Capturing a ninteenth-century Spanish world of political tumult and personal obsession, Benito Pérez Galdós's Fortunata and Jacinta tells of two women who love the same man unfailingly - one as his mistress, the other as his wife. In this new and complete translation, Agnes Moncy Gullón presents the detailed realism, the diversity of character and scene that have placed Fortunata and Jacinta alongside the voluminous works of Charles Dickens and Honoré de Balzac. Galdós's Madrid, recast from his youthful wanderings through the city's slums and cafés, includes the egg sellers and faded bullfighters surrounding Fortunata as well as the quieter, sequestered milieu of Jacinta's upbringing. Through Juanito, the lover of both women, the writer reveals Spain as a variegated fabric of delicate traditions and established vices, of shaky politics and rich intrigue. In this vast and colorful world, resonant of Dickens's London and Balzac's France, Galdós presents his characters with a depth, ambiguity, and humor born of the multiplicity of his scene.

Benito Perez Galdos (1843-1920) was a prolific Spanish realist novelist, who through a lack of good translations is virtually unknown outside Spain, though he has been compared as second only to Cervantes in Spanish literature and whose work is considered to give the deepest, truest, most comprehensive realities of Spain. Dona Perfecta (1876) was Galdos' first novel delving into the social world of middle-class Spain in the 19th century; a young liberal arrives in an imaginary cathedral city, with the intention of marrying his cousin. However the church interferes and obstructs the marriage, leading to a tragic clash between the traditional, provincial outlook and modern, liberal outlook of Madrid. Graham Whittaker's edition with Spanish text, English translation and substantial introduction aims to make this important novel widely available in English and the introduction and notes provide a comprehensive overview of the novel and Galdos' work. Spanish text with facing-page translation, commentary and notes.

Benito Pérez Galdós, considered Spain’s most important novelist after Cervantes, wrote 77 novels, several works of theater and a number of other tomes during his lifetime (1843–1920). His works have been translated into all major languages of the world, and many of his most highly regarded novels, those of the contemporary period, have been translated into English two, three and even four times over. Of the few “contemporary novels” of Galdós that until now have not come to light in English, The Forbidden is certainly among the most noteworthy. The story line concerns a wealthy philanderer, José María Bueno de Guzmán, who attempts to buy the favors of his three beautiful married cousins. He is successful with the first, Eloísa, a grasping materialist who falls deeply in love with him. Then he rejects her in order to attempt to seduce the youngest, Camila. Meanwhile, the third, the pseudo-intellectual María Juana, jealous, seduces José María. But it is Camila, healthy, impetuous and wild, who resists his temptations and holds our attention. The novelist and critic Leopoldo Alas, Galdós’s contemporary, calls her “the most feminine, graceful, lively female character that any modern novelist has painted.” As a naturalistic study, in the manner of Balzac in particular, principal characters of Galdós’s other novels (El doctor Centeno, La de Bringas, La familia de León Roch) become fleetingly visible in The Forbidden. In addition, the entire Bueno de Guzmán family gives evidence of the naturalistic emphasis on heredity: they all display certain physical or mental disorders. Eloísa has a morbid fear of feathers, María Juana often feels that she has a tiny piece of cloth caught in her teeth, José María suffers bouts of depression, an uncle is a kleptomaniac, one of the relatives writes letters to himself, etc. At the same time, this novel shows the foibles of Spanish society where status is determined by one’s associates, by the wearing of finery, and by living on borrowed money. In their history of Spanish literature, Chandler and Schwartz call Galdós “the greatest novelist of the nineteenth century and the only one who deserves to be mentioned in the same breath with great novelists like Balzac, Dickens and Dostoievsky.” The Forbidden, written at the height of the author’s creative powers, is a major work and its publication for an English-speaking audience is long overdue.

