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What Is A Historyscope?

Westerners are not only known as history ignoramuses, but double dumbass history ignoramuses when it comes to Spanish novelist history. Since I'm the one-and-only Historyscoper (tm), let me quickly bring you up to speed before you dive into my Master Historyscope.

List of Spanish novelists.

In 1605 after working as a chamber asst. to a cardinal in Rome, joining the Spanish navy and getting captured by Algerian corsairs in 1575, then released in 1580 after his parents paid the ransom, becoming a purchasing agent for the Spanish Armada, then a tax collector in 1597, getting him jailed in Seville for embezzlement (innocent accounting mistakes?), ending up in Valladolid, Alcala de Henares-born Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra (1547-1616) pub. The Ingenious Gentleman Don Quixote of La Mancha, Pt. 1 (El Ingenioso Hidalgo Don Quixote de la Mancha, Pt. 1) (Madrid) (pt. 2 in 1615); the first modern novel, founding modern Spanish; written in prison?; "An invective against books of chivalry... to diminish the authority and acceptance that books on chivalry have in the world and among the vulgar"; an old fart on an old nag (Rocinante), accompanied by credulous peasant Sancho Panza (a joke for "sacred belly"), thinking himself a knight and his servant a squire, attempts to take on the world to prove his love for Dulcinea, and tilts with a windmill after mistaking it for a giant, and mistakes a flock of sheep for an army; English trans. by Thomas Shelton pub. in 1612; "In a village of La Mancha the name of which have no desire to recall, there lived not so long ago one of those gentlemen who always have a lance in the rack, an ancient buckler, a skinny nag, and a greyhound for the chase." (opening line)

In 1897 Bilbao-born Miguel de Unamuno y Jugo (1864-1936) pub. his first novel Peace in War (Paz en la Guerra), based on his childhood experiences in the Third Carlist War of 1872-6. In 1914 he pub. Mist (Mist); wealthy intellectual Augusto falls for Eugenia, then dumps her for Rosario, but Eugenia accepts his marriage proposal anyway, then jilts him for Mauricio, causing him to plan to commit suicide, until author Unamuno steps in and reminds him that he is a fictional char. In 1914 he pub. his magnum opus The Life of Don Quixote and Sancho, his retelling of Cervantes' novel, mixed with personal philosophy. In 1917 he pub. Abel Sanchez: The History of a Passion, a retelling of the Cain and Abel story. In 1924 he is removed from his post as rector (since 1900) of the U. of Salamanca for speaking out against Spanish govt. corruption; he is restored in 1930. In 1930 he pub. his last novel Saint Emmanuel the Good, Martyr.

In 1925 Granada-born novelist Francisco Ayala Garcia-Duarte (1906-2009) pub. his first novel Tragicomedy of a Spiritless Man (Tragicomedia de un Hombre sin Espíritu). In 1926 he pub. A Sunrise Tale (Historia de un Amanecer). In 1929 he pub. The Boxer and an Angel (El Boxeador y un Angel). in 1930 he pub. Hunter at Dawn (Cazador en el Alba); avant-garde. In 1944 he pub. The Bewitched (El Hechizado); a Creole man tries to meet Charles II "the Bewitched" of Spain. In 1949 he pub. The Lamb Head (La Cabeza del Cordero) (short stories), about the Spanish Civil War. In 1958 he pub. Dog Deaths (Muertes de Perro), which denounces dictatorship. In 1962 he pub. The Bottom of the Glass (El Fondo del Vaso).