Introduction

Many of Martín Gaite's short stories, though published as collections, first appeared in the pages of literary magazines and journals such as La Hora, Revista Española and La Estafeta Literaria. Her first published story is usually reported as Un día de libertad (A Day of Freedom), which was published in the second issue of the short-lived Revista Española in July 1953, but, as Dolores Romano López has shown, two earlier stories, Desde el umbral (1948) (From the Threshold) and Historia de un mendigo (1950) (The Story of a Beggar) were published in the journal Trabajos y Días (Salamanca, 1946–51). El balneario, written in 1953 and winner of the Premio Café Gijón in 1954, was published by Afrodisio Aguado in 1955. This book, in addition to the eponymous novella, also contained three short stories: Un día de libertad (1953), La chica de abajo (1953) (The Girl from Downstairs) and Los informes (1954) (The References). The second edition, published in 1968 by Alianza, contained these and a further four stories: La oficina (1954) (The Office), La trastienda de los ojos (1954) (Behind the Gaze), Ya ni me acuerdo (1962) (I No Longer Remember) and Variaciones sobre un tema (1967) (Variations on a Theme). Two other stories were added for the third edition, published by Destino in 1977: Tarde de tedio (1970) (A Tedious Afternoon) and Retirada (1974) (Retreat). Las ataduras, published by Destino in 1960, contained in addition to the title story, Tendrá que volver (1958) (He Must Return), Un alto en el camino (1958) (A Stop in the Journey), La tata (1958) (The Nanny), Lo que queda enterrado (1958) (What Remains Buried), La conciencia tranquila (1956) (A Clear Conscience) and La mujer de cera (1954) (The Wax Woman). In 1978, the two collections were brought together and published as Cuentos Completos (Complete Stories).