De Sobremesa; crónicas, Tercera Parte (de 5)

A sharp‑tongued series of sketches opens with a mock‑serious rumination on a “modiste strike” in the United States, turning a seemingly frivolous fashion protest into a blueprint for wider social upheaval. The narrator drifts from the absurdity of elegant women abandoning adornments to the ripple effects on husbands, playwrights, and even the grandest theatres, exposing the fragile scaffolding of a culture that equates appearance with respectability.

The tone then shifts to a wry commentary on the new year’s inevitable melancholy, the fickle fortunes of writers, and the farcical mechanics of Spanish theatrical competitions. By lampooning the nation’s reliance on personal recommendations—even in matters of the sacred—the essays reveal a world where ambition, superstition and bureaucracy intertwine. A delightfully satirical portrait of early‑twentieth‑century Spain, it invites listeners to relish the humor beneath its critical observations.