Hidden path / Elena Fortún ; translated by Jeffrey Zamostny ; with a foreword by Nuria Capdevila-Argüelles.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Fortún, Elena, author.

Contributor:

Zamostny, Jeffrey, 1985- translator.

Capdevila-Argüelles, Nuria, writer of foreword.

Standardized Title:

Oculto sendero. English

Language:

English

Spanish

Genre:

Fiction.

Physical Description:

xvii, 386 pages ; 23 cm

Edition:

First edition.

Place of Publication:

Chicago : Swan Isle Press, 2021.

Language Note:

Translation is based on Oculto sendero by Elena Fortún, 2016, Editorial Renacimiento (Seville, Spain).

Summary:

"Set in early twentieth-century Spain, Hidden Path is a lyrical coming-of-age novel told from the perspective of a woman painter who struggles to find her way with art and with the women she loved. The novel is narrated in the first-person, following María Luisa as she reflects on her life from the turn of the twentieth century through the outset of the Second Spanish Republic (1931-1939). She recalls growing from an imaginative tomboy into a docile wife and mother before claiming her independence as a portrait painter in Madrid's bohemian and queer circles. Along the way, she introduces us to a lively cast of characters who both hinder and encourage her efforts to blaze her own path. The poetic and sensuous language of María Luisa's private reveries comingles with agile dialogue as the protagonist leads us through her life. Best known in Spain as a writer of children's literature, Elena Fortún left this manuscript unpublished at the time of her death in 1952, as its semi-autobiographical content risked provoking homophobic backlash under the dictatorship of Francisco Franco. The first Spanish edition appeared in 2016 and was hailed as Fortún's adult masterpiece, a previously unknown complement to her children's saga Celia and Her World. This edition, with Jeffrey Zamostny's sensitive and nuanced translation, marks the novel's first time appearing in any language aside from Spanish; it is also the first of Fortún's works to appear in English. With an insightful foreword by scholar Nuria Capdevila-Argüelles, this volume will be an influential contribution to women's studies, LGBT histories, and Spanish literature and culture"-- Provided by publisher.

Contents:

Machine generated contents note: pt. I SPRING

The Dress

The Fancy Restaurant

The Gift

Loose Women

Bilbao: The Sea

Tia Teresas Palace

Sweetname

Father's Village

The Girls at My School

Carnival

Spring

His Honor the Judge

The Page Boy Luis

Mysticism

The Novel of My Life

The Ancient Elder

pt. II SUMMER

Clara's Sweetheart

Antonio

Summer

Jorge Medina

Honeymoon

Sincerity

Maternity

Summers

My Mother

Summer's End

pt. III AUTUMN

Households

My Work

Revelation

Florinda

The Nautical Club Ball

Autumn

Hidden Path

Bar Dublin

Her

AUTUMN'S END

October

November

December.

Notes:

Translated from the Spanish.

Includes bibliographical references.

ISBN:

9780997228786

0997228784

OCLC:

1195816902