This is a post about Gustavo Adolfo Bécquer!
19th century Spanish poet
Certified hottie
Wrote about romance, death and spooky things
Every Spanish classic lit. nerd and their aunt has had a crush on him at some point
Died of tuberculosis (like a good romantic)
Has been dead for 155 slutty slutty years and is still receiving love letters in his tombstone
One of Becquer's most important works is his poetry. Although there are some translations out there, the truth is that, in general, it is awfully difficult to translate poetry to other languages while preserving the quality of the work. So, if you had been planning to learn Spanish for some time but never found the motivation, now you have a very compelling reason to do so! :D
The good news is that he also wrote prose! His most famous story is "The Spirits' Mountain" (or "The Mount of the Souls", according to other translations). This short 'legend' tells the story of a beautiful woman named Beatrice who dares his cousin to go to the mountain in the middle of the night in order to recover a bond that she had lost there earlier that day (31st of October). Her cousin, Alonso, doesn't like the idea because he knows that dangerous spirits (and wolfs) roam the mountain during this night but ends up agreeing. And well...let's just say that things get spooky after that :)
So, in honor of spooky season, let's all give Bécquer some love! <3
