LA FONTANA DE ORO, ¿EL PRIMER EPISODIO NACIONAL DE B. PÉREZ GALDÓS?

Özet

La Fontana de Oro was the first long novel by B. Pérez Galdós. He began writingit in 1867 and finished shortly after the outbreak of the September Revolution. Butthe novel was not published until early 1871, with a preface added in December 1870,in which the author recommended reading it as an illustration of the circumstancesin Spain those days. Considering when the work was composed, it is natural to thinkthat, although the author changed some parts of the novel to better meet his objectivesin 1870, the circumstances the book related were not of the turbulent years followingthe Revolution, but the moments immediately prior to it and its development. Moreover,the structure of the novel as well as its style lead us to believe that is closely relatedto a very specific type of historical narratives that would form Galdós famous: theEpisodios nacionales. The fact that the writer himself did not include La Fontana deOro among them should not suffice to stop considering it the very first episode, with asimilar intention and the same importance as the rest of the series.