Mariucha — Benito Pérez Galdós
You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org . If you are not located in the United States, you will have to check the laws of the country where you are located before using this eBook. Title : Mariucha Author : Benito Pérez Galdós Editor : S. Griswold Morley Release date : March 25, 2008 [eBook #24917] Most recently updated: January 3, 2021 Language : English, Spanish Other information and formats : www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/24917 Credits : Produced by Stan Goodman, Chuck Greif and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net *** START OF GRISWOLD MORLEY, Ph.D. Associate Professor of Spanish in the University of California D. C. HEATH & CO., PUBLISHERS BOSTON NEW YORK CHICAGO Copyright, 1921, BY D. C. Heath & Co. PREFACE Some one will naturally ask: "Why did not the editor select Galdós' best play, El abuelo , for publication?" I should like to reply to this question in advance. El abuelo , with all its beauties, has certain features which make it slightly undesirable for use by classes of American students in High Schools and the elementary years of College. First, one of its beauties is itself a drawback for this particular purpose; namely, the rather vague and abstract moral it conveys. Then, the main-spring of the plot, like that of Electra , lies in a dubious obscurity to which it is not necessary to direct the attention of young people. Mariucha , on the other hand, presents clean-cut, open problems of daily life, and they are also problems which any American can readily understand, not local Spanish anachronisms. I chose Mariucha believing it to be the best fitted for general class use among all the dramas of Galdós; and I hope that Spanish teachers may not find me wrong. The Introduction is confined to a discussion of Galdós as a dramatic author, since a study of his entire work or of his influence on his generation would be quite out of place. To my friend and colleague Professor Erasmo Buceta I am deeply grateful for generous and suggestive help; and I am indebted to Doña María Pérez-Galdós de Verde for information which gives the Bibliography an accuracy it could not otherwise have had. S.G.M. October, 1920. TABLE OF CONTENTS Preface Introduction A. The Life of D. Benito Pérez Galdós B. Benito Pérez Galdós as a Dramatic Writer I. The Background II. Galdós Turns from Novel to Drama III. His Dramatic Technique—His Success IV. The Development of Galdós V. The Subject-matter of His Plays VI. The Position of Galdós as a Dramatist C. The Plays of Pérez Galdós Bibliographical Note Text de Mariucha Personajes Acto Primero Escena Primera, II, III, IV, V, VI, VII, VIII, IX, X, XI, XII, XIII, XIV, XV, XVI, XVII, XVIII, XIX Acto Segundo Escena Primera II, III, IV, V, VI Acto Tercero Escena Primera II, III, IV, V, VI, VII, VIII, IX, X, XI Acto Cuarto Escena Primera II, III, IV, V, VI, VII Acto Quinto Escena Primera II, III, IV, V, Escena Última Notes Vocabulary Advertisements INTRODUCTION A. THE LIFE OF D. BENITO PÉREZ GALDÓS Benito Pérez Galdós was born May 10, 1843, in Las Palmas, Grand Canary Island. The first school he attended was kept by English people; hence perhaps his great admiration for the English. He showed an early and lasting talent for music and drawing. In 1864 or 1865 he went alone to Madrid to study law, which he disliked. He made slow progress, but completed the course in 1869. Latin was his favorite study, and he never practised law. His first writing was done for Madrid newspapers; he reported sessions of the Cortes, and wrote all sorts of general articles. During this period he wrote two poetic dramas, never performed. His failure to gain the stage turned him to the novel, and he did not again attempt drama till 1892. Dickens and Balzac most influenced his conception of the novel. His first book, La fontana de oro , was published in 1870; the first of the Episodios nacionales , Trafalgar , in 1873. Since then the Episodios reached the number of forty-six; the Novelas de la primera época (those based on history rather than on observation), seven; the Novelas españolas contemporáneas (based on observation), twenty-four; dramas and comedies, twenty-one; opera, one. Galdós was never entirely dependent on his pen for his living; he always had a slight income from family property. He never married. He traveled all over Europe at different times, and made a special study of Spain, journeying third class, in carriage and on horse, throughout the country, always by day, and usually in the company of a servant. Fondness for children was a distinctive trait. In 1897 he became a member of the Spanish Academy. He was a liberal deputy for Porto Rico from 1886 to 1890. In 1907 he was elected deputy from Madrid by the Republican party, and retained the post for some years, but without any liking for politics. In 1912 he became completely blind. For many years he published his own works from the famous office at Hortaleza 132; but handling no other books and cheated by an unscrupulous partner, he finally had to transfer the business to a regular firm. Galdós' novels have enjoyed an enormous sale, but at the low price of two or three pesetas a volume, instead of the customary four or five. In 1914 Galdós was represented as in poverty, for reasons never made clear, and a public subscription opened for his benefit; an episode sadder for the sponsors than for him. He died on Jan. 4, 1920. B. BENITO PÉREZ GALDÓS AS A DRAMATIC WRITER I. The Background. —The closing decades of the nineteenth century saw a curious state of affairs in the drama of Spain. They were years when dogmatic naturalism, with its systematically crude presentation of life, was at its height in France, and France, during the nineteenth century, had more often than not set the fashion for Spain in literary matters. The baldness of Zola and the pessimism of de Maupassant were quickly taken up on the F