Conflicts and Conciliations

Cover

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TItle Page, Copyright, Dedication

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Contents

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pp. vii-

Preface

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pp. ix-xi

Benito P�rez Gald�s has taken a long time to attain the eminence he deserves. Even in Spain his work has been accompanied by a certain reserve and has been subject to distortion. This neglect is the result of various factors, among them the variety and extent of his production, spread out over historical chronicles, ...

List of Abbreviations

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pp. xiii-xvi

Key to Textual History of Fortunata y Jacinta

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pp. xv-

Introduction

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pp. 1-14

The novel immediately preceding Fortunata y Jacinta among Benito P�rez Gald�s's novelas contempordneas was Lo prohibido. On the back of the last page of the manuscript of this novel, Gald�s records its writing schedule with scrupulous accuracy: "principiado este manuscrito el 19 de Nov-84 ...

Chapter One Structure

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pp. 15-48

No serious editorial problems arise in connection with the published text of Fortunata y Jacinta. Its printed form, as it appeared in four volumes in 1887, constitutes the princeps text.¹ There are no revisions or changes of substance in other editions. Where by contrast very substantial variations occur is at ...

Chapter Two Representation

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pp. 49-84

The discussion seems to me to have two aspects, one concerned with literary creation and the other as a metaphorical pattern referring to life itself. Regarding the first, it is remarkable, but not untypical, that Gald�s should present such a discussion right at the end of his longest and most ambitious novel. ...

Chapter Three Time and Space

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pp. 85-122

The two clearly defined critical positions set out by Gilman and Blanco Aguinaga on the "birth" of Fortunata previously discussed in chapter 1 reveal equally divergent attitudes toward history. The latter sets out "to show how history determines the structure of Gald�s's texts" ("On 'The Birth'" 15) ...

Chapter Four Characters in Family and Society

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pp. 123-162

The depiction of the various social classes is, as Blanco Aguinaga contends, crucial to the structure of the novel, even though it does not follow the rigid deterministic pattern he indicates.¹ While there is no doubt that Gald�s was acutely aware of class distinctions (even the tenement slums of Mira el R�o Alta ...

Chapter Five The Positivist-Idealist Dichotomy

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pp. 163-192

Quoting Fortunata's phrase about "Un mundo que se ve y otro que est� debajo, escondido" (III.5.iv.171), Whiston makes a revealing contrast between the external, conventional side of life and the inner truth. He indicates a sharp division between those characters who live exclusively in the exterior world, ...

Chapter Six Frustrations and Accommodations

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pp. 193-226

In previous chapters we have seen various sorts of frustration with material circumstances, which mayor may not be susceptible to relief: Juan Pablo, Nicol�s, Izquierdo, Ido, Villaamil, all suffer from this condition. In this chapter we are concerned with characters who feel deeply thwarted at a moral or spiritual level ...

Chapter Seven Fortunata

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pp. 227-266

We have established in chapter 1 that in part I Fortunata's story was viewed only from the outside. Indeed, perhaps the most important structural decision Gald�s made in his construction of the novel was to defer any direct revealing of Fortunata's character until the second part and even then to let it emerge piecemeal. ...

Chapter Eight Conclusion

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pp. 267-284

In each of these categories, as we have, seen in chapters 3 and 4, the novel fits exactly. It closely mirrors its period; it is set in an accurately designated time and place; it is imbued with historical connotations. The novel is no less in tune with Erich Auerbach's well-known argument that "the serious realism ...

Notes

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pp. 285-318

Works Consulted

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pp. 319-340

Index

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pp. 341-352