Novel
Casa grande
Not translated into English
Luis Orrego Luco · 1908
Synopsis
Santiago, at the turn of the century, in a landed aristocracy caught up in the fever for money. Ángel Heredia, a young man of high society, falls in love with Gabriela Sandoval, a beautiful heiress to an immense fortune, and marries her very discreetly at the end of 1898, despite his father's opposition, shortly after the father's death, according to Fidel Araneda Bravo. His wife's fortune lets him live in grand style and speculate on the stock exchange during the business fever of 1904 and 1905, amid parties, balls and evenings at the Opera, while the marriage falls into crisis.
Context
The novel appeared in 1908 with Zig-Zag; six thousand copies sold in six weeks, according to Memoria Chilena, and reissues followed. Santiago's high society believed it recognised itself in it and read it as a roman à clef; the Catholic press judged it immoral, and it was seen as a plea for divorce. In July 1909, in El Mercurio, the author denied having written a roman à clef and spoke of the study of a marriage. Fidel Araneda Bravo, who links it to Zola's naturalism, recognises several models among the relatives of the author's wife.
Who it is for
A long novel of manners, without difficulty, rich in descriptions of parties and dresses; no translation.
Prizes and reception
The critic Alone, cited by Araneda Bravo, said he had never seen such success in bookshops and with critics.
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