Pedro Sánchez by José María de Pereda

First published: 1883

Type of work: Novel

Type of plot: Picaresque

Time of plot: 1852-1879

Locale: Santander and Madrid, Spain

Principal characters

• Pedro Sánchez, a provincial from the Cantabrian Mountains
• Augusto Valenzuela, a politician from Madrid
• Clara, his daughter
• Serafín Balduque, a former state employee
• Carmen, his daughter
• Mata or Matica, a student in Madrid
• Redondo, the editor of El Clarín of Madrid
• Barrientos, Governor Pedro Sánchez’s secretary

The Story:

Pedro Sánchez, a young provincial proud of his descent from Sancho Abarco, a tenth century king of Navarre, had seen little of Spain when he left his father and three sisters to go to Madrid. Augusto Valenzuela, a visiting politician, has promised to look after Pedro’s future in the capital. It is October, 1852, when Pedro takes the coach from Santander. Among the passengers are a down-at-heels bureaucrat, Serafín Balduque, and his attractive daughter, Carmen. From a student in the coach, Pedro learns of a cheap boardinghouse where he hopes to stay until he can contact Valenzuela.

The politician proves hard to find. After settling in his lodgings, Pedro calls at Valenzuela’s house, where Pilita, his wife, and his daughter, Clara, give the young man a cool reception. The politician, finally tracked down after a dozen visits to his office, vaguely promises to keep Pedro in mind if anything should turn up. The boy, however, writes his father an optimistic letter in which he lies about his reception by the Valenzuela family.

Pedro’s acquaintances at the boardinghouse are more helpful. Matica shows him around Madrid and, when Pedro’s money gives out and he is about to return home, finds him a job on the antigovernment newspaper, El Clarín, at twenty-five duros a month. Pedro learns from the staff of the crookedness of Valenzuela. Occasionally Pedro sees Balduque. Mostly he spends his free time in efforts to become a writer.

In the autumn, when one of the El Clarín contributors enters government service, Pedro is advanced to writing reviews under his own name, which is announced as the pseudonym of a famous literary man. Redondo, the editor, hints that plays and novels by friends in the party are to get preferential treatment, while literary works by members of the opposition are to be severely criticized. One of Pedro’s first tasks is to criticize Clemencia, by Pardo Bazán.

Pedro’s success goes to his head. He abandons his old friends, even Matica. He sees Clara, and in spite of his disdain he finds himself falling in love with her. Valenzuela, however, does nothing to help the young man get ahead in Madrid. Since all El Clarín employees are revolution-minded, Pedro catches the fever and writes a fable attacking the government. Featured on the front page, it brings him much attention. Valenzuela sends for Pedro and offers him a meager job on a government publication, but he refuses it. Warned by Balduque that his refusal will put the police on his trail, Pedro takes refuge with Balduque and Carmen.

After the overthrow of the government in the revolution of July 17, 1854, there is no longer any reason for Pedro to stay in hiding. On his way from the Balduque house to the office of El Clarín, he sees a mob burning government buildings. When they begin shouting against Valenzuela, he diverts the rioters to the palace of Cristina, the queen mother, and rushes to save Clara. He is unwilling to admit, however, that he acted out of love for her.

Street fighting breaks out, with Pedro in command of a barricade. He is joined by Balduque, who is eager to get revenge for the wrongs committed against him. Balduque is killed, and Pedro and Matica are forced to break the news to Carmen. She refuses their offers of help.

Finally, Baldomero Fernández Espartero imposes peace on the troubled country. Valenzuela flees, and his family accepts an invitation to the country estate of the duchess of Pico. Pedro is rewarded with a provincial governorship. On his way to tell Clara good-bye, he finds himself proposing to her. A fall marriage is arranged. Through Pedro’s efforts the government grants a pension to Carmen, but when he goes to tell her the news and to announce his approaching marriage, her lack of approval puzzles him. Matica is also unenthusiastic. Redondo is downright angry. The marriage is performed after Pedro had visited his father for the first time in three years.

Clara, her mother, her brother, and Barrientos, a secretary whom Pedro disliked from the first, accompanies him to the seat of his government. There everything goes wrong. Clara’s family is extravagant and snobbish. Pedro’s secretary sneers at him and so do the citizens. Finally, from a friendly editor, Pedro gets an explanation: His secretary is collecting bribes, and his wife is exploiting her husband’s political position. Returning home unexpectedly, Pedro surprises Barrientos in his wife’s bedroom. When Pedro and Barrientos meet in the street, they fight with sabers, and Pedro is wounded.

At last a change of government costs Pedro his governorship. Ashamed to return to Madrid, he gets Matica’s promise to look after Carmen, and he gives up his political life. The passing years bring many changes in Pedro’s affairs. Valenzuela soon dies, as does his wife. Barrientos is killed in a duel. Clara had several protectors and eventually dies, leaving Pedro free to return to Madrid and marry Carmen, but evil luck still plagues him. His new wife and their small son die during an epidemic. When he tries to squander his money, Pedro becomes rich. Homesick for the mountains, he sells his business and returns to Santander, but there he finds no happiness. His father is dead; the countryside and the people seem strange. Unhappy, Pedro writes his autobiography, ending it in true picaresque style, with the hope that the example of his disillusionment will serve as a warning to his readers.

Bibliography

Eoff, Sherman. “Pereda’s Conception of Realism as Related to His Epoch.” Hispanic Review 14 (1946): 281-303. A reassessment of both Pereda’s contributions to Spain’s literature and to his politics. Dated but still helpful.

‗‗‗‗‗‗‗. “Pereda’s Realism: His Style.” Washington University Studies: New Series Language and Literature 14 (1942): 131-157. Argues that Pereda’s style is realistic and influenced by the author’s own interpretations of realism and by other traditions in the Spanish novel. Dated but still helpful.

Klibbe, Lawrence Hadfield. José María de Pereda. Boston: Twayne, 1975. A good starting place for students and general readers interested in further study of Pereda and his work. Includes a bibliography.

Turner, Harriet, and Adelaida López de Martínez, eds. The Cambridge Companion to the Spanish Novel: From 1600 to the Present. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2003. Pereda’s work is discussed in several of the essays in this companion to Spanish novels of the seventeenth century and later. References to the writer are listed in the index.

Valis, Noël Maureen. Reading the Nineteenth-Century Spanish Novel: Selected Essays. Newark, Del.: Juan de la Cuesta, 2005. Includes two essays, “Pereda’s Peñas arriba: A Reexamination” and “Pereda and the Tourist Gaze,” which examine Pereda’s novels other than Pedro Sánchez.