I am such a huge fan of La Regenta by Leopoldo Alas that I tracked down several of his out-of-print English translations and devoured them, too. So I was extremely happy to see NYRB will be releasing His Only Son with a new translation by Margaret Jull Costa this fall. (Nice to see I have a blurb on it.) I thoroughly enjoyed the translation I read by Julie Jones, who was kind enough to answer some of my questions on the novel, so I’m excited to see a version of the novel return to print.

To be included with His Only Son is the novella “Doña Berta,” something I thought would be a great introduction to Alas in my post on it, with translation by Robert M. Fedorchek. In addition, I called it rich and perplexing (and ambiguous), so I’m also happy to see it included in the NYRB release.

I hope readers will take advantage of this opportunity!