 But his reputation as a novelist is exemplified by the only two novels he wrote, "La Regenta" and "Su único hijo"; the former is more significant.With clear influences from "Madame Bovary" by Flaubert, it physically and morally depicts Vetusta (which was modeled on his hometown of Oviedo) as a prototypical Spanish city steeped in tradition.Alas employed naturalistic techniques, but he did not paint squalid environs as didZola; instead, what predominates is a sense of pessimism, tempered by touches of tenderness and irony.