Illusions of Doctor Faustino

Juan Valera — a Spanish writer, diplomat, and philosopher. He spent half a year in St. Petersburg for his diplomatic service. Thus appeared his «Letters from Russia». In them, Juan Valera captured humorous sketches of Petersburg life, diplomatic news, and... his reflections on the development of Russian literature from chronicles to Pushkin and Gogol. What also brings Juan Valera closer to Russian literature is that Western European critics called him the «Spanish Turgenev».

The very title of the novel — «Illusions of Doctor Faustino» — refers to the famous «Faust» by Goethe and hints at the «lost illusions» in the works of Balzac and Flaubert. But Doctor Faustino is rather a miniature Faust. The character of Juan Valera is not endowed with extraordinary abilities; the devil does not visit him and does not offer him immortality. Don Faustino Lopez de Mendoza is a impoverished aristocrat who is overtaken by destructive illusions. He graduates from university, earns the title of doctor, and tries to find his place in life. He believes that as soon as he moves to Madrid, he will immediately become an outstanding philosopher, poet, or politician.
At the same time, Doctor Faustino aspires to ideal love, for which he is ready to sell his soul to the devil. Don Faustino searches for it in the image of his cousin Constancia, daughter of notary Rosita, and the Eternal Friend — a mysterious stranger who invisibly watches over him. Juan Valera dismantles the principles of romanticism and allows the ideal to be realized. Yet illusions shatter into pieces, and without them, ideal love fades away.