that the protagonist is essentially trying to uncover the truth, but all he has are bits and pieces of stories told by multiple characters. Ultimately, facts take shape and we shape them with perspective.
2. “fog” (fog) by miguel de unamuno
“fog” is one of the novels that define miguel de unamuno’s career, and focuses on a young man who searches for meaning in his life after the death of his mother. he befriends a young woman and tries to win her affection, but faces a series of obstacles in the process. the novel explores the difficulties of love, youth, and the quest we all embark on to find a purpose for living.
here is a snippet that will catch your attention:
if you feel that something is crawling inside you, asking for freedom, open the stream and let it run as outbreak.
de unamuno’s beauty with the Spanish language and sentimentality is at its best in phrases like this one, which roughly translates as: “if you feel something inside you slip asking for freedom, open the stream and let it flow.” the quote speaks of the inner light that makes us feel alive. the author asks us to open up the part of us that gives us meaning and let everything flow, like a stream or a stream.
the words he uses from unamuno are remarkable as they speak to the human spirit in a very visceral way and linked to nature. the word escarabajea, used here to describe “skittering”, is a verb that plays on the word scarab, which is the Spanish word for scarab. the idea of something slipping inside is a physical sensation of something poking at us, begging to come out.
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also, the idea of opening the gush, which is a word that is used a lot when talking about a liquid that is squirting out of a small hole, connects the emotional release with the physical sensation of bleeding. the verb sprout from sprout means “to sprout”, which reinforces the idea of opening the blockage within yourself and growing your own happiness.
The protagonist of the story searches deep within himself to find his reason for living throughout the story, and de unamuno adds depth to this concept with his vocabulary choices. The author’s word choices teach us how to add a physical dimension to our writing so that everything feels more real and tangible. There’s a reason this author is so well known for his delightful one-liners.
3. “the obscene bird of the night” by josé donoso
Chilean author José Donoso was one of the preeminent writers of the magical realism movement, which is an iconic part of Latin American history, combining traditional fiction with magical elements.
In this 1970 novel, the author examines how obsession and its accompanying anguish lead to suffering, including the physical manifestations of our fears. “the obscene bird of the night” uses the allegory to represent a deep psychological turmoil in a person.
here is an iconic quote from the book:
He didn’t know what reality was, inside or outside, if he had invented what he thought or what he thought had invented what his eyes saw. It was a sealed, suffocating world, like living inside a sack trying to bite the jute to find an exit or give an entrance to the air and see if it was outside or inside or somewhere else where his destiny was.
In this scene, we see the man’s slow descent into madness, where he’s not sure what reality is and if his mind was playing tricks on him or not. the key part of this part revolves around the concept of a world that is:
sealed, choking, like living inside a sack trying to bite the jute to find a way out.
(sealed, suffocating, like living inside a sack trying to bite through jute to find a way out.)
This excerpt is an excellent example of how donoso uses an image to represent an emotion. the protagonist’s despair is drowning, that he comes from drowning, and he is trapped in a cage that only exists in his mind due to circumstances. The teeth of him try to bite jute (jute), a strong fiber from which he cannot escape by such means.
donoso describes the suffocating nature of the situation and uses a metaphor as heartbreaking as its time. the fantasy elements of magical realism often add an element of horror that makes the reader shiver into their own skin.
4. “The Critic” by Baltasar Gracian
“el criticón” is a novel from the past, released in three parts in 1651, 1653 and 1657. along with “don qujiote” and “la celestina”, this novel by baltasar gracián is considered one of the three iconic works of classical Spanish writing.
This work is an epic, which is an epic form of literature that revolves around a hero and ultimately serves as a morality story. “el criticón” comes from the word critic and is the title of a kind of philosophical discourse that reflects the pessimistic vision of gracián’s society through the eyes of two men: the naive andrenio and the wise critilo.
everything invented by human industry has been perniciously fatal and self-damaging: gunpowder is a horrible havoc of lives , instrument of its greatest ruin, and a ship is none other than an anticipated coffin.
one of the main plots of the play is how technology has a negative effect on society, which is one of the reasons gracián has such a cynical view of the future. in this quote he points out that all the inventions of human industry (human industry) have been perniciously fatal (perniciously fatal), including gunpowder (gunpowder) and a ship (ship) which he calls a coffin (coffin). /p>
Gracian’s command of the language is basic, direct and effective. instead of dancing around a theme, he treats his protagonists as philosophers who fulfill a didactic purpose: to show what is right and what is wrong.
It is not surprising that “el criticón” is one of the fundamental pieces of the Spanish language, since these ideas are still as relevant today as they were then. The author’s decision to use plain language ensures that his work can still be read centuries later by those seeking to learn Spanish through a moral story.
