Dark Vales

Apriest struggles to bring salvation to his taciturn flock in late 19th c Spain.;Cover; Title; Acknowledgements; The Translator; The Editor; Contents; Introduction; Editor's Note; I Aleix the Truffle Man; II The Derelict Church; III The New Priest; IV Death's Dominion; V Nightmare; VI Dwellers in Limbo; VII The Local Entertainer; VIII The Church Refurbished; IX The Bells Ring Out; X Bad Stock!; XI The Story of the Old Couple; XII Footloose; XIII God and the Devil; XIV White Mass and Black Mass; XV Dark Days; XVI Howls in the Night; XVII The Road to Calvary; XVIII Sacrilege; XIX Death Throes; XX Absolution; Copyright. The first English translation by Alan Yates of a classic of fin de sià ̈cle Catalan literature. The protagonist, Father Llatzer, a priest banished for doctrinal heresy to an isolated, backward mountain parish, struggles to achieve personal redemption by bringing salvation to his primitive, taciturn, rural flock. Their mute atavism is disturbed only by the local whore, Footloose, embodying all the forces against which the priestâ€TMs reforming mission is directed. Ambiguity surrounds the denouement of that conflict. Dark Vales is as as compelling today as when it was first written.'Father Llatzer can be seen as an archetype of the modern intellectual who aspires to improve, enlighten and dignify the society in which he lives.'Alan Yates'From the very first paragraph of the novel a mood of psychological crisis and impending tragedy is steadily built up.'Germà Portelles'The priest-protagonistâ€TMs struggle is against the obtuse and atavistic minds of his peasant flock. The confrontation becomes a depiction of the intellectualâ€TMs struggle with society. But it is also the conflict of the individual against the mysterious, omnipotent forces which rule human existence, against the Unknown, the dark vales… The struggle against these merges into combat with the forces of evil.'Joan-Lluís Marfany