Fortunata and Jacinta: Two Stories of Married Women

by Benito Perez Galdoz

Other authorsAgnes Moncy Gullon (Contributor)

Paperback, 1989

Status

Available

Call number

863.5

Publication

Penguin Classics (1989), Paperback, 848 pages

Description

Galdos's four-part Fortunata and Jacinta (1886-7), the masterpiece among his almost 80 novels, tells the turbulent story of two women, their husbands and their lovers, set against the intricate web of dynastic alliances and class contrasts of Madrid in the 1870s. In this new critical introduction Professor Turner provides information on the history and social life of the times, and analyzes Galdos's theory of realism, his powerful use of imagery and metaphor to express the reality of social, mental and moral conditions, and the artistic merits of his narrative style. The book contains tables illustrating the complex family relationships fundamental to the structure of the work, and a chronological summary of the plot, as well as a detailed guide to further reading.… (more)

User reviews

LibraryThing member ChrisConway

Here's the review I posted on the English version of the book...Benito Pérez Galdós was Spain's greatest practitioner of the realist novel. Think of him this way: take a dollop of the charm of Dickens and combine with another of the sensuality and danger of Dostoevsky, sprinkled with the minutiae

of what daily life was like in nineteenth-century Spain, and you have Benito Pérez Galdós. He is the greatest and most enjoyable nineteenth-century European novelist that readers of English have missed out on. Most of his novels are out of print in English translation. Fortunata y Jacinta is his longest work... and it proves why he is such a delight. I have some quibbles with the second half but I think every reader of nineteenth-century literature should experience what this magnificent writer has to offer.

Show Less

3 more

LibraryThing member ChrisConway

Benito Pérez Galdós was Spain's greatest practitioner of the realist novel. Think of him this way: take a dollop of the charm of Dickens and combine with another of the sensuality and danger of Dostoevsky, sprinkled with the minutiae of what daily life was like in nineteenth-century Spain, and

you have Benito Pérez Galdós. He is the greatest and most enjoyable nineteenth-century European novelist that readers of English have missed out on. Most of his novels are out of print in English translation. Fortunata y Jacinta is his longest work... and it proves why he is such a delight. I have some quibbles with the second half but I think every reader of nineteenth-century literature should experience what this magnificent writer has to offer.

Show Less

LibraryThing member amerynth

Benito Perez Galdos' "Fortunata and Jacinta: Two Stories of Married Women" was a really difficult book for me to get into. I really struggled through the first 200 pages or so, but then the story really started clicking with me and I began to enjoy it more.

The novel follows the stories of two women

are involved with a cad -- Jacinta is his wife, who struggles with childlessness, and the unfortunate Fortunata, a lower class woman who is his on-again, off-again mistress. I particularly liked Fortunata's story.

This was a hard book for me to rate because while I liked the story, I found something about the writing a bit off-putting. I disliked the way the author started each section -- with a story about a new character that later linked back in to the main story. Once I got used to the new person, I started to like the book again. I did enjoy the setting-- Galdos really evokes a mood of this particular period in Spain-- and the overall story.... though it's not a book I'd ever pick up again.

Show Less

LibraryThing member charlie68

A long haul at a 1000 pages plus, but gets better the further into the story you get. The blurb on the back cover compares the author to Dickens and Tolstoy, high praise indeed. Judging by this book he's not in their lofty company, but he's not far off, I'd have to read more of his work to make a

definitive judgment.

Show Less

Fewer