5. “the brief and wonderful life of oscar wao” by junot diaz
his novel by junot diaz was written in english, but the spanish translation is just as good.
“The Brief and Wonderful Life of Oscar Wao” is a work of contemporary literature that examines what it is like to be a first-generation Dominican and American. Both protagonist Oscar Wao and author fit this description, as Diaz uses his own personal story to create a work of fiction that hits close to home.
Even in the English version of the novel, Díaz uses a series of words that are not only Spanish, but also inherently Dominican. she brings up the ciguapa, who is a mythological woman in the folklore of the Caribbean country. being is beautiful for some, horrible for others and has its origin in the Taínos, the indigenous people of the Dominican Republic.
The word cibaeña is also present several times, referring to a person from the cibao, which is a region in the northern part of the country. The word chacabana also appears, which refers to a shirt that is common in the Caribbean, Central America, and some South American countries.
Throughout the novel, you will learn many words that will teach you about Spanish culture, while reading the work of a talented author who gives you an insight into what it is like to be raised in a Dominican home. Diaz helps the reader connect with the beauty and vibrancy of the Caribbean nation while helping him expand his vocabulary. You’ll even get a glimpse of the effects of politics on society, as the book takes place during the 31-year Dominican dictatorship of Rafael Trujillo in the mid-20th century.
6. “The general in his labyrinth” by Gabriel García Márquez
garcía márquez is one of the most famous latin american authors the world has seen, and won the nobel prize for literature in 1982. the colombian author delivered once again with “the general in his labyrinth”, one of his last works It was published in 1989. This book centers on a fictional general meant to represent Simón Bolívar, the leader and liberator of Colombia, in his last disease-ridden days.
The play ultimately shows us how even the noblest of men can succumb to the limits of the body, but the general portrayed in this fictional play loses none of his honor or passion for freedom, a right to the who fought for all his life. here is one of the best parts of the novel:
Even his nakedness was different, since his body was pale and his head and hands seemed scorched from the abuse of the elements. he had turned forty-six last July, but his coarse Caribbean curls had turned to ash and his bones disordered from premature decrepitude strong>, all of him was so unmerited that he didn’t seem able to last until the following July.
This section uses descriptive words to give us a vivid idea of what this man looked like at age 46, when he was essentially on his deathbed. he is naked with a pale body and charred hands, which is a term used to describe fried chicken or pork because of their wrinkled appearance. the bones of him (bones) of him were disordered by premature decrepitude (in disorder due to premature decrepitude). his entire appearance is described as undeserving (unwarranted).
garcía márquez uses a series of words that make the description of the man seem more like a corpse than a living, breathing human being. his skin is wrinkled like old leather, while his bones are in tatters and the appearance is an unseemly presentation for a man who did so much.
The author tries to show how much Bolívar gave for his country by describing how depleted it is. Passages like this are why García Márquez is among the greatest writers of the 20th century.
7. “The Battles in the Desert” by José Emilio Pacheco
Mexican writer José Emilio Pacheco was also considered one of the greatest writers of the 20th century. The American wrote the short novel “The Battles in the Desert”, in which a man named Carlos narrates his childhood, focusing on the social and political circumstances that marked his life.
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goes into detail to describe Miguel Alemán’s six-year presidential term and morality in Mexico during the 1940s, as well as how American pop culture influenced his life.
here is a brief portion of his novella:
began the battles in the desert. We called it that because it was a patio of red earth, tezontle dust or brick, without trees or plants, just a cement box in the back. it concealed a passageway made in times of religious persecution to reach the house on the corner and flee down the other street.
In this passage, Carlos is describing the cultural divide in the classroom when he was a child, which saw those of Jewish blood at odds with those of Arab background. at break, they went to the playground and embarked on desert battles, which he got this name because playing felt like war, even when he was a child.
the field they played on was a red dirt yard, and he uses several other phrases to describe the scene, such as “volcanic or brick dust” with no “trees or plants.” Carlos and his friends played in a “cement box that hid a path made at the time of religious persecution to get to the house on the corner and flee down the other street.”
pacheco is using his art to describe both the physical appearance of the place, as well as using descriptive words to note the social and political climate that existed in this land. it was as grim as war, or so he suggested.
“The Battles in the Desert” effectively weaves the story it is telling with the political turmoil that marked Mexico during this time, especially in the House of Carlos. the novel is semi-biographical, but is ultimately fictionalized to show a more complete picture of what it was like to grow up in this city.
8. “of love and other demons” by gabriel garcía márquez
“of love and other demons” is the second selection of gabriel garcía márquez in our list. This 1994 novel is another of the author’s latest works, centered on a girl living in 18th-century America who is bitten by a dog and becomes angry. the novel sees her in dire straits, dying in her bed while she clings to some hope that would relieve her of her plight.
here is an excerpt from the novel:
You have a religion of death that gives you the courage and joy to face it,” he told her. “Not me: I believe that the only essential thing is to be alive.
