Valle-Inclán was the prose stylist of the Generation of 1898 who insisted that style was the most important aspect of literature. A significant playwright as well, his style of drama approaches the surreal. Valle-Inclán’s literary expression belongs to the subconscious world of the senses. In one of his essays, El milagro musical, he compares the spirit of the old romances to the contemporary need for a lively discourse to open one’s soul. For Valle-Inclán, language holds the spirit of the people and serves as the key to the future.

Ramón del Valle-Inclán, 1866-1936.
Sonata de estío: memorias del marqués de Bradomín. Madrid: Imprenta de Antonio Marzo, 1903.
PQ 6641 .A47 S6 1903

First edition. Valle-Inclán was one of the most read writers of the Generation of 1898. Emulating d’Annunzio, he emblematized the national decadence through the adventures of an unprincipled womanizer of impeccable aristocratic lineage.

Ramón del Valle-Inclán, 1866-1936.
Sonata de invierno; memorias del marqués de Bradomín. Madrid: Revista de Archivos, Bibliotecas y Museos, 1905.
PQ6641 .A47 S65 1905

First edition of Sonata de invierno (1905). Valle-Inclán invented a coat-of-arms for his protagonist, the womanizing Marqués de Bradomín. In this, the fourth and last volume of the series, the unprincipled aristocrat is in the winter of his life.

Ramón del Valle-Inclán, 1866-1936.
Baza de espadas. Barcelona: Editorial AHR, 1958.
PQ 6641 .A47 B3

First edition of Ramón del Valle-Inclán’s Baza de espadas, posthumously published in 1958. Parts of it had been printed in a newspaper in 1927. It was designed as part of a series of historical novels, the last of which would be Los campos de Cuba, about the Spanish-American War and revolts leading to it. In his view of Spanish history, Valle-Inclán emphasized immoral comportment in a decadent society.