—54→ —55→
All scholars interested in Galdós know the statement Don Benito made to Clarín: «Gloria fue obra de un entusiasmo de quince días. Se me ocurrió pasando por la Puerta del Sol, entre la calle de la Montera y el café Universal; y se me ocurrió de golpe, viendo con claridad toda la primera parte.»52 This declaration is one of the principal sources of the belief that Galdós was dependent on inspiration, that he gave little time or thought to preparing a work before writing it, and that his method of composition was to improvise. An examination of the manuscript of Gloria leads to very different conclusions.
The final manuscript of the novel is written on one side only of sheets of paper; but the reverse sides of these pages contain two early versions of the Primera parte and a small number of rejected passages from the Segunda parte. The plot and characters of these early versions are so different from Gloria (as we have known it) as to make us wonder at first if we have an entirely different novel. For instance, the characters all have different names. But since an occasional page from the second draft could be incorporated into the final manuscript and its source can be recognized by the characters' earlier names (with the later ones inserted interlinearly over them) there is no question but that we have three distinct presentations of the same theme. They show us the vast change that took place in Don Benito's conception and recording of his ideas.
The first version of the story is very long. Its last page is numbered 762 and even then the tale does not reach its final denouement. Despite many lacunae we can reconstruct its plot.
Don Juan Crisóstomo de Gibralfaro, head of a principal family of Castro Urdiales, has two children, Mariano and Rosalía. His brother, Hipólito, is a perfect miser and Don Juan himself is also very stingy and a completely traditionalistic Carlista. He plans to marry his daughter to Don Cayetano de Guayaquil, an uncouth, rich indiano.
The best friend of Don Juan Crisóstomo de Gibralfaro is the elderly parish priest, Don Juan de la Puerta. The latter brings news that Mariano has been misbehaving himself in Madrid. The conversation is interrupted by a sudden storm; from a window of Gibralfaro's home the two friends see a ship driven aground near the beach. Two fishing boats put out and rescue the passengers of the disabled ship. They include Horacio Reynolds, «mistress Sherrywine», and a bizarre archeologist «mister Trifles». All these and other eccentric English tourists are entertained at Gibralfaro's house.
Rosalía, her father, and Horacio Reynolds leave for Madrid, where Don Juan is to investigate Mariano's misdemeanors. But at the junction of Miranda de Ebro they are separated for the father, by mistake, boards the Zaragoza train. When Horacio and Rosalía miss Don Juan they leave the Madrid train at Pancorbo. There they must wait from 1:00 to 4:00 A. M. for a train back to Miranda. There follows the first of three long conversations about their growing love, in the course of which Horacio reveals that he is a Protestant clergyman!
The scene shifts to Madrid. Mariano is living with Charito, his mistress. They areentertaining a group of men at dinner -Don Cayetano de Guayaquil (Rosalia's —56→ official suitor), Pedro Picio, a journalist, and Carratrapa, a politician- when to Mariano's consternation his father enters the room. He had gone to the apartment of hissister-in-law, Doña Romualda, and from her had learned how to find Mariano.
Doña Romualda's way of life is just as reprehensible as Mariano's. With no visible means of support, she has a luxurious household. She offers alternately to aid either Don Cayetano or Horacio in their attempts to win Rosalia and succeeds in «borrowing» large sums from them. She acts as Don Juan's agent in paying Mariano's debts, diverting much of the money to herself. Mariano forces her to give him some money, threatening to inform his father of her fraudulent deals and amorous liaisons. With this capital Mariano makes a killing on the stock exchange only to lose all he gained and much more which he didn't have.
Meanwhile Horacio has persuaded Rosalia to marry him on the following day. They will elope to the British Embassy for the ceremony; only afterwards will they let Don Juan know of their action. But the night before their proposed marriage the news of Mariano's financial disaster reaches Don Juan, who feels obligated to liquidate everything he owns to pay his son's debt. Rosalia, alarmed by her father's frail appearance, is torn between her duty to her father and her promise to Horacio.
Although the first version breaks off abruptly at this point, it seems to be heading for a conclusion marked by the sacrifice of Horacio's love. The latter has said that he fears that Rosalia will give preference to filial love. As he leaves her after their last interview his final words are «Si me parece que no he de verte más.»
Although this is the denouement that Galdós was apparently preparing, it seems probable that he did not finish his first draft. (There is, of course, the possibility that he did end it and that the pages have been lost.) We believe that there are several plausible reasons for his abandoning this version.
