author
Ramón Ortega y Frías
1825–1883
A hugely prolific Spanish storyteller, he became famous for serial novels packed with history, adventure, and cliffhangers. His work helped bring popular 19th-century fiction to a wide audience of newspaper and magazine readers.
1 Audiobook
La Gente Cursi: Novela de Costumbres Ridículas
by Ramón Ortega y Frías
About the author
Born in Granada on March 1, 1825, and dying in Madrid on February 16, 1883, he was a Spanish writer best known for novelas por entregas—serialized novels published in installments. That format made his fiction especially accessible, and he built a large readership with historical and adventure-driven stories.
His bibliography is extensive, with works such as Cervantes, El diablo en palacio, El siglo de las tinieblas and El naufragio de la Medusa preserved in the Biblioteca Virtual Miguel de Cervantes. He is remembered as one of the notably productive popular novelists of 19th-century Spain.
Today, he is of particular interest to readers who enjoy dramatic plotting, historical settings, and the fast-moving energy of serialized fiction. His career offers a vivid glimpse of how mass-market storytelling worked long before radio, film, or television.