Trafalgar (1873) is a novel by Benito Pérez Galdós. Published toward the beginning of Pérez Galdós’ career, Trafalgar is the first in of 46 historical novels in the author’s monumental, career spanning series of National Episodes. Set during the bloody naval battle of Trafalgar in 1805, Pérez Galdós’ novel is a story of heroism, growth, and adventure that manages to find humanity in history. “Always eager to mimic the greater world around us, we boys too had our squadrons of little ships, roughly hewn in wood, with sails of paper or of rag, which we navigated with the greatest deliberation and gravity in the pools of Puntales or La Caleta.” At fourteen, the young orphan Gabriel de Araceli gets the chance to leave boyhood games behind when his master, a retired naval officer, receives a letter requesting his return to service. Together, Gabriel and Don Alonso set out to join a Spanish Armada preparing to enter into battle with the British Royal Navy. Painstakingly researched by its author, Trafalgar is a detailed fictional retelling of one history’s most iconic conflicts. With a beautifully designed cover and professionally typeset manuscript, this edition of Benito Pérez Galdós’s Trafalgar is a classic of Spanish literature reimagined for modern readers.

Don Benito Pérez Galdós estrenó Electra, drama en cinco actos, la noche del 30 de enero de 1901 en el Teatro Español de Madrid. Sobre un escenario se enfrentan, un vez más, las dos Españas; la progresista y liberal, encarnada en la figura de Máximo, y la retrógrada y clerical, que encuentra en el personaje de don Salvador Pantoja su principal exponente. Galdós tomó de prestado el texto de Electra de Sófocles, pero en la Electra de Galdós, ella es una huérfana acogida por sus tíos que intentan encerrarla en un convento en contra de su deseo.

Saragossa: A Story of Spanish Valor (1899) is a novel by Benito Pérez Galdós. Published at the height of Pérez Galdós’ career, Saragossa: A Story of Spanish Valor is the sixth in of 46 historical novels in the author’s monumental, career spanning series of National Episodes. Set during the bloody naval battle of Trafalgar in 1805, Pérez Galdós’ novel is a story of heroism, growth, and adventure that manages to find humanity in history. “It was, I believe, the evening of the eighteenth when we saw Saragossa in the distance. As we entered by the Puerta de Sancho we heard the clock in the Torre Nueva strike ten. We were in an extremely pitiful condition as to food and clothing. The long journey we had made [...], climbing mountains, fording rivers, making short cuts until we arrived at the high road of Gallur and Alagon, had left us quite used up, worn out, and ill with fatigue.” Having survived the disastrous defeat of the Spanish Armada at Trafalgar by the British Royal Navy, Gabriel de Araceli makes his way to Saragossa. There, he must fight for his life and the future of his nation as the army of Napoleon Bonaparte lays siege to the city. Painstakingly researched by its author, Saragossa: A Story of Spanish Valor is a detailed fictional retelling of one history’s most iconic conflicts. With a beautifully designed cover and professionally typeset manuscript, this edition of Benito Pérez Galdós’s Saragossa: A Story of Spanish Valor is a classic of Spanish literature reimagined for modern readers.

Saragossa: A Story of Spanish Valor (1899) is a novel by Benito Pérez Galdós. Published at the height of Pérez Galdós' career, Saragossa: A Story of Spanish Valor is the sixth in of 46 historical novels in the author's monumental, career spanning series of National Episodes. Set during the bloody naval battle of Trafalgar in 1805, Pérez Galdós' novel is a story of heroism, growth, and adventure that manages to find humanity in history. "It was, I believe, the evening of the eighteenth when we saw Saragossa in the distance. As we entered by the Puerta de Sancho we heard the clock in the Torre Nueva strike ten. We were in an extremely pitiful condition as to food and clothing. The long journey we had made [...], climbing mountains, fording rivers, making short cuts until we arrived at the high road of Gallur and Alagon, had left us quite used up, worn out, and ill with fatigue." Having survived the disastrous defeat of the Spanish Armada at Trafalgar by the British Royal Navy, Gabriel de Araceli makes his way to Saragossa. There, he must fight for his life and the future of his nation as the army of Napoleon Bonaparte lays siege to the city. Painstakingly researched by its author, Saragossa: A Story of Spanish Valor is a detailed fictional retelling of one history's most iconic conflicts. With a beautifully designed cover and professionally typeset manuscript, this edition of Benito Pérez Galdós's Saragossa: A Story of Spanish Valor is a classic of Spanish literature reimagined for modern readers.