Benito Pérez Galdós

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Benito Pérez Galdós
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Benito Pérez Galdós (born May 10, 1843 in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria , † January 4, 1920 in Madrid ) was a Spanish writer , one of the most important Spanish-speaking representatives of the realistic novel. He is often compared to Balzac and Dickens because of his enormous literary production .

Life

childhood

Benito Pérez Galdós was born as the youngest of ten children of Sebastián Pérez y Macías, Lieutenant Colonel of the Army, and María Dolores Josefa Galdós y Medina (who was 43 years old at birth). His grandfather, Domingo Galdós y Alcorta, was secretary of the Inquisition , his uncle Domingo a priest who also wrote a chronicle of his experiences in the campaign against Napoleon Bonaparte in 1809; a brother of Galdós later became Capitán General de las Islas Canarias. Benito spent his childhood in Las Palmas, where he attended the Colegio de San Agustín. He was a precocious child, could read at four and wrote his first poems at six; he also won a painting competition and exhibits his work in Las Palmas.

youth

Since the universities in the Canary Islands were closed in 1862, he went to Madrid at the age of 19 and began studying law there. But he did not take his studies very seriously and preferred to stroll through the streets and cafes, go to the theater and write his first romantic dramas. During his studies he met Francisco Giner de los Ríos , the founder of the Institución Libre de Enseñanza , who encouraged him to write and interested him in the philosophical teaching of Krausismo . On April 10, 1865, he experienced the suppression of the student uprisings in the so-called "Noche de San Daniel", which shaped him politically. A year later he was shocked by the shooting of insurgent NCOs ( Sargentos de San Gil ), which was also to be decisive for his political position. From then on he loathed the death penalty , civil war and bad government. He attended the Ateneo de Madrid , where he used the library and heard lectures. This institution was known for its spirit of tolerance . His family wanted him off the stroll and stop his many love affairs and took him in 1867 to the World Fair of Paris . There he visited museums and got to know Balzac's novels. He also translated Charles Dickens ' Pickwick Papers into Spanish. He himself began writing his first novel, La Fontana de Oro , in 1867 ; this is the beginning of the modern novel in Spain. In 1868, a key year in Spanish history , Galdós returned to Spain, where the September Revolution broke out, which he welcomed enthusiastically. The following year he was de-registered from his law degree without a degree.

Journalistic activity

It was around this time that his first newspaper and magazine articles appeared on the turbulent political events in Spain in the 1860s. From 1869 Galdós wrote parliamentary reports for the newspaper Las Cortes , 1870/71 for El Debate , 1871/72 in the Revista de España on domestic politics. It was not until 1875 that he devoted himself fully to literary writing and ended his journalistic contributions.

Work on the Episodios Nacionales

In the early 1870s, Galdós began to write the Episodios nacionales , a 50-volume monumental narrative about contemporary Spanish history. For this, Galdós withdrew completely from public life. He suffered badly from overwork and migraines because he had to give up an "episode" every three months.

Love relationships

Benito Pérez Galdós from Ramon Casas ( MNAC ).

Benito Pérez Galdós lived as a bachelor in the household of his married sister Carmen. He had many female affairs, just no fixed relationships. His love affair with Emilia Pardo Bazán is interesting, for example , which lasted from around 1881 to 1892, but remained a secret to the public. It initially developed as a master-student relationship and became quite passionate in between. Parts of the correspondence have been preserved and published that refer to joint trips through Germany. Galdós also had a long-lasting relationship with serious consequences with Concha-Ruth Morell, an actress whom he gave a role in his drama Realidad (1892). This relationship, of which Pardo Bazán was very jealous, lasted for several years (Galdós paid her an apartment in Santander) and is reflected in the novel Tristana , where the young actress' letters are partially quoted in full. Concha then converted to Judaism; she died of tuberculosis in 1906.

Relationship to music

Galdós was also a great music lover. In 1878 he learned to play the piano, and many of his works show the influence of his favorite composer Ludwig van Beethoven , whose symphonic structures were modeled on literary terms.

to travel

Bust of Benito Pérez Galdós
Monument to Benito Pérez Galdós

In 1883 Galdós made his first trip to England to see his friend José Alcalá Galiano , with whom he also undertook a longer journey through England, Holland, Germany and Denmark in 1886 and a trip to Italy in 1887. These trips later found their literary reflection in “La de los tristes destinos”, for example, which contains a detailed description of London . He came from Portugal (where he traveled with José María de Pereda in 1885 ) via France (where he attended the World Exhibition of 1888) to the Baltic States , from England to Italy. In his travel memories, Galdós' love for ordinary people is expressed, but he sharply criticized political systems that he considered to be unjust, such as English imperialism and the Bismarck Empire. He had been predicting the Russian Revolution since 1887 and also prophesied the increase in military momentum in Europe. Interestingly enough, there is little evidence of these foreign experiences in his novels, but very much in his memoirs . Galdós always spent the summer months in Cantabria , where he finally had a house built in 1892.

