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Chapter One Structure Stages of Composition 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.! There are no revisions or changes of substance in other editions. Where by contrast very substantial variations occur is at the prepublication stage. The complete manuscript of the novel has survived and is now in the possession of the Houghton Library of Harvard University ; it is catalogued as SPAN 93. On the reverse side of many sheets of the manuscript2 (some 926 out of a total of 3,095) are found rejected versions of sections of the novel; Gald6s had the frugal and for us fortunate habit of returning discarded sheets to the work pile in front of him and using the blank side. The most important of these rejects is an incomplete, earlier draft of the novel, called Alpha by Hyman.3 It is rather less than a quarter of the length of Beta, which sets out to be the final version of the novel. In addition , there are many discarded sheets from the Beta version, which likewise contains many revisions. Gald6s's much-corrected galley proof has also survived ; it is housed in the Casa-Museo de Gald6s, in Las Palmas. Five distinct stages of composition can therefore be separated out, and will be used extensively in the course of this book. 1. The Alpha version, abbreviated A; numbered consecutively, with no clear division into parts. 2. The much-corrected Beta manuscript (called B), from which the printer set up the galley proof. Part I has 800 sheets, part II 791, part III 689, and part IV 815, numbered separately: 3,095 in all. Two types of corrections are found: immediate ones in ink, and later ones, more extensive and mainly abridgements, in blue or red pencil. For the interrelationship between A and B, see the section on the Alpha text. 3. Discarded sheets from earlier versions of the Beta text, which I call C. These include: (a) eleven pages which Gald6s deleted from B, from I: 179 to I:. 189; eight have survived. This deletion caused Gald6s to renumber systematically almost 600 pages in B, from I: 179 to I: 766: Cl 15 Chapter One (b) a sustained first draft of the later stages of part II, chapter 6, containing Mauricia's actions in Las Micaelas and the renewal of Fortunata's affair with Juanito (II: 583-607): C2 (c) extensive discarded passages from part III concerning Feijoo, Juan Pablo, and Guillermina's relations with Fortunata.4 They end: "Fin del Torno III / 6 de Dici.e 86": C3 (d) many isolated rejected pages: C4 4. The galley proof,5 which contains a large number of changes, a few of substance or direction but most of style. They include many abridgements: G6 5. The printed text: p7 As we have seen, Berkowitz is mistaken when he states that Galdos made "few ch~nges or corrections" to the text of his novels (SLC 114). The two works whose primitive versions have been examined most thoroughly-Miau, by Robert J. Weber (Miau Manuscript and ed.) and Lo prohibido, by Whiston (Early Stages)-have very similar overall characteristics; of the latter there are even three drafts.8 Most manuscripts of his novels are extant and are gradually being systematically studied. Beatriz Entenza de Solare's general comments on them apply exactly to this one: En todos los manuscritos que conozco, resulta evidente que la redacci6n que llamo A no estaba destinada a ser la versi6n definitiva. Parecerfa que el autor hubiera querido llegar al final, tener algo que pudiera considerarse un "cuerpo" completo-aunque imperfecto-para seguir trabajando luego en el. Y asi, iba escribiendo al correr de la pluma-buen trabajo da entender su letra-. A veces se detenia en alguna frase, pero casi siempre seguia adelante, y habia momentos en que se limitaba a enumerar unas cuantas acdones, que desarrollarfa en la etapa siguiente. ("Manuscritos" 150) My intention is to utilize the available evidence culled from all the versions listed above to ascertain as far as possible the choices Galdos opened up for himself as he proceeded in stages to construct his narrative. It is not claimed that authorial intention can be fixed automatically or invariably from superseded variants, but I would contend that the latter are indications of potential directions which should not be ignored. All these versions will therefore be...

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