Juan Valera y Alcala-Galiano (1824-1905), was a Spanish realist author, writer and political figure, best known for Pepita Jimenez which depicts a young seminarian's gradual of the empty vanity of his vocation, culminating in a shattering denouement. Armando Palacio Valdes (1853-1938) was a Spanish novelist and critic. His Marta y Maria portrays of the struggle between religious vocation and earthly passion, somewhat in the manner of Valera."