Literature

On the novelist’s triumphant return to Valencia on May 15, 1921, and the tributes he received from the city, Blasco Ibáñez visited his friend Don José Benlliure at his home-studio on Blanquerías Street to exchange views on the illustrations Benlliure was producing for a special edition of his novel, which had become the most popular of his works.

So great was his interest in having Benlliure illustrate his work that, as he had remarked, he was willing to assign the author’s rights for that edition in Don José’s favour, should that be necessary to convince him. Nor was it the first time this novel had been illustrated, for in 1903 the painter Antonio Fillol did so with 80 illustrations, but the edition was not very successful, despite the illustrator’s merit. In 1932, with the inauguration at Madrid’s Palacio del Retiro of the Manifestations of Valencian Art, the 52 works presented by José Benlliure for the edition of La Barraca drew attention.

However, the project was delayed, perhaps because Blasco had begun his journey around the world, or because he had devoted himself to his activities in the field of cinema; the fact is that the writer died on January 28, 1928, and his son-in-law, Fernando Llorca, manager of what was then Editorial Prometeo, considered it advisable to publish the old project of La Barraca as a posthumous tribute.