SOURCE: “Histories, Essays, and Miscellaneous Writings,” in Francisco Martínez de la Rosa, Twayne Publishers, 1988, pp. 106-21.

In the following excerpt, the authors survey Martínez de la Rosa's non-fictional works, including his theoretical and political writings, and particularly his ten-volume history of Europe, El espíritu del siglo.

Although Martínez is known to students of Spanish literature primarily as the author of the first romantic drama in Spain, his most ambitious writings were not drama, poetry, or the novel, but histories of political thought. More than thirty years of his life were spent composing a monumental history of Europe entitled Espíritu del siglo (Spirit of the age). Many other speeches, articles, and essays deal more with political than literary philosophy.¹ Time and space prevent a detailed examination of these works, which form more than half of Martínez's literary production. This chapter will therefore be...