_Incesto_, _La Enferma_, _De mi Vida_, _Amar a
Obscuras_, _Bodas Tragicas_, _Noche de Bodas_, _El Lacayo_, and
_Memorias de una Cortesana_. The second epoch deals with death and
mysteries, the future life, religion. (Zamacois is religious in the
sense that so much of the young blood of the Latin world is
religious--negatively. They think more clearly than we Anglo-Saxons, in
some way, these Latins!) _El Otro_, _El Misterio de un Hombre Pequenito_
and some others fall into this epoch. The third is characterized by a
wider vision, a more complete realization of the essential tragedy and
irony of human life, and is tempered by the understanding that comes to
all of us when graying hair and fading illusions tell us we are no
longer young. Here we find _Anos de Miseria y de Risa_, _La Opinion
Ajena_ and stories of the type of those in the present volume. Surely
_El Hijo_ and _El Collar_ are cynical enough to rank with masterpieces
of cynicism in any tongue.

Zamacois' plays are distinguished by the same dramatic, often mystic,
elements that make his novels and short stories of such vital interest.
The more important titles are: _Teatro Galante_, _Nochebuena_, _El
Pasado Vuelve_, and _Frio_.

"Spain still dominates the whole of Spanish literature," says Zamacois.
"The Latin new world has had but slight influence thereon. And Spain is
fast becoming liberalized. _Resurgimiento_ is the pass-word, all along
the line. Even our women are becoming liberalized--or we are beginning
to emancipate them, a little. That is highly revolutionary--for Spain!
The war has flooded Spain with new ideas, not only abstract but
concrete. We are getting free speech and a free press--is America
winning more latitude, or shrinking to less?--and we are enforcing
education. We are reviving physically. Athletic sports are coming in.
These are all signs of the Renaissance, just as the new school of
writers is a sign. I suppose most of the new blood is indifferent to
religion. Spain has a small body of religionist fanatics, a strong
minority of non-religious, intellectual elite, and a vast body of
indifferent folk, slowly making progress toward enlightenment.

"Spain's misfortune is this--that you foreigners have seen in her only
the picturesque, the medieval, the exotic. Spain has scientific,
engineering and literary triumphs to be proud of now, as well as
ivy-grown cathedrals, bull-rings and palaces. Under her old, hard
carapace, new blood is leaping