Doña Perfecta
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Doña Perfecta is a novel by Benito Pérez Galdós published in 1876 .
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José de Rey, a young academic from Madrid, travels to Orbajosa to marry his cousin Rosario. The marriage was arranged between Rosario's mother, Doña Perfecta, and her brother, Juan de Rey, who had helped his sister through difficult times. José de Rey is warmly received in his aunt's house. He and Rosario, who had never seen each other before, fall in love. However, shortly after Rey's arrival, there were initial tensions with Don Inocencio, the village's confessor. The confessor does not let a good hair down on the customs in Madrid and at the royal court and condemns science as unchristian. At first José can still control himself, but the constant attacks of the clergyman tempt him to express his own opinion. These remarks lead to a falling out with the confessor. The dispute with the confessor led to the wildest rumors about the young academic in the conservative and religious village. And the dispute ultimately makes the aunt realize that she does not want to give her daughter into the hands of a man who rejects God and religious traditions. She continues to treat her nephew like her own son, but withholds her daughter from him. Due to another argument with his aunt, José is forced to move out of the house. He finally moves into a small inn, but does not give up the plan to marry his cousin. At the same time, the military appeared in the small town. Its mandate is to ensure law and order as the government plans to remove the mayor and other dignitaries. Doña Perfecta and Don Inocencio lose their allies. Together with a soldier friend, José forges a plan to get Rosario out of town. On the evening when the plan is to be implemented, José sneaks into his aunt's garden. At the same time, Rosario confesses to her mother that she loves her cousin and also makes it clear that she will go away with him that night. When José is noticed in the garden, however, the aunt incites one of her protectors on him. José is killed and Rosario goes mad because of the loss.
Narrative style and concept of realism
The novel can be clearly assigned to realism. There are, however, some elements that cannot be reconciled with the vernacular concept of realism: The narrative is by no means the "perfect mimesis": Much like in Don Quixote by Miguel de Cervantes , the narrator interrupts the narrative process by saying, for example, the further course the story is not evident from the available sources, which is why the narrative will only be taken up again at a later point in time. Here and in other places, an ironic distance from the storytelling process becomes clear.
There is also sometimes a strongly mythologizing narrative style, e.g. if the city of Orbajosa is compared to a coffin enclosed by two rivers.
Overall, however, it is still true that a picture of a certain social class should be drawn as intensively and authentically as possible, namely the Spanish petty bourgeoisie during industrialization.