This quote is particularly inspiring because it breaks life down into its essential elements. Throughout the novel, the author forces us to face our own mortality, which is the most important and basic element of life. he comments on how the masses have a “value-instilling religion of death”, pointing out how religion adds value to every life through certain beliefs and values. the speaker objects to this and points out that she believes that the only important thing is to be alive.
“Not me: I believe that the only essential thing is to be alive”, speaks to a predominant theme raised by García Márquez often in his writings. Just like in “The General in the Labyrinth of Him”, we see a character slowly wither due to illness. while others discuss the tribulations of life, she finds the essence of life in being alive, a simple privilege we all know but don’t always appreciate. whatever problem we may be dealing with in life seems small compared to death.
9. “the kiss of the spider woman” by manuel puig
manuel puig’s novel delves into the depths of crime in argentina, showing an ongoing dialogue between two cellmates who develop a friendship.
“Kiss of the Spider Woman” almost reads like a play, since most of it consists of dialogue. The piece explores homosexuality in the 1970s (the novel was published in 1976), which was one of the most important decades for same-sex rights in Argentina due to a civil revolution in the nation.
here is a piece of dialogue, from one prisoner (valentín) to another (molina):
and promise me something else… that you will make them respect you, that you will not allow anyone to treat you badly, or exploit you. Because no one has the right to exploit anyone… Molina, promise me you won’t let anyone trash you.
This passage is a beautiful part that speaks to the soul. valentine is talking to his friend about life after prison, as well as life in general. Valentín asks him to promise that Molina will make people respect him, “that you will not allow anyone to treat you badly or exploit you” (you will not allow anyone to treat you badly or exploit you). The value of the human being is at the heart of this novel and Valentín speaks directly to his friend, expressing a tough love. we are all worth the same, we have all made mistakes and we all deserve respect.
he ends up telling molina to promise him: “you won’t let anyone trash you”. the word trash means “to treat someone like trash”, which is a sign of both the beauty and the determination that the two characters have developed in prison. they need to be tough to survive, even outdoors.
10. “in the time of the butterflies” by julia Álvarez
Another Dominican author, Julia Álvarez, completes our list. the english translation of “in the time of the butterflies” is excellent, and a good film adaptation starring salma hayek was released in 2001, but the original spanish version is a work of art that you should read at some point in your life .
The novel helps advocate for the advancement of social rights, as it is a narrative of the three Miral sisters who confronted the Dominican dictator Trujillo during his tyranny, who was especially harsh on women who were regularly assaulted.
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here is a fragment of this novel by Álvarez:
Not only was my family making a great show of loyalty, but the whole country. that fall, back at school, we got new history books with a portrait of you-know-who embossed on the cover, so even a blind man knew who all those lies were about. our story now follows the plot of the bible. we dominicans had guarded the advent of our lord trujillo for centuries. he was disgusting.
one of the sisters, minerva, talks about the role of trujillo in the country. the narration of the sisters and their analysis of what is happening in the country help paint the picture of the rebellion and irreverence that marked her character. she notes how her family and the rest of the country would put on “a great show of loyalty.” she persecuted those who opposed him, persecuting those who spoke against him or did not follow the rules in any way.
minerva adds gravitas to her statement by pointing out that because of the way the country had to blindly follow trujillo, trujillo essentially became a god. all the history books were replaced by new ones that had pictures of the dictator, and his lord and savior was now “our lord trujillo. he was disgusting ”(our lord trujillo. he was disgusting).
the miral sisters were frank and proud to say what no one else was willing to say, and it is for this fact that they were executed. but it is also for this reason that they have been immortalized in the Dominican tradition, fulfilling the role of the figures that gave voice to the oppressed country. and Álvarez does a great job of bringing their story to life with the powerful way they spoke.
These are ten of the most popular and influential literary works ever written by the masters of the Spanish language. it’s worth paying attention to how well these authors match the thematic concerns of their work with the way they write.
Sometimes all it takes is one or two verbs or adjectives to make a passage beautiful, whether it’s appealing to human emotion in one way or another.
In addition, some of these writers use their homeland to give you a broader idea of how diverse and extensive the Spanish language is. they use words that correspond to the culture they grew up in with the intention of showing you the words that were important to them as children, the ones that ultimately shaped the way they think and write.
Which novel are you going to read first?
download: This blog post is available as a convenient and portable pdf that you can take anywhere. click here for a copy. (download)
See Also: The Literary Secrets of Psycho-Pass – Anime News Network:SEA
