After Juan dumps Fortunata again, she is protected by the retired military man Evaristo Feijóo. He sets her up in her own place and proposes an arrangement for her to be his lover. She accepts but, as his health declines, the dynamic changes mostly to a father-daughter relationship. (This isn’t the only relationship in the […]
I mentioned in the previous post that I planned to look at some of the principal female characters introduced in Volume Two. Volume One had several strong female characters, notably Guillermina Pacheco and Isabel Cordero, and Volume Two adds to this roster. Doña Lupe succeeds in the business world as a student of the usurer […]
Still recovering from a happy hour from last night with former co-workers. The high (low?) point of the evening was a potential recreation of a live karaoke performance (singing with a live, performing group) of a … ummm… rumored performance at a company meeting. By me. Fortunately things didn’t escalate to that point. The crowd […]
I was part of a layoff today so blogging will be a lower priority until I get the job-hunt machinery cranked up. I plan on finishing the Fortunata and Jacinta read-along on schedule, more or less. We’ll see how things are going in a few weeks. Good karma sent this way is greatly appreciated!
The model for Guillermina Pacheco is the historical persona of Doña Ernestina Manuel de Villena (1830-86). Galdós himself praised the charity work and character of Ernestina shortly after her death. He considered her a true saint of the modern world. Fervently Catholic and tenacious of spirit, she built an asylum for orphans in Madrid brick […]
Volume 2 focuses on Fortunata’s story. First, though, we meet the Rubín family, headed by Doña Lupe, a widow who has been tutored in financial dealings by Sr. Torquemada. Her nephews are Juan Pablo, Nicolás, and Maximiliano, nicknamed Maxi, a sickly pharmacy student. Maxi meets Fortunata (after her affair with Juan) and is smitten. Fortunata […]
First some links: The review at Open Letters Monthly An excerpt and recommendation by Michael Cunningham I’m not as enthusiastic about The Pilgrim Hawk as the links above are. It’s a well-told story working on several layers, especially when noting the focus of the subtitle (“A Love Story”) is secondary to the more subtle focus […]
Recognizing my outline only makes sense to someone reading the novel (and maybe not even to them), a short recap of Volume 1… Galdós provides the genealogy of the Santa Cruz and Arnáiz families and focuses on the adolescence and young adulthood of Juan Santa Cruz. Juan’s mother, aware that he is hanging with a […]
I’m going to start my series of excerpts with one of the weirdest moments in the novel but also one of the most revealing. Funny how the two sometime go together. But first some background. Galdós loves to set up comparisons. Juan Santa Cruz was a spoiled only child that never wanted for anything. As […]
Finally, I have a moment to write some notes on Volume 1 of Fortunata and Jacinta. Before delving into excerpts from the novel, I wanted to make some general comments that may (or may not) be helpful in reading the book. These comments aren’t meant to be comprehensive (trust me, they are very impromptu) but […]
Whew! I finished this project. Now I might actually find some time to write about the novel. One of the problems I have with a large novel like Fortunata and Jacinta is finding passages after reading them so I thought I would provide sub-chapter headings to help me (and anyone else) reading the novel. My […]
When I posted the schedule for the read-along I forgot my wife was going to be traveling and the boys and I would be living the bachelor life for a few days. The only casualty so far is a post I made Saturday evening—I’m not sure what happened to it but it has vanished. I […]
Please see the final outline post, replacing this placeholder for the work-in-process.
This isn’t intended as commentary on the book by Collins but some notes on the Naxos audio reading of the novel. I’m not sure why I picked this out at the library but it turned out to be a delight. The cast does a very good job, not just in their narrated character but in […]
Jarmila by Ernst Weiss Tanslated by Rebecca Morrison and Petra Howard-Wuerz Afterword by Peter Engel Pushkin PressJarmila is one of those instances when most of what I have to say about a book has already been said. I’ll defer to Max at Pechorin’s Journal. And now that I look, I also see Guy at His […]
Without beating around the bush, Don Balomero made a very sensible commentary, the product of his experience and observation: “I don’t know what will happen twenty or fifty years from now. You can’t see that far ahead in Spanish society. All we know is that our country alternates between two fevers, revolution and peace. At […]
I continue with my erratic foreign movie posts for this year as well as posting on movies adapted from books. This turned out to be one of the most disturbing movies I’ve seen in a while. Luis Buñuel loosely adapts and updates Benito Pérez Galdós’ novel Halma (1895). A quick overview of the plot: Before […]
A simple web search will unveil a host of Bob Staake’s Bad Children Books. When I have more time I want to collect other links for alternate book titles or spoofs like this. Meanwhile, enjoy!