81
In the early nineteenth century, the fantastic was favored by the Romantics, but the advent of realism discouraged its development. Still, writers such as Galdós, Pardo Bazán, Valera, and Alas occasionally incorporated fantastic elements (ie., ghosts, dreams, apparitions, and hallucinations) into their otherwise realistic works.
82
Rafael Bosch, «La sombra y la psicopatología de Galdós», Anales galdosianos, 6 (1971), p. 31, suggests specific scientific works such as those by James Braid and Ambroise-Auguste Liébeault with which Galdós may have been acquainted.
83
The narrator, not necessarily Galdós, presents himself as an objective observer who interviews Anselmo. It has been suggested by Cardona, Turner, and others that the relationship between these personages anticipates a psychoanalytical session by thirty years.
84
Joaquín Casalduero (op. cit., p. 34), writes of this armor: «Cuando se presenta la armadura roñosa no sólo se alude al Quijote, sino que se interpreta el primer capítulo de la novela de 1605».
85
Harriet S. Turner (op. cit., p. 9), further discusses this topic.
86
As Cardona mentions, (op. cit., p. 5) this most probably refers to the Flemish painter, David Teniers, the Elder (1582-1649), who painted «many famous scenes of alchemists' laboratories».
87
Perhaps this evasion stems from a certain youthful embarrassment or from the temper of the epoch. This theme is explored more thoughtfully in such twentieth-century works as George Bernard Shaw's Pygmalion and Oscar Wilde's Portrait of Dorian Gray.
88
Cf. Cardona, p. xx.
89
It is less surprising, especially with all the confusion surrounding Avellaneda's spurious version, that Cervantes should play with the identity of the narrator. In the second part, Don Quijote learns that Cide Hamete Benengeli has written about his life, and it follows that a translator must have rewritten the account in Spanish. In this manner, Cervantes ironically detaches himself from the text and maintains the ambiguity of his own position.
90
The narrator writes of Anselmo's story:
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