Political activities

Benito Pérez Galdós was also politically active and in 1886 became a member of the Liberal Party in the Cortes , the Spanish parliament. In 1886 he was nominated by Sagasta as a member of the Cortes for Guayama in Puerto Rico on a progressive-liberal list; this allowed Galdós to conduct important milieu studies in political circles. More than Sagasta, however, he praised Cánovas and Castelar as level-headed politicians. He abhorred violence for political ends and always advocated moderation. He dined with the Queen Mother María Cristina and yet spoke out for the Republic.

In 1907 he became a member of parliament for Madrid in a party in which he was supposed to unite all anti-monarchist, republican currents and the socialist party through his reputation. In later years he leaned more towards the socialist party and was friends with Pablo Iglesias Posse , the founder of the PSOE .

Honors

In 1897 Galdós became a member of the Real Academia Española after he had previously been rejected . In 1904 he was proposed for the Nobel Prize, but this was thwarted by intrigue; the rather secondary playwright José Echegaray finally received it this year together with Frédéric Mistral .

family

In 1891 Galdós' only daughter María was born, born from a relationship with Lorenza Cobián, a simple woman from the people. He always looked after his mother and daughter, paid their livelihood and wrote "fatherly" letters to María, especially after the tragic death of Lorenza, who suffered from paranoia and committed suicide in 1906. She initially wanted to throw herself in front of a train, was "rescued" by the police, but then hanged herself in the cell she was taken to without psychiatric or medical care. The daughter married Juan Verde in 1910, with whom she had two children.

Last years

In 1910 Galdós was able to write a work himself for the last time (“España trágica”) because he suffered from cataracts and was increasingly losing his sight . Later he had to employ a secretary, Pablo Nougués. In 1911 he was operated on, but without success. With the blindness , a change in Galdós' style can also be noticed: his sentences become shorter, more concise, the tempo faster.

In 1919 a Galdós statue made by the sculptor Victorio Macho was unveiled in Retiro Park in Madrid. The writer attended the ceremony in silence. On January 4th, 1920 he died in Madrid under difficult economic circumstances.

plant

Dramatic works and novels stand out in his literary work. In them, a love conflict is often deepened historically, politically or religiously. Pérez Galdós is considered one of the most important European exponents of the realistic novel. He created important fictional characters such as Marianela, Fortunata and Tristana. The figures show a strong psychological penetration. In the early works, fictional characters meet historical ones based on extensive study of sources. As with Balzac , with Pérez Galdós some figures appear in several works. Some works like Nazarín or Misericordia are reminiscent of Dostoevsky . The most extensive part of his complete works are the Episodios Nacionales , an unfinished outline of Spanish history consisting of 46 volumes, which spans almost the entire 19th century, beginning with the Battle of Trafalgar in 1805 and ending with the death of Antonio Cánovas del Castillo in 1897. Pérez Galdós' oeuvre is characterized by an ethically based spiritualism. His liberal and anti-clerical ideas are particularly evident in contemporary novels.

Novels

Early work

  • La Fontana de Oro. Written in 1867/68 (under the influence of the revolutionary events), published in 1870 by the publisher Nogueras in Madrid
  • La sombra. 1870.
  • El audaz: Historia de un radical de antaño. 1871.

Novelas contemporáneas

  • Doña Perfecta . 1876. (German 1886)
  • Gloria. 1877.
  • Marianela. 1878.
  • La familia de León Roch. 1878.
  • La desheredada. 1881.
  • El amigo Manso. 1882. (German 1964 in Manesse Verlag )
  • El doctor Centeno. 1883.
  • Tormento. 1884.
  • La de Bringas. 1884.
  • Lo prohibido. 1884/85
  • Fortunata y Jacinta. 1886-1887. (German 1961)
  • Meow. 1888. (German 1960 Suhrkamp)
  • La incógnita. 1889.
  • Realidad. 1889.

Torquemada cycle (1889–95)

  • Torquemada en la hoguera. 1889.
  • Torquemada en la Cruz. 1893.
  • Torquemada en el Purgatorio. 1894.
  • Torquemada y San Pedro. 1895.

