ABSTRACT
A certain interesting ambiguity attends the dating of the composition of Santayana’s first “novel.” If it was written in Avila, it may well have preceded 1872, the year in which in June, Agustín Santayana and his son set out from Spain to join the rest of the family in Boston. Josefina and her two daughters had been in Boston since 1869, and Roberto since 1867. If young George wrote in Spain between ages five or six and eight, his work was a precocious, charming attempt to put himself imaginatively back in the family circle, particularly back in the presence of his favorite, Susana, whose experience with Queen Cristina the piece reflects. If the narrative was written in Boston, where it was undoubtedly “published,” it shows us the young boy celebrating his reunion with Susana and the others.
