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Leopoldo Alas y Ureña, aka Clarín was a
Spanish novelist born in Zamora 
(Spain) in 1851.

He spent his childhood living in León and
Guadalajara|Guadalajara, until he moved to Oviedo
in 1865. There he studied Bachillerato and he
began his Law career. He lived in Madrid from 1871
to 1878, where he began his career as a journalist
and he graduated with the tesis "El Derecho y la
Moralidad". He teached in Zaragoza from 1882 to
1883. In 1883 he returned to Oviedo with the
charge of Roman cathedratic.

He is the author of books such as La Regenta. It
is a long work, similar to Flaubert|Flaubert's
Madame Bovary|Madame Bovary, one of its
influences, others being that of Naturalism and
Kraussism (phylosophical current which promoted
the cultural and ethical regeneration of Spain).

La Regenta is special for its great wealth of
characters and secondary stories, while the main
character's description is left slightly unfocused
and vague. On the other hand, the downfall of the
provincian lady has place amidst two very diverse
suitors: the most handsome man in the city, who
triumphs in the end, and the cathedral's priest.
The depiction of this priest is a key part of the
book.

For the description of the provincial atmosphere
and the city's collective life, Clarín used
techniques such as the internal monologue or the
free indirect style, which makes the story be
narrated by the characters themselves and allows
the reader to penetrate in their intimacy.

In 1890, he published a new novel, Su único hijo.
Even though lesser than La Regenta, its is equal
to the latter in the skills with which the
technical resources are used.

Apart from this works, Clarín is also the author
of magnificent stories and of a large number of
journalistic articles.

He died in Oviedo in 1901.

Leopoldo Alas remains a rather enigmatic figure in
the Spanish literary world, leaving a legacy that
encouraged the search for God and humanism
simultaneously. This aberrant confluence has
facilitated the presence of various
interpretations regarding the author's writings,
most noticeably in his masterpiece, La Regenta.


==Works==
*La Regenta (The Regent's Wife) (1884-1885|85)
*Su único hijo (His Only Son) (1890)
*Cuentos morales (Moral Stories) (1896)
*El gallo de Sócrates (Socrates' Rooster) (1900)

==External links==

*http://cervantesvirtual.com/bib_autor/Clarin/ A
good website on the author, containing his works
in digital version (In Spanish)