Usurpers

by Francisco Ayala

Book Overview

The stories in 'Usurpers' draw their inspiration from the history of medieval and Golden Age Spain, but their theme is universal - the dreadful consequences of humankind's fascination with power. This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0805239707
• ISBN13: 9780805239706
• Release Date: January 1987
• Publisher: Schocken Books Inc
• Length: 178 Pages
• Weight: 0.75 lbs.

Customer Reviews

Good in-flight reading

I have read this book both in Spanish and in this English translation by Carolyn Richmond; it is an excellent translation, one which succeeds where it is so easy to fail. Ayala is an outstanding though underrated Spanish novelist, still alive and aged 95 at this writing. This book is a collection of self-standing stories, each of which revolves around someone pretending to be something they are not. Most of the stories are based on real figures from Spanish history, but they are laced with just enough facts to allow the willing reader to research further, not with a tiresome assortment of schoolbook dates and names. Especially memorable are the story of invalid King Enrique of Castille, who tries to muster the strength to get out of bed and confront the greedy nobles who take advantage of his illness to plunder the kingdom; and of the "converso" Jew who, as a good Christian working for the Inquisition, faces the dilemma of initiating charges of heresy against his own daughter.