Historical Reconstruction In Adventures Of Captain Alatriste

Arturo Perez-Reverte, born on November25th1951in Cartagena, is a Spanish writer. He worked as a war correspondent for twenty-one years. Among his works, the most representative one definitely belongs to his "Captain Alatriste" series of novels, which published in1996. Nowadays, the series has already had seven volumes, including El capitan Alatriste (1996), Limpieza de sangre (1997), El sol de Breda (1998), El oro del Rey (2000), El caballero del jubon amarillo (2003), Corsario de Levante (2006) y El puente de los asesinos (2011). They were well received on their publication. Over four million copies of the first six volumes have been sold and they have been translated into35languages, broadcasting in more than fifty countries. Own to his excellent literary contribution, he was elected to be a member of the Royal Spanish Academy in June12th,2003.The novel set its story in the seventeenth century, the Golden Age when the Spanish Empire fell into decay. The novel is told in first person, from the perspective of Inigo Balboa, the young squire of Alatriste, telling about the adventure stories between his owner and him. The characters are distinct and the plots are varied.Although this series got readers’ favor and became a classic of Spanish literature, it is little studied academically in China. Therefore, this paper will study this neglected but important field and hope that more Chinese scholars and translators will pay attention to this writer and his works.According to new historicism in western history of literary criticism, this paper tries to analyze the historical reconstruction of the seven novels mentioned above. It includes four chapters.Chapter one enumerates several western scholars’views on relationship between history and literature, then concentrate on expounding the theoretical views of two important representatives—Stephen Greenblatt and Louis Montrose. They regard history as narrative, and deny historical facts.They emphasize on the importance of anecdote and believe that only through written history can find out the truth. The beginning of new historicism breaks the opposition of traditional history of literature, and it reveals the interpenetration and interconnection between literature and history.Chapter two reviews the development of world historical novels. Since1814Scotland writer Scott published the first historical novel (Waverley), historical novels built up its fame and gradually changed from unitary type to diversification, from simplicity to interpenetration, from tradition to modern.Chapter three elaborates three types of historical reconstruction, which are historical enlightenment, historical humanization and historical novelization. In that series, the author uses a crowd of stories to analyses the fast decay of Spanish Empire from different aspects, which turns out to be profound. The main character is no longer the great hero traditionally, but a completely anti-hero. Most supporting characters in his books are living in underclass. Both virtual characters and historical figures are vivid, real and authentic. Moreover, the author integrates elements of serial novels which were fashionable in Europe into his narratives, such as intrigue, peripeteia, and prolepsis. All of these make the novel gripping and attractive.Chapter four analyses two internal values of historical reconstruction, which are learning from history and blending teaching into amusement. Specifically, the series novels explore the reason of Spanish Empire’s decay, which is still full of inspiration for the development of Spain and even the World. To some extent, the reason why the series are popular among young readers and become required reading in middle high school own to the playfulness of novels.Finally, it should be pointed out that this paper can only demonstrate the feasibility of studying this series but it can not cover all interpretations. We believe that concerning these books, more and more people will find out new research topics.