Galdós: Fortunata and Jacinta

Galdos’s four-part Fortunata and Jacinta (1886–7), the masterpiece among his almost 80 novels, tells the turbulent story of two women, their husbands and their lovers, set against the intricate web of dynastic alliances and class contrasts of Madrid in the 1870s. In this new critical introduction Professor Turner provides information on the history and social life of the times, and analyzes Galdos’s theory of realism, his powerful use of imagery and metaphor to express the reality of social, mental and moral conditions, and the artistic merits of his narrative style. The book contains tables illustrating the complex family relationships fundamental to the structure of the work, and a chronological summary of the plot, as well as a detailed guide to further reading.

• More interesting than the G&C guide: rather than just plot summary and historical background, this goes further and investigates the interaction of history, politics and private life, the whole material of realism • Interest not just for Spanish literature, but for women’s studies and more general courses, e.g. European studies, the novel • Galdos wrote nearly 80 novels altogether; this is generally agreed to be the finest of them all

Acknowledgments; list of abbreviations; Chronology; Chronological table of main events in ‘Fortunata and Jacinta’; Genealogical tables; Introduction; 1. Social and historical contexts of a changing world; 2. Characters and configurations; 3. Metaphors of mind.