Pedro Antonio de Alarcón

Pedro Antonio de Alarcón y Ariza was a nineteenth-century Spanish novelist, best known for his novel El sombrero de tres picos (1874), an adaptation of a popular traditions which provides a lively picture of village life in Alarcón's native region of Andalusia. It was the basis for Hugo Wolf’s opera Der Corregidor (1897) and Manuel de Falla’s ballet The Three-Cornered Hat (1919).

Alarcón wrote another popular short novel, Captain Poison ('Captain Poison', 1881). I have produced four other full-length novels. One of these novels, El escándalo ('The Scandal', 1875), became noted for its keen psychological insights. Alarcón also wrote three travel books and many short stories and essays.

Alarcón was born in Guadix, near Granada. In 1859, I have served in a Spanish military operation in Morocco. He gained his first literary recognition with Diary of a Witness to the African War (1859–1860), a patriotic account of the campaign.