The confict of religions, which toward the beginning of the story is the central theme and which seems so great an obstacle to their marriage, is discussed by the lovers. Like Daniel and Gloria, and often in almost identical words, they decide that love bridges the gap between them and that in the fundamentals of their religions there is no difference. But this religious theme -the leitmotiv of the novel in its final form- has disappeared, replaced by the conflict between love and filial duty. Furthermore, any independent thought or action is practically impossible for Rosalia, for Galdós has made her wholly subjugated to her father's will. «Y en verdad Rosalia amaba a su padre de un modo supersticioso: ofenderle ligeramente le parecía gran delito; agraviarle mucho era falta que había de traer la condenación eterna.» Horacio believes that Don Juan would never consent to his daughter's marrying a Protestant. So to carry out the theme of religious conflict we need a rebellious young woman, one who has the courage to marry a man of another faith against the wishes of her parents. Rosalia is the very opposite of this type.
In the second place, much of the narration does not further either the action or the theme. Long digressive narrative passages, such as Mariano's affair with Charito, his financial manipulations, and Doila Romualda's schemes, have practically nothing to do with the main story line. In addition, a series of heavy-handed costumbrista portraits of Don Cayetano, of the opportunistic journalist Pedro Picio and the equally opportunistic politician Carratrapa, as well as the strange company of English tourists slow the tempo of the novel and add nothing to the theme of religious conflict. Finally the pace is slowed by long dialogues such as those of Mariano with his father or —57→ Doña Rornualda with Don Cayetano. Even the love scenes between Horacio and Rosalia, although vital to the theme, seem unduly protracted.
In short, the first draft of Gloria is decidedly inferior as a literary creation. We believe that Galdós, aware of these shortcomings, put it aside and finally rejected it.
Are the imperfections of the first version the result of youthful inexperience? In other words, should we date this draft among Don Benito's earliest works? There are indications that the primitive draft cannot be earlier than 1871. In the text the battle of Sedan (Sept. 1, 1870) is mentioned. Don Juan de Gibralfaro, several times said to be 70 years old, is described as «de edad poco menor que la del siglo.» Of course Galdós' first visit to Santander and the north coast was in the summer of 1871, so we shall have to place the earliest version after that date. Perhaps the year 1872, before Galdós began the arduous task of producing the Episodios Nacionales at the rate of four in '73, five in '74, and three in each of the years '75 and '76, is the best guess we can make at the date of the primitive draft of Gloria.53
Don Benito's second attempt at composing his novel is brief and incomplete, consisting of only 137 pages. It is much closer to the final version in many ways, in fact, a considerable number of its pages have been incorporated into the final manuscript. We can recognize these pages by the crossed out numbers and new pagination assigned to them, as well as by the new names of characters inserted between the lines. For this intermediate draft still calls Rosalia by her original name and Gloria has to be added above it. The characters who are Rafael del Horro, Doña Serafinita, and Bartolomé Barrabás in the printed text are Teodoro del Horro, María del Rosario, and Policarpio Revueltas in the second version. Of course we see these new names written above the deleted old names only on those sheets which Galdós could use in his final draft.
A few of the characters are dropped from the narrative, among them Mariano and Charito. Since this version ends before the shipwreck, we do not see the English tourists nor do we know whether the hero is to be a Protestant or a Jew. Don Cayetano, the approved suitor, disappears, to be replaced by Teodoro del Horro, whose character, however, is much more like that of the cynical politician Carratrapa than Cayetano. Rosalia's aunt, Maria del Rosario, has no resemblance to the original aunt, Doña Romualda. By far the most important new character is Don Ángel, the bishop.
The intermediate draft has two principal differences in story line from the final version: (1) it does not have the series of chapters (XIII-XVII) which build up suspense before the storm and the shipwreck, and (2) it brings in the conversation between Silvestre and Teodoro, which leads Rosalia to reject the latter's suit, at a much earlier point. It opens with a description of the town, called Flavióbriga in the first pages and then Ficóbriga. Then we see Rosalia and Don Juan de Lantigua (who already bears this name) awaiting the arrival of Don Ángel. Rosalia's restless nature and her criticism of the society of Spain's Golden Age are set forth. The bishop arrives, to be greeted by the assembled townspeople in front of the town hall. (The abbeychurch, where Don Ángel enters to pray in the printed book, does not figure in the novel until the final draft.) Among those who greet him is Revueltas, the liberal journalist and freethinker, who serves as the butt of much joking during the reception —58→ for the bishop. The parish priest, Don Silvestre Polvorón, gives a speech of welcome in which he decries the evils of modern civilization. Don Ángel talks to Rosalia about the advantages of marrying Teodoro, but she has a presentiment that her true love will soon appear. The character of Silvestre Polvorón is sketched; then Rosalía overhears a conversation between the priest and Teodoro del Horro in which they cynically talk of using religion for political ends. The last pages of this draft describe a dinner at Don Juan de Lantigua's house, but the description ends with a note of Galdós to himself:
This note ends the second draft and marks a point in Don Benito's ideation of Gloria which we must place not long before that moment in the Puerta del Sol when the final version of the Primera Parte flashed suddenly and clearly into his mind. It was a «moment of crystallization when a whole series of stored-up impressions fell into a pattern.»54 He saw how each character would develop, how they would interact, and how the theme of religious conflict would lead to inevitable catastrophe. Now he could, after a long period of gestation, produce the Primera Parte in fifteen days of intense work.
