Before terminating his legal studies, the young man published several articles in the _Revista Europea_ on philosophical and religious questions. These articles attracted the attention of the proprietor of that review, and Valdés presently joined the staff. In 1874 he became editor. He was at the head of the _Revista Europea_, at that time the most important periodical in Spain from a scientific point of view, for several years. During that time he published the main part of those articles of literary criticism, particularly on contemporary poets and novelists, which have since been collected in several volumes--_Los Oradores del Ateneo_, ("The Orators of the Athenæum"); _Los Novelistas Españoles_ ("The Spanish Novelists"); _Un Nuevo Viaje al Parnaso_ ("A New Journey to Parnassus"), sketches of the living poets of Spain; and, in particular, a very bright collection of review articles published in conjunction with Leopoldo Alas, _La Literatura en_ 1881 ("Spanish Literature in 1881"). These gave Valdés a foremost rank among the critics of the day. He wrote no more criticism, or very little; he determined to place himself amongst those whose creative work demands the careful consideration of the best judges.
Soon after he took the direction of the _Revista_, Valdés wrote his first novel, _El Señorito Octavio_, which was not published until 1881. In 1883 he brought out his _Marta y Maria_, a book which, I know not why, is called "The Marquis of Peñalta" in its English version. This novel enjoyed an extraordinary success, and had more of the graphic and sprightly manner by which Valdés has since been distinguished, than the books which immediately followed it. Spanish critics, indeed, remembering the wonderful freshness of _Marta y Maria_, still often speak of it as the best of Valdés' stories. In this same year, 1883, he married, at the seaside town of Gijon, in Asturias, on the day when he completed his thirty years, a young lady of sixteen. His marriage was a honeymoon of a year and a half, of which _El Idilio de un Enfermo_ ("The Idyll of an Invalid"), a short novel of 1884, portrays the earlier portion. His wife died early in 1885, leaving him with an infant son to be, as he says, "my allusion and my fascination." His subsequent career has been laborious and systematic. He has published one novel almost every year. In 1885 it was _José_, a shorter tale of sea-faring life on the stormy coast of the author's native province. About the same time appeared a collection of short stories, called _Aguas Fuertes_ ("Strong Waters").