The Heretic

En el año 1517, Martín Lutero fija sus noventa y cinco tesis contra las indulgencias en la iglesia de Wittenberg, un acontecimiento que provocará el cisma de la Iglesia Romana de Occidente. Ese mismo año nace en Valladolid Cipriano Salcedo. En un momento de agitación política y religiosa, esta mera coincidencia de fechas marcará fatalmente su destino. Convertido en próspero comerciante se pondrá en contacto con las corrientes protestantes que, de manera clandestina, empezaban a introducirse en la Península, pero la difusión de este movimiento será cortada progresivamente por el Santo Oficio.

A través de las peripecias vitales y espirituales de Cipriano Salcedo, Delibes dibuja con mano maestra un vivísimo retrato del show more Valladolid de la época de Carlos V, de sus gentes, sus costumbres y sus paisajes. Pero El hereje es sobre todo una indagación sobre las relaciones humanas en todos sus aspectos; la historia de unos hombres y mujeres de carne y hueso en lucha consigo mismos y con el mundo que les ha tocado vivir.

Un canto apasionado por la tolerancia y la libertad de conciencia, una novela inolvidable sobre las pasiones humanas y los resortes que las mueven. show less

Cipriano Salcedo is the son of a businessman in 16th century Valladollid, Spain. He grows up to be wise in business matters, a loving husband to his wife, generous to the poor and working classes, but has the misfortune to experience religious conversion to Lutheranism during the Inquisition. Captured and tortured by the Inquisition, he suffers martyrdom at an auto-da-fé. The Heretic is a searing indictment of the evils of the Roman Catholic Church at this time, marking the Inquisition as the progenitor of the long draw out decline and eventual irrelevance of Roman Catholicism.

Originally published in Spain, this is a novel of a young man who grows up unloved and unwanted in an orthodox family. Eventually he becomes involved with an underground Protestant group, and becomes an enemy of the state. This is a book that would be hard going as a bestseller in America, because it is cerebral and not particularly action-packed (this is NOT meant as a dis!). The lead character is well drawn out, but most of the other characters are somewhat fuzzy. Overall, it was a pleasant read.

The story is of Cipriano Salcedo, citizen of Valladolid, Spain set in the 1500s. In fact, Cipriano Salcedo was born on October 31, 1517, the day Luther posted his Ninety-Five Theses. There is a brief introduction to Luther and Calvin and the Council of Trent. Cipriano’s mother died shortly after childbirth and his father never approached the son with anything but disdain. Cipriano was raised in the Catholic faith but along the way, without his fully realizing, he becomes a believer in the doctrine of beneficence. His desire for fraternity leads him to trust that others will stay true to their oaths. The author dedicated this book to his hometown of Valladolid in which he creates the landscape, the man and the passion. Cipriano is a show more merchant and the novel is the story of man’s freedom to think and the intolerance of mankind. The story does immerse you in the sixteenth century. I recommend this to anyone interested in the inquisition, the reformation or the 16th century. show less

This international bestseller follows the life of a boy born on the day the Protestant reformation began-when Martin Luther nailed his list of ninety-five theses to a church door in Wittenberg-through his last days in prison as a so-called heretic. I really enjoyed this story but wondered how much was lost in the translation. And his English publishers need a kick in the pants for all the typos they didn't have edited out.Very distracting in a well-written book of the times. I hope they translate and publish more of his work but...looking to hire any proofreaders there guys? I'm avalable
From Amazon:
"Miguel Delibes is one of Spain's literary treasures. At the age of eighty-six he is author of over fifty books; he received the Cervantes show more Prize in 1994, and The Heretic won the Premio Nacional de Narrativa, perhaps Spain's most important literary prize, in 1999. Delibes wrote it while fighting cancer, and at times Cipriano's meditations on the end of life during the year he spends in the Inquisition's prison seem almost autobiographical. By whatever means and experience, in The Heretic Delibes has produced as enduring and thought-provoking a tale as those of his national literary forefathers." show less

This novel is set in Valladolid, Spain, at the onset of the Inquisition, and the main character, a truly good, even heroic, character, is drawn to Protestantism, though the bulk of the story describes his coming of age, his development of his business interests, & his marriage (the one area where he's not successful in life). The story, told straightforwardly by a third-person, omnisicient narrator, is only modestly compelling, the translation seems not very good, & I've never seen so many egregious typos in a commercially published book.

Don't buy this book! Such incredibly sloppy translating and editing should not be condoned. The story itself was boring and with the addition of the truly awful translating it was unreadable. I would imagine that a computer could have done a better job than the translator/editor did on the travesty.