This version of the novel shows certain changes from the second draft. Its most important addition is the abadía along with the inhabitants of the sacristy, Caifás and his children. Don Ángel now enters the abbey-church to pray on his arrival; Gloria spends the afternoon of the storm and the shipwreck there. The abadía is worked into the fabric of the narrative, as is also Caifás, both Gloria and Daniel's favorite charity.
As a compensation, the opening description of Ficóbriga is shortened, as is the passage describing the reception of Don Ángel by the townspeople and the gathering of town dignitaries in Lantigua's house, where, in the second version, they make fun of the freethinking journalist Revueltas. In addition to these omissions there are other passages which Galdós wrote into the final manuscript and subsequently crossed out. The cynicism with which Rafael del Horro talks to Silvestre Romero is toned down, as compared with the intermediate draft. In the description of Silvestre Romero Galdós eliminated phrases such as «hablador chispeante» and «de mucho gracejo y galanía», which would have made him considerably different than he appears in the printed book.55
Finally, there are passages in the final manuscript which have not been crossed out and which do not appear in the published text. Don Benito removed them when he read the proofs. One important example is the description of the Ayuntamiento. Bartolomé Barrabás is still, like Revueltas, the editor of a newspaper, Los Derechos del Hombre. There are a number of other less important cases. They show that Galdós —59→ was concerned with the conduct of the narrative and even with stylistic minutiae, as he often substituted one word for another in the proofs.
The rejected pages of the Primera Parte are so numerous that they are scattered through the manuscript of both parts of the novel (on the back of the pages of the final draft). Consequently, if Galdós threw out a large number of pages of the Segunda Parte, as seems possible, they were not needed as a supply of paper for this novel, although they may still appear in the manuscript of another book, possibly in Los cien mil hijos de San Luis, dated «febrero, 1877».
Don Benito's statement about the second part of Gloria is: «La segunda [partel es postiza y tourmentée. ¡Ojalá no la hubiera escrito! X... tuvo la culpa de que yo escribiera esa segunda parte, porque me dijo (¡demonio de críticos!) que debía sacar las consecuencias de la tesis y apurar el tema.»56 This would imply that he worked over the manuscript and rejected many pages, but only 141 such pages appear in the manuscript of the Segunda Parte of Gloria.
It is also easy, but wrong, to conclude that Don Benito did not plan the second part until after he finished the first, for his statement makes the second volume appear to be an afterthought. Evidence from the manuscript of the Primera Parte convinces me that he already had the continuation in mind before finishing the final draft of the first volume.
In Chapter XX of the latter, the printed text contains the following brief paragraph: «-¿Y aquella sencilla y patética figura que trazó [Daniel] de las costumbres de su anciana abuela?» The manuscript shows that «abuela» was inserted over the deleted word «madre». Since the mother, Esther Spinoza, is to carry out a vigorous role in the Segunda Parte, she cannot be a pathetic old woman. This change shows Galdós planning the second part.
The change of name, Rosalía to Gloria, may also be due to the plans Galdós was formulating for the second part. Gloria is to die on Easter Sunday, just as the priest is intoning the «Gloria in excelsis Deo», the moment of the Resurrection and of the hope of brotherly love between all men. Gloria dies, when all is said and done, as the result of religious antagonism. The irony of the situation is capsulized in her name.
Finally, Don Buenaventura and Doña Serafinita are briefly mentioned in the first paragraph of Chapter IV of the Primera Parte with the statement: «No entrando, por ahora en nuestros fines estos dos últimos, les dejamos a un lado...» This is not an insertion, as I once surmised;57 Galdós had characters who were not to reappear until volume two in mind when this page was written. There is reason to believe that the page was recopied (for example, the name Serafinita is not Maria del Rosario, as formerly), so we can speculate that the plan of Part Two crystallized after the composition of this early Chapter IV but before the completion of the Primera Parte.
One rejected passage, ten pages in length, deals with Don Buenaventura's challenging Daniel to a duel. The former's character is flawed by this action, hence Galdós deleted it. Don Buenaventura is to be a sophisticated, courteous man of the world whose answer to any problem is a compromise. Violence does not figure in his solutions.
