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Valera, Critic of American Literature

1960; American Association of Teachers of Spanish and Portuguese; Volume: 43; Issue: 3 Linguagem: Inglês

10.2307/335487

2153-6414

Cyrus C. DeCoster,

Comparative Literary Analysis and Criticism

Although during the nineteenth century several of the foremost American writers, Washington Irving, Longfellow, Lowell, Ticknor, and Prescott, visited Spain and studied her history and literature, no such similar interest in the United States existed in Spain. Juan Valera, who served as minister in Washington from 1884 to 1886, was the first prominent Spanish man of letters to visit this country and to write about its budding literature.' Possessing a broad background, widely traveled, well-read in the classics and in modern European literature, Valera was perhaps the best qualified Spaniard of his generation to interpret American literature.