Some one will naturally ask: "Why did not the editor select Galdós' bestplay, El abuelo, for publication?" I should like to reply to thisquestion in advance. El abuelo, with all its beauties, has certainfeatures which make it slightly undesirable for use by classes ofAmerican students in High Schools and the elementary years of College.First, one of its beauties is itself a drawback for this particularpurpose; namely, the rather vague and abstract moral it conveys. Then,the main-spring of the plot, like that of Electra, lies in a dubiousobscurity to which it is not necessary to direct the attention of youngpeople. Mariucha, on the other hand, presents clean-cut, open problemsof daily life, and they are also problems which any American can readilyunderstand, not local Spanish anachronisms. I chose Mariucha believingit to be the best fitted for general class use among all the dramas ofGaldós; and I hope that Spanish teachers may not find me wrong.
The Introduction is confined to a discussion of Galdós as a dramaticauthor, since a study of his entire work or of his influence on hisgeneration would be quite out of place.
To my friend and colleague Professor Erasmo Buceta I am deeply gratefulfor generous and suggestive help; and I am indebted to Doña MaríaPérez-Galdós de Verde for information which gives the Bibliography anaccuracy it could not otherwise have had.
S.G.M.
October, 1920.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
PREFACE
o A. THE LIFE OF D. BENITO PÉREZ GALDÓS
o B. BENITO PÉREZ GALDÓS AS A DRAMATIC WRITER
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
o C. THE PLAYS OF PÉREZ GALDÓS
Escena Primera, II, III, IV, V, VI, VII, VIII, IX,
X, XI, XII, XIII, XIV, XV, XVI, XVII, XVIII,
Escena PrimeraII, III, IV, V, VI
Escena PrimeraII, III, IV, V, VI, VII, VIII, IX, X,
Escena PrimeraII, III, IV, V, VI, VII
Escena PrimeraII, III, IV, V, Escena Última
NOTES