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141

Gilberto Triviños (54-66) provides an excellent analysis of many of the «linguistic signals» of irony in El 19 de marzo y el 2 de mayo, along with other very useful insights into the narrative style.

 

142

Brian Dendle (44) writes of Inés in his valuable discussion of this novel that she «represents an 'ideal' Spain. She is, like the Spain of 1808, the object of manipulation; she is, like the nation deprived of its natural leaders, an orphan; and, like Spain, she temporarily gains her freedom on 2 May, only to fall into the hands of oppressors on the following day».

 

143

See Harry Sieber's study of this «Tratado» (17-30).

 

144

The language of this passage and the following ones recalls Don Quijote's descent into the Cueva de Montesinos (Don Quijote, Part II, Chapter 23). Many terms in Gabriel's narration also appear in Don Quijote's tale, for example: «mazmorra, profundidad, concavidad, sueño despierto». While superficially the episodes seem to play quite different roles, their functions also have much in common, as metafictional statements and as strategies of characterization, among other narrative aspects.

 

145

The geological metaphor occurs in various episodios in the 46 volumes. The first chapter of Trafalgar compares Gabriel's memory of his youth to geologic wonders: «Parece que en mi cerebro entra de improviso una gran luz que ilumina y da forma a mil ignorados prodigios, como la antorcha del viajero que, esclareciendo la obscura cueva, da a conocer las maravillas de la Geología tan de repente que parece que las crea» (184). In the Third Series, Nelet, of La campaña del Maestrazgo, experiences a fantastic underground journey in Chapter 20. He must descend to a «gran sótano» and further, by way of «escalones hacia lo profundo». There only the vaguest light guides him on his passage through «una caverna cuyo techo parecia la bóveda de una catedral», where he observes that «varios hombres cavaban la tierra» (2: 1326). The Fifth Series contains several similar episodes. In Chapters 18 and 19 of Amadeo I, for example, Tito undertakes a strange journey from Vizcaya to Madrid with Mariclío. Tito describes the scene in language similar to that depicting Gabriel's basement prison: «era baja, obscura. [...] no pude distinguir [...] los informes bultos. [...]» Even the «figura» of Mariclío «se perdía en las tinieblas de aquel antro». His eyes and cars «se sintieron como sumergidos en una atmósfera de sonmolencia»; he uses the terms «prisión» and «cárcel» repeatedly (4: 543-50). Chapters 13 to 18 of De Cartago a Sagunto are dedicated to a very complex and extensive subterranean journey. There are repeated images of darkness, statements about Tito's inability to see or to form an accurate perception of distance, height, width, or time, and about his incapacity to distinguish reality from illusion, day from night. Tito descends to the underground world through a «pasillo obscuro», a «corredor torcido», and through a «mina lóbrega y pendiente». He describes a place lilce «una caverna [...] que [...] descendía con rápido declive, y entrábamos en una especie de catacumba de paredes y techo labrados en la dura arenisca de Madrid. El soterrado pasadizo no era recto; ondulaba a izquierda y derecha. [...]» (4: 634-35). The passage recalls Gabriel's descent to the basement and even its brick construction. Tito's cavern is covered by a «colosal bóveda o techumbre», a «bóveda Pétrea», and underneath it is «un abismo insondable» (4: 635). In these chapters Tito continually «represents» to himself what he sees or dreams, just like Gabriel does.

 

146

See Peter Bly's excellent discussion of «self-interest» in the First Series, from Trafalgar to La batalla de los Arapiles.

 

147

For a more detailed discussion of the ambivalent value of patriotism in Trafalgar, see Bly and Urey («A Prologue»).

 

148

The Fortunata y Jacinta galleys are stored at the Casa-Museo Pérez Galdós. Parts I and II are in «caja» 21, and Parts III and IV are in «caja» 22. This scene is on page [10]4 of Part Four. I wish to thank Butler University for the travel grants that allowed me to consult these galleys.

 

149

The original manuscript (Alpha) and the rewrite (Beta) upon which the galleys are based are located in Houghton Library, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts. Hyman provides a transcript of the Alpha manuscript in her unpublished dissertation.

 

150

Entonces, el duelo nacional por la prematura muerte, a los 24 años, de la Princesa de Asturias hace que pase casi desapercibida la noticia de la inmediata puesta en circulación de los nuevos y casi inalcanzables billetes de 100 pesetas. También en estos primeros días del otoño de 1904, un artículo aparecido en El Socialista le cuesta un mes y veintiún días de arresto mayor, además de 125 pesetas de multa, a Pablo Iglesias. Sin embargo, nadie parece condenar al autor de la publicidad de La Parrilla Argentina (asador moderno privilegiado, indispensable en toda cocina) que aturde a los lectores de El Globo con unos ripios como estos: «Esta parrilla, jamás // echa a perder un asado; // pruébala y exclamarás // ante su efecto admirado: // ¡No se puede pedir más! // ¿Y hay quien compre otras parrillas // venidas del extranjero // para asar con poco esmero // y convertir en astillas // la carne del matadero?»

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