An 18-c novella about an overconfident young Spaniard touring #Italy. He summons the Devil who appears with a camel's head, then turns into an attractive young woman. The expected happens: they fall in love. Will he come to his senses, or will he be saved by his strong sense of honour, his courage, & his filial love for his mother (all the clichés about Spanish people)? Soft pick
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I finished this book this morning. The novel proper is quite short and readable, although I don't think I'll ever really enjoy a work where a writer uses a foreign narrator or character from a culture they don't actually know to further their plots or theories. However, the extra critical material does an excellent job of contextualising this 18th best-seller written by a blue-stocking with proto-feminist sensibilities.
illustration from the book
I drove a diesel 4kc — I mightn‘t have done much good in my life, but at least I contributed to the destruction of the planet — and I systematically sabotaged the selective recycling system put in place by the residents‘ association by chucking empty wine bottles in the bin meant for paper and packaging, and perishable rubbish in the glass collection bin.
I 1st heard of this book when researching #Peru for #FoodAndLit but it wouldn't do b/c it's all about France. It is an 18th-c. epistolary novel written by a French woman. The narrator is an Inca “virgin of the sun“ snatched by Spanish conquistadores, then taken by French soldiers to France. Her letters to her Inca fiancé describe France & its mores from the point of view of an outsider - a “Noble Savage“ - uncorrupted by European civilisation.
Eventually our eyes met.
Back in Nice!
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