Spanish Ballad

For over a century, Lion Feuchtwanger (1884–1958) has remained one of the most popular German authors in the world. And this is one of those cases where the reasons for his long-standing readership are quite clear: his work is one of the pinnacles of the historical novel genre. A true master, Feuchtwanger possesses the rare ability to create an engaging narrative, deeply and intricately delving into the intricacies of historical events. In his novels — even those dedicated to the most remote eras and lesser-known episodes — the author is invariably considerate of his reader: the reality he creates is convincing, but the countless historical details are woven into the narrative so carefully and thoughtfully that most of them turn out to be comprehensible and awaiting contemplation, as if they were events of one’s own era. Feuchtwanger never depicts history for its own sake: any of his novels is always a subtle and precise, thought-provoking or contentious observation of the profound processes that governed the course of human life before, and that govern it at all times.
This collection includes one of Feuchtwanger's strongest, most gripping, and poetic novels, "Spanish Ballad" (1954), as well as the early novel "The Ugly Duchess Margaret Maultasch" (1923). The action of the first takes place in the 12th century in Castile, while the second is set in the 14th century in Tyrol; however, both conceal behind an engaging plot a reflection on human personality and the search for one's place in society, with its prescriptions and stereotypes — a reflection all the more acute given that the central role in both books is given to women, who find themselves constrained within the boundaries of the place prescribed for them in medieval society.
The novel "Spanish Ballad" is published for the first time in a new translation.