Spanish Lit books

I just finished two books for my intro to Spanish lit class, and they were pretty good. En la ardiente oscuridad by Antonio Buero Vallejo is a play that Buero Vallejo wrote during Franco's regime in Spain. It was sort of a secret rebellion/commentary on life in under Franco, but sneaky enough that Buero Vallejo didn't get booted out of Spain. It's about some kids at a school for the blind, who pretend that they aren't. Along comes Ignacio, who gets sick very quickly of the lie that the others are living, and his ideas start spreading to other students. How it's handled, and the surprising conclusion made this a great read. I'm gonna hold on to this one.

The other is Querido Diego, te abraza Quiela by Elena Poniatowska. She's originally from Poland, but grew up in Mexico. The very short book is a series of fictional letters from Angeline Beloff, a Russian in Paris, to Diego Rivera, famous Mexican painter. They had shacked up for 7 or so years, had a child who died, and Rivera went back to Mexico. It's a sad book, but it was an interesting read.

I'd recommend both if you can handle the Spanish. I'd love to see En la ardiente oscuridad done as a play, which my professor mentioned had happened several semesters back right here at BYU, both in English and Spanish. Drag.