The nun and other stories

With its brooding noblewoman, classically beautiful nun, and neurotic child - who is the grandson of the former and the nephew of the latter - "The Nun" becomes a stage as it represents the past and the future of the family, the past and future of Spain. "Moors and Christians" explores, humorously and wisely, the effects of greed, the nefarious nature of covetousness. Alarcon subtitled "The Tall Woman" a "tale of fear," and his protagonist's hair-raising brushes with danger and evil remind one of the writings of E.T.A. Hoffmann and Edgar Allan Poe. Don Jorge de Cordoba, the Captain "Poison" of Captain Poison, has always seen himself as an unabashed misogynist, but when his life is saved by a courageous young woman, fate conspires to reverse his outlook.