Description
The passage is a review of a travel book by the Comtesse D'Aulnoy. The book is a fictional account of a journey the author took to Spain at a time when the country was in the process of transitioning from a monarchy to a republic. The review praises the book for its accuracy and for giving the reader a unique perspective on Spain at the end of the monarchy.
'Of all literary fakes this is surely the most impudent, ingenious, and successful. The Comtesse D'Aulnoy was never in Spain (but) she was a born traveller. Not without reason have the editors of The Broadway Travellers included her fiction in their library of fact. For, despite its falseness, it is intellectually the real thing.' Saturday Review However her work is judged today, it seems certain that Madame D'Aulnoy was one of the most widely-read and most popular authors of her time. Seeing Spain at a strange moment in her history, it is the end of a great age. The last descendent of Charles V is king; after him the nation is destined to enter upon a new phase, under a new dynasty. After reading this journey we see and touch Spain and the reader can judge the Spanish character from a witness who saw it.
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