Spiritualist Novels (1890s)

  • Ángel Guerra. 1890/91
  • Tristana. 1892.
  • La loca de la casa. 1892.
  • Nazarín. 1895.
  • Halma. 1895.
  • Misericordia. 1897. (German 1961)

Last creative phase (hybrid forms between novel and drama)

  • El abuelo, novela en cinco jornadas. 1897.
  • Casandra, novela en cinco jornadas. 1905.
  • El caballero encantado, historia tan verdadera como inverosímil. 1909.
  • La razón de la sinrazón. Fábula teatral absolutamente inverosímil. 1915.

Episodios nacionales

First series (1873–1875)

  • Trafalgar.
  • La Corte de Carlos IV.
  • The 19 de Marzo and the 2 de Mayo.
  • Bailén.
  • Napoleón en Chamartín.
  • Zaragoza.
  • Gerona.
  • Cadiz.
  • Juan Martín El Empecinado.
  • La Batalla de los Arapiles.

Second series (1875–1879)

  • El Equipaje del Rey José.
  • Memorias de un cortesano de 1815.
  • La Segunda Casaca.
  • El Grande Oriente.
  • 7 de Julio.
  • Los Cien Mil Hijos de San Luis.
  • El Terror de 1824.
  • Un voluntario realista.
  • Los Apostólicos.
  • Un faccioso más y algunos frailes menos.

Third series (1898–1900)

  • Zumalacárregui.
  • Mendizábal.
  • De Oñate a La Granja.
  • Luchana
  • La campaña del Maestrazgo. (German 1902 as The Novel of a Nun )
  • La estafeta romántica.
  • Vergara.
  • Montes de Oca.
  • Los Ayacuchos.
  • Bodas reales.

Fourth series (1902–1907)

  • Las tormentas del 48.
  • Narváez.
  • Los duendes de la camarilla.
  • The Revolution of Julio.
  • O'Donnell.
  • Aita Tettauen.
  • Carlos VI en la Rápita.
  • La vuelta al mundo en la Numancia.
  • Prim.
  • La de los tristes destinos.

Fifth series (1908-1912)

  • España sin Rey
  • España trágica
  • Amadeo I
  • La Primera República
  • De Cartago a Sagunto
  • Cánovas

theatre

  • Realidad (1892)
  • La loca de la casa (1893)
  • Gerona (1893)
  • La de San Quintin (1894)
  • Los condenados (1894)
  • Voluntad (1895)
  • Doña Perfecta (1896)
  • La fiera (1896)
  • Electra (1901)
  • Alma y vida (1902)
  • Mariucha (1903)
  • El abuelo (1904)
  • Bárbara (1905)
  • Amor y Ciencia (1905)
  • Pedro Minio (1908)
  • Zaragoza (1908)
  • Casandra (1910)
  • Celia en los infiernos (1913)
  • Alceste (1914)
  • Sor Simona (1915)
  • El tacaño Salomón (1916)
  • Santa Juana de Castilla (1918)
  • Antón Caballero (1921, completed posthumously by the Álvarez Quintero brothers)
  • Un joven de provecho (never performed)

Translations into German

  • Gloria . Translated from the Spanish by August Hartmann. Schleiermacher, Berlin 1880.
  • Trafalgar . Translated from Spanish by Konrad Hauptmann. Paul List, Leipzig 1943
  • Meow . Translated from the Spanish by Wilhelm Muster . Suhrkamp Verlag, Frankfurt am Main 1960.
  • Fortunata and Jacinta . Translated from the Spanish by Kurt Kuhn. Afterword by Arnald Steiger. Manesse Verlag, Zurich 1961.
  • Amigo Manso . Novel. Translated from the Spanish by Kurt Kuhn. Manesse Verlag, Zurich 1964. 528 pp.
  • Doña Perfecta . From the Spanish by Egon Hartmann. Aufbau-Verlag, Berlin / Weimar 1974. (that .: Augsburg: Weltbild, 2004ff., ISBN 3-8289-7687-5 )
  • Amigo Manso . German by Wilhelm Plackmeyer. With an afterword by Frank Koten. Aufbau-Verlag, Berlin / Weimar 1983.
  • Tristana . (= Library Suhrkamp. 1013). Translated from Spanish and provided with an afterword by Erna Pfeiffer . Suhrkamp-Verlag, Frankfurt am Main 1989, ISBN 3-518-22013-6 .
  • Marianela . Translated into German by Gertraud Strohm-Katzer and Carmen Wurm. With an afterword by María-Paz Jáñez. Deutscher Taschenbuch Verlag, Munich 2000, ISBN 3-423-12798-8 .
  • Nazarín . Translated from Spanish and provided with an afterword by Ralf Peters. BoD, Norderstedt 2012, ISBN 978-3-8482-3128-7 .

