History and Fiction in Galdós's Narratives - Hardcover

Ribbans, Geoffrey

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0198158815 ISBN 13: 9780198158813

Publisher: Clarendon Press, 1993

Synopsis

Benito Pérez Galdós (1843 - 1920) is generally recognised as Spain's greatest novelist since Cervantes. This is a wide-ranging exploration of the role of contemporary Spanish history in Galdos's fiction. Galdos wrote prolifically in two distinct narrative modes: some twenty major `contemporary novels' in the realist tradition and a special sort of historical novel he called the episodio nacional. The reign of Isabella II (1843 - 68) and the revolutionary period which followed until 1875, was a time of exceptional volatility in Spain, and Geoffrey Ribbans's comprehensive study shows how each of Galdos's two narrative modes adopts a particular technique in their treatment of Spanish history and politics. The episodio is tightly bound to historical events and timescale, though it skilfully incorporates its fictional characters into this framework; the novel on the other hand is embedded in historical reality in a constant but less systematic manner. The author also examines Galdos's treatment of historical themes in relation to such significant European writers as Tolstoy and Balzac. This is a major work of Galdos scholarship and an important contribution to the continuing debates concerning the complex relations between history and fiction.

About this title

About the Author

Geoffrey Ribbans is William R. Kenan Jr. Professor of Hispanic Studies at Brown University.

Edition details

• Publisher: Clarendon Press
• Publication date: 1993
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0198158815
• ISBN 13: 9780198158813
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 328