Santos, Jesus Fernandez

New York. 1984. Columbia University Press. 1st American Edition. Very Good in Dustjacket. 0231055528. Translated from the Spanish by Helen R. Lane. 280 pages. hardcover. . keywords: Literature Translated Spain . FROM THE PUBLISHER - Set in Spain during the Inquisition, Extramuros is the nightmarish story of two nuns who scheme to rescue their impoverished convent from the ravages of drought and pestilence by contriving to forge a miracle: A nun (the narrator) inflicts on her companion the wounds of Christ's stigmata. As news of the momentous occurrence spreads, pilgrims flock to the convent's crumbling walls, bringing to it fame and ultimately wealth. Even Nature seems to join the conspiracy by letting fall a healing rain to end the region's drought. The stigmatized saint, widely regarded as responsible for obtaining this apparent act of divine beneficence, becomes prioress of the convent. Yet doubts torment the narrator, and the course of events finally turns against the conspirators. The fervor over the purported miracles grows until at last the Holy Office intervenes, initiating an investigation that ends with the imprisonment and trial of the nuns. Ultimately, inevitably, the saint herself receives her punishment. Extramuros explores the dark boundaries where despair passes over into ecstasies of faith, and the love of God mingles with carnal eroticism. As the story unfolds it draws the reader, in the restrained language of Teresa of Avila and Juan de la Cruz, through a fantastic landscape of the heart, filled with secret yearnings, half-glimpsed truths, and hidden doubts. Author, journalist, and film director, Jesus Fernandez Santos has gained high distinction among contemporary Spanish novelists. Extramuros develops the starkly poetic language and clinical descriptiveness of Fernandez Santos' earlier style into a powerful instrument for scrutinizing the most fundamental human passions and spiritual cravings. Extramuros won Spain's 1979 Premio Nacional de Literatura and is the first of Fernandez Santos' novels to be translated into English. inventory #6427 ISBN: 0231055528.