Pedro Antonio de Alarcón
Pedro Antonio de Alarcón | |
|---|---|
Portrait published 1898 | |
| Born | Pedro Antonio de Alarcón y Ariza 10 March 1833 Guadix, Spain |
| Died | 19 July 1891 (aged 58) Madrid, Spain |
| Resting place | Cementerio de San Justo |
| Occupation | Novelist |
| Language | Spanish |
| Nationality | Spanish |
| Literary movement | Literary realism |
| Seat H of the Real Academia Española | |
| In office 25 February 1877 – 19 July 1891 | |
| Preceded by | Fermín de la Puente y Apezechea |
| Succeeded by | Francisco Asenjo Barbieri |
Pedro Antonio de Alarcón y Ariza (10 March 1833 – 19 July 1891) was a nineteenth-century Spanish novelist, known best for his novel El sombrero de tres picos (1874), an adaptation of popular traditions which provides a description of village life in Alarcón's native region of Andalusia. It was the basis for Hugo Wolf's opera Der Corregidor (1897); for Riccardo Zandonai's opera La farsa amorosa (1933); and Manuel de Falla's ballet The Three-Cornered Hat (1919).
Alarcón wrote another popular short novel, El capitán Veneno ('Captain Poison', 1881). He produced four other full-length novels. One of these novels, El escándalo ('The Scandal', 1875), became noted for its keen psychological insights. Alarcón also wrote three travel books and many short stories and essays.
Alarcón was born in Guadix, near Granada. In 1859, he served in the Hispano-Moroccan War. He gained his first literary recognition with Diary of a Witness to the African War, a patriotic account of the campaign.