—60→Another abandoned passage of eleven pages recounts a conversation between Don Buenaventura and Gloria. He persuades her to grant an interview to Daniel. A third lengthy deletion is a conversation between Daniel and Bartolomé Barrabás, who sets forth his strange ideas on religion and spiritualism.
Of considerable interest are the notes which Galdós wrote to himself in his manuscript. One page interrupts the narrative abruptly and adds the note «visita a Teresita la Monja» and another page has the following note: «Escena en casa de Isidorita entre las tres beatas. Ocúpanse de la salida [sic] de Gloria y de sus probables entrevistas con Morton. Teresita demuestra su odio a la familia de Lantigua y el deseo de ser la primera persona del pueblo, desbancando a los Lantiguas y echándolos de allí.»
These notes were to remind Don Benito of the progress of his story line and they are worked out in Chapters XIV and XXIV of the second part. Although Galdós does not actually describe the visit of Esther Spinoza to Teresita la Monja he does allude to it at the end of Chapter XXIV.
Another note to himself is even more interesting. The following passage occurs in the middle of a page of continuous narration: «Por la mañana muy temprano fue a ver al cura, que había tenido tiempo de ir al Soto (detalles agronómicos de Pereda). D. Silvestre manifestó al buen Lantigua los mismos temores y recelos...». Galdós did, in fact, get «agricultural details» from Pereda58, which he worked into the second paragraph of Chapter XXIX, using uncommon phrases taken directly from Pereda's letter -«había esparcido ya las toperas», «enjugada y rastrada la tierra», and «dos setos, destruidos por las 'derrotas'». The narrative which surrounds this note is different but the idea of agricultural details has been kept. What is particularly significant about the note is that Galdós was writing what he knew was a preliminary draft. He could not have sent to the printer a manuscript with a note to himself in the middle of a page of the story.
The evidence of the note just examined reinforces the principal conclusion that we derive from a study of the manuscript of Gloria -namely, that Galdós was not an improvisor but rather a careful literary artisan, conscientiously working over his materials in various drafts until the final product met with his satisfaction. In a recent work on the art of fiction we read that while it is commonly believed that a great writer, in a fury of inspiration, dashes off a work in almost perfect form, «nothing could be less true, as this book demonstrates -at least with regard to the creation of fiction. Good writing, even great writing, results largely from conscious, painstaking labor.»59
Specifically Gloria went through three stages, or even four, if we count the changes made in the proofs. It is curious to see how most of the characters of the first version reappear, although in greatly altered form, in the final printed text. Originally Rosalía has a miser uncle Hipólito and a crafty aunt Romualda, who become Don Buenaventura and Doña Serafinita. Don Cayetano disappears in the person of Rafael del Horro, but this young man takes on the personality of the politician Carratrapa. Mariano is eliminated except for Gloria's melancholy remembrance of her dead hermanitos. The printed book contains only three characters of importance, Don Ángel, Esther Spinoza and Caifás, who are not foreshadowed by some personage of the first version.
—61→All the principal characters suffer profound changes. Rosalía, the placid, repressed girl dominated by her father, becomes the vital, restless Gloria. This is partly due to the influence of Feuillet's Histoire de Sibylle.60 Don Juan Crisóstomo de Gibralfaro is miserly but simultaneously extremely naive and gullible. Galdós frequently calls him «un niño de setenta años.» His favorite authority on all matters is a child's encyclopedia. A complete traditionalist and unsympathetic person, he contrasts sharply with Pereda and other men of Santander whom Galdós had come to respect despite their traditionalistic views, and whom he took as models for Don Juan Lantigua.61 Horacio Reynolds is above all a romantic character, and while Daniel Morton retains some romantic traits, he is far more realistic than his prototype. Horacio has lost all his family except one sister and an uncle. He is always pursued by adverse fate. As he says «Yo creo que no puedo dar paso alguno en la vida que no me conduzca a la desgracia.» He is vehement in his emotions: «Yo soy vivo en mis afectos; quiero con violencia» and «Dios me ha dado una naturaleza espacionada y fogosa.» He travels constantly in an attempt to escape from himself. Of course he feels that Fate has brought him to Castro Urdiales and that Rosalia will somehow share his misfortunes.
Galdós was striving to construct plausible characters revolving around the theme of religious conflict. He was also struggling to free himself from many worn-out conventions of style. He rid himself of the elephantine humor of costumbrista portraits. He cut down on the author's speeches directly to his «paciente lector». He patiently revamped a decidedly inferior first draft, eliminating hackneyed and conventional features, criticizing his own work. The creation of Gloria was a slow and laborious process; the admiration we now feel for Galdós is that which is due a conscientious literary workman who sees a long task through to successful completion.
University of Minnesota