Film adaptations

  • 1925: El abuelo - Director: José Buchs (silent film)
  • 1926: La loca de la casa - Director: Luis R. Alonso (silent film)
  • 1950: La loca de la casa - Director: Juan Bustillo Oro
  • 1950: Doña Perfecta - Director: Alejandro Galindo
  • 1940: Marianela - Director: Benito Perojo
  • 1953: Misericordia - Director: Zacarías Gómez Urquiza
  • 1954: El abuelo - Director: Román Viñoly Barreto
  • 1955: Marianela - Director: Julio Porter
  • 1955: La mujer ajena (based on “Realidad”) - Director: Juan Bustillo Oro
  • 1957/58: Nazarín - Director: Luis Buñuel
  • 1969: Fortunata y Jacinta - Director: Angelino Fons
  • 1970: Tristana - Director: Luis Buñuel
  • 1972: Misericordia - Director: José Luis Alonso
  • 1972: The Doubt ( La duda ) (based on “El abuelo”) - Director: Rafael Gil
  • 1972: Marianela - Director: Angelino Fons
  • 1974: Tormento - Director: Pedro Olea
  • 1977: Doña Perfecta - Director: César Fernández Ardavín
  • 1979: Fortunata y Jacinta - Director: Mario Camus
  • 1998: El abuelo - Director: José Luis Garci

literature

  • Peter A. Bly: Visions and the Visual Arts in Galdós. A Study of the Novels and Newspaper Articles. Redwood Burn, Trowbridge 1986.
  • Carmen Bravo-Villasante: Galdós . Mondadori, Madrid 1988.
  • Joaquín Casalduero: Vida y obra de Galdós (1843-1920) . Tercera edición ampliada. Editorial Gredos, Madrid 1970.
  • Michele Christin Guerrini: Galdós and the Nineteenth-Century Spanish Feminism: Women and Marriage in the “Novelas contemporáneas”. University Microfilms International, Michigan 1978.
  • Hans Hinterhäuser: The Episodios Nacionales by Benito Pérez Galdós. (= Hamburg Romance Studies. Volume 28). Gruyter & Co, Hamburg 1961.
  • Kian-Harald Karimi: Beyond the old God and 'New Man'. Presence and withdrawal of the divine in the discourse of the Spanish restoration epoch. Vervuert, Frankfurt am Main 2007, ISBN 978-3-86527-313-0 .
  • Kian-Harald Karimi: El sueño de un liberal. Sueños diurnos y nocturnos en las primeras novelas de Pérez Galdós. In: Wolfgang Matzat, Max Grosse (Ed.): Narrar la pluralidad cultural. Crisis de modernidad y funciones de lo popular en la novela en lengua española. Vervuert, Frankfurt am Main 2012, ISBN 978-84-8489-626-5 , pp. 165-191.
  • Ramón Navarrete-Galiano: Galdós en el cine español. T & B Eds., Madrid 2003, ISBN 84-95602-42-3 .
  • Arnold M. Penuel: Psychology, Religion and Ethics in Galdos' Novels: the quest for authenticity. Univ. Press of America, Lanham et al. 1987.
  • Federico Sopeña Ibáñez: Arte y Sociedad en Galdós. Gredos, Madrid 1970.
  • Teresa M. Vilarós: Galdós - invención de la mujer y poética de la sexualidad: lectura parcial de "Fortunata y Jacinta". (= Lingüistica y teoría literaria). Siglo Veintiuno Ed., Mexico et al. 1995, ISBN 84-323-0875-7 .

Web links

Commons : Benito Pérez Galdós  - Collection of images, videos and audio files
Wikisource: Benito Pérez Galdós  - Sources and full texts

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Casalduero 1970, p. 11ff.
  2. ↑ Casalduero 1970, p. 19
  3. ↑ Bravo-Villasante 1988, p. 54.
  4. ↑ Bravo-Villasante 1988, pp. 73ff.
  5. ↑ Casalduero 1970, p. 21
  6. ↑ Casalduero, p. 23
personal data
SURNAME Pérez Galdós, Benito
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Spanish writer
DATE OF BIRTH May 10, 1843
PLACE OF BIRTH Las Palmas de Gran Canaria , Spain
DATE OF DEATH 4th January 1920
Place of death Madrid , Spain