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141

I am warmly grateful to Dr. Joaquín Romero Maura, of St. Antony's College, Oxford, who drew my attention to it.

 

142

The crisis to which Sitges refers is probably the Barcelona general strike of February 1902. He did not in fact resign his post until 1907.

 

143

Morell, see below.

 

144

On this occasion, as in the case of other passages quoted from Concha-Ruth Morell's letters, there is no indication whether the underlinings are those of Sitges or his correspondent. If the former, Sitges' intention was perhaps to draw attention to her supposedly Jewish origins as well as to her sarcasm. All underlinings and suspension or ellipsis dots are as in the original text.

 

145

Presumably Tristana. See my conclusions below.

 

146

Sitges' own attitude to the character of Concha-Ruth Morell and her affair with Galdós provides an interesting example of the ambivalence of liberal ideas on sexual behaviour at this period. As the letter progresses he abandons such pretences as this that his curiosity was restrained by his sense of decorum. Concha-Ruth mentions below the bitter truths Sitges told her. One imagines a mixture of sanctimonious moralising and sympathetic understanding. See my conclusions for a tentative chronology.

 

147

The cast-list for the first production of Realidad in March 1892 shows that a Señorita Morell acted the relatively unimportant role of the pretty and shy Clotilde. Señorita Morell does not figure in any other cast-list I have seen. It seems likely, however, that she acted in Gerona, the cast-list of which I have been unable to see, since it was performed in February, 1893, only a year after Realidad, and it was certainly a play «que no gustó». Contemporary critics blamed the play's failure partly on its abysmal actors. See F. Villegas, «Impresiones literarias», La España Moderna, LI (March 1893), pp. 199-201. The letters to Galdós from the actor Emilio Mario indicate that the author was allowed some choice in the casting of roles, and that his recommendations for new recruits to the company were considered. (See especially letters dated 8 Oct. 1894 and 4 Sept. 1895, Cartas a Galdós, ed. Soledad Ortega, Madrid 1964, pp. 383 and 389.) A reflection of the amount if discretion given to him can be seen in a letter from Galdós to Tolosa Latour of August 1894 in which he resolves «no recomendar artistas a las empresas, y repartir las obras entre el personal que exista». (Cartas entre dos amigos, ed. Ruth Schmidt, Las Palmas, 1969, p. 81.)

 

148

The «periódico israelita» was most probably a French-language one, but there did exist at this time several Spanish-language Jewish periodicals published in the Balkans -e. g. La Época, El Sol, El Nacional.

 

149

I have not had the opportunity to go through the files of the Heraldo to trace the news item referred to.

The «periódico israelita» was most probably a French-language one, but there did exist at this time several Spanish-language Jewish periodicals published in the Balkans -e. g. La Época, El Sol, El Nacional.

 

150

This was very much a topic of the period. See Galdós' mockery of Federico Ruiz and his articles such as «Oscuros pero indudables vestigios de la raza israelita en la moderna España» in Chapter 1 of the second part of Fortunata y Jacinta.

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