Dr. Ana Hontanilla
Asssociate Professor of Spanish
La Regenta by Leopoldo Alas Clarín
La Regenta is one of the masterpieces of Spanish Literature. Written at the end of the Nineteenth Century, the novel narrates the social downfall of Ana Ozores, a provincial lady who is conflicted between her attraction towards the local Don Juan and her desire to find spiritual love in her confessor. Ana Ozores is the Spanish counterpart of two immortal female characters of the European Realist movement, Ana Karenina and Emma Bovary, yet she remains a less known figure. This novel inspired me to explore the contribution of eighteenth and nineteenth-century Spanish intellectuals to the world of arts and letters in order to promote a better understanding of Spain's place in the history of Western literature and culture.