The Spanish writer Miguel Delibes placeholder image, get to combine in your book "The way", social realism and the learning novel. The idyllic nature, rural customs and a wide gallery of characters make up the protagonist's childhood memories, which are related by an omniscient narrator with an agile rhythm and a style full of naturalness and tenderness.
In this article, we will see a brief summary of the book "The way" by Miguel Delibes, and at the same time, we will frame the author in what Spanish literature has been during all this time.
The author: Miguel Delibes
Miguel Delibes can be framed in the literary period that corresponds to the years between the 40s and 50s. During this time, the novel resurfaced after the Spanish Civil War and was shown as the most appropriate genre to reflect everything that happened during this civil confrontation and for the years to come, that is, the terrible socio-political situation in which the country.
Miguel Delibes placeholder image born in Valladolid in 1920. At first he dedicated himself to business and law, studies that he successfully completed, becoming Professor of Commercial Law in the School of Commerce of the same Valladolid. Later and combining, he also dedicated himself to journalism, even becoming director of the newspaper "The North of Castile".
But we would not meet the Delibes writer until in the year 1947 granted nothing more and nothing less than the Nadal Prize for Literature for his work "The shadow of the cypress is elongated", one of the best known of the author. This work narrates certain existential concerns such as the obsession with death and / or unhappiness.
With his work published in 1950, "The way", a work that we will briefly summarize below, Delibes inaugurates the approach to the village reality, which will be followed by other works such as "My idolized son Sisi" o "Diary of a hunter".
Miguel Delibes occupied the top positions of the contemporary Spanish novel. Regarding his ideology, he himself characterized himself as Christian humanist committed to the problems of his time and against a bourgeois society. The contrast between bourgeois and rural life has always been a benchmark in much of his literary work. If we look at his technique as a writer, Delibes possessed extraordinary qualities as a storyteller as well as a remarkable ability to reflect different types of environment. Besides that, he had an exceptional command of our language.
Unfortunately, he left us almost 8 years ago, specifically on March 12, 2010.
«The way»: Brief summary
Next, we will briefly recount the plot of the book «El camino», by Miguel Delibes.
Daniel the Little Owl
Daniel was an eleven-year-old boy who he knew as the Little Owl. He was in bed thinking about the trip he would undertake the next day to begin his high school studies in the city.
The three friends
During the night, Daniel remembered his childhood among the people of the valley: the priest, the teacher, the blacksmith, the telephone operators ... A prominent place deserves the adventures and escapades of Daniel with his three friends: Roque, el Moñigo and Germán, el Tiñoso .
La Mica and Mariuca-uca
Also part of his memories, the relationship he had with Mariuca and Mica. The latter, Mica, was a young woman ten years older than Daniel, for whom she always felt a true platonic love. One day, Daniel went to Mica's house to bring some cheeses and on his return he met Mariuca. She was asking him insistently why he had become so handsome to simply bring some cheeses to the Mica, why it had taken so long, etc. Mariuca was infatuated with Daniel, however, in this conversation, he made it clear to her that she was ugly while Mica was the prettiest girl in town. Mariuca stood crying inconsolably.
However, Daniel would soon discover that Mica had a boyfriend and that Mariuca's father has decided to remarry. As soon as he knows the latter, he begins to feel tenderness for the girl, who, like him, has to accept his fate.
A tragic accident
Daniel's last days in town before going to study in the city are marked by the tragic accident of his friend Germán. From then on, Daniel feels that something great was "veiled" within him and that from now on nothing would be as it had been until that moment.
The farewell
When dawn breaks, Daniel realizes that he has been up all night remembering his old moments in town with one another and that the time has come to face his imminent departure.
If you like Miguel Delibes, "The way" is one of his best works together with "The shadow of the cypress is elongated". It cannot be missing from your collection of finished readings. Highly recommended.
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