Autumn and Winter Sonatas, by Ramon del Valle-Inclan, trans. Margaret Jull-Costa (Dedalus, £7.99 in UK)

The first two volumes of this tetralogy, Spring and Summer Sonatas, have already appeared under the same imprint, and these two take up again the adventures and misadventures of the now-ageing Marquis of Bradomin. He is a sort of Don Juan figure, with an admixture of Byron and of Symbolist decadence, as well as an extra flavour of High Camp. Valle-Inclan, a Galician, was a respected figure in the Spanish literary revival early this century, in some ways an Iberian version of d'Annunzio. In a sense the high-coloured, full-dress style has dated, but the stories have genuine imaginative and dramatic flair, and there is always an underlying tone of irony and persiflage to keep their extravagant tone within limits.