FROM THE SPANISH OF
WITH AN INTRODUCTION
BY THE AUTHOR
WRITTEN SPECIALLY FOR THIS EDITION
NEW YORK
D. APPLETON AND COMPANY 1886
COPYRIGHT, 1886,
by D. APPLETON AND COMPANY.
To the Messrs. Appleton.
Gentlemen: It was my intention to write a preface for the purpose ofauthorizing the edition you are about to publish in English of "PepitaXimenez"; but, on thinking the matter over, I was deterred by therecollection of an anecdote that I heard in my young days.
A certain gallant, wishing to be presented at the house of a rich manwho was about to give a magnificent ball, availed himself for thatpurpose of the services of a friend, who boasted of his familiarity withthe great man, and of the favor he enjoyed with him. They proceeded tothe great man's house, and the gallant got his introduction; but thegreat man said to him who had introduced the other, "And you, who is tointroduce you, for I am not acquainted with you?" As I entertain aprofound respect and affection for this country, and have not, besides,the assurance that such an occasion would require, it would not do forme to say what the introducer of my story is said to have answered,"I need no one to introduce or to recommend me, for I am just now goingaway."
I infer from my story, as its evident moral, that I ought to refrainfrom addressing the public of the United States, to which I am entirelyunknown as an author, notwithstanding the fact of my having maintainedpleasant and friendly relations with its Government as therepresentative of my own.
The most judicious and prudent course I can adopt, then, is to limitmyself to returning you earnest thanks for asking from me anauthorization of which you did not stand in need, either by law or bytreaty, for wishing to make known to your countrymen the least insipidof the products of my unfruitful genius, and for your generous purposeof conceding to me author's rights.
This, however, does not preclude the fact that, in thus expressing mythanks to you publicly, I incur a responsibility which I did not assumeon any other occasion, either in Germany, Italy, or any other countrywhere my works have been translated; for then, if they failed to pleasethe public, although the fact might pain me, I could still shrug myshoulders, and throw the blame of failure on the translator, or thepublisher; but in this case I make myself your accomplice, and share, orrather receive, all the disgrace of failure, if failure there should be.
"Pepita Ximenez" has enjoyed a wide celebrity, not only in Spain, but inevery other Spanish-speaking country. I am very far from thinking thatwe Spaniards of the present day are either more easily satisfied, lesscultured than, or possessed of an inferior literary taste to, theinhabitants of any other region of the globe; but this does not sufficeto dispel my misgivings that my novel may be received with indifferenceor with censure by a public somewhat prejudiced against Spain byfanciful and injurious preconceptions.
My novel, both in essence and form, is distinctively national andclassic. Its merit—supposing it to have such—consists in the languageand the style, and not in the incidents, which are of the mostcommonplace, or in the plot, which, if it can be said to have any, is ofthe simplest.
The characters are not wanting, as I think, in individuality, or in suchtruth to human nature as makes them seem lik