Woman Triumphant, by Vicente Blasco Ibáñez - a translation of La maja desnuda

Vicente Blasco Ibáñez (January 29, 1867 - January 28, 1928) was a Spanish novelist writing in Spanish, a screenwriter and occasional film director.

Born in Valencia, today he is best known for his World War I novel Los Cuatro Jinetes del Apocalipsis. Filmed in 1921 as The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, it was filmed again in 1962, reset in World War II. However, in his time he was a best-selling author in and out of Spain, also known by his controversial political activities. While Sangre y arena and Los cuatro Jinetes del Apocalipsis are his most esteemed novels among the general public, particularly outside of Spain, his Valencian novels such as La barraca and Canas y barro are the ones most valued by scholars.

He finished studying law, but hardly practised. He divided his life into politics, literature and his love for women of whom he was a deep admirer. He wrote with uncanny speed and energy. He was a fan of Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra.

His life can be said to be the better novel. He was a militant Republican partisan in his youth and founded a newspaper, El Pueblo (translated as either The Town or The People) in his home town. The newspaper aroused so much controversy and disputes that it was brought to court many times and censored. He was shot and almost killed for its notoriety in one dispute. The bullet was caught in the clasp of his belt. He had stormy love affairs.

He was a proofreader for the novel Noli Me Tangere, in which the Filipino patriot José Rizal expressed his contempt of the Spanish colonization of the Philippines. He travelled to Argentina in 1909 where two new cities, Nueva Valencia and Cervantes, were created. He gave conferences on historical events and Spanish literature. Tired of failures beyond his control, Vicente Blasco Ibañez went to Paris, coinciding with the beginning of World War I.

He was a supporter of the Allies in the World War.

His themes include his native Valencia.

He died in Menton, France.

Bibliography

• A los pies de Venus
• Argentina y sus grandezas
• Arroz y tartana, available freely at Project Gutenberg
• Cañas y barro [1], about life among the fishermen-peasants of the Albufera marshes in Valencia. Also a Spanish TV series.
• Cuentos valencianos
• El caballero de la virgen
• El intruso, about immigration to the Basque Country
• El oriente
• El papa del mar, about the antipope Benedict XIII, who established his court at Peñíscola.
• El paraiso de las mujeres, available freely at Project Gutenberg
• El préstamo de la difunta, available freely at Project Gutenberg
• En busca del Gran Khan
• Entre naranjos [2], another Valencian piece. Also a Spanish TV series.
• Fantasma de las alas de oro
• Flor de mayo
• La araña negra
• La Barraca, available freely at Project Gutenberg
• La bodega
• La Catedral, available freely at Project Gutenberg
• La horda
• La maja desnuda, about Goya's Naked Maja.
• La Tierra de Todos, available freely at Project Gutenberg
• Los argonautas
• The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse (Los Cuatro Jinetes del Apocalipsis) [3], about Argentina and the First World War. Several times filmed. The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, available freely at Project GutenbergWikipedia article, which is released under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share-Alike License 3.0.