Galdos's 'Torquemada' Novels
Waste and Profit in Late Nineteenth-century Spain
Author(s) Teresa Peris
Language: English
Genre(s): Literary Criticism
Series: Iberian and Latin American Studies
- October 2007 · 144 pages ·216x138mm
- · Hardback - 9780708320594
About The Book
This book analyses the 'waste versus profit' concept (as propounded by the British author Samuel Smiles and which found many supporters in mid-nineteenth century Spain) in the four novels of the "Torquemada series", by Benito Perez Galdos ("Torquemada en la hoguera" [1889], "Torquemada en la cruz" [1893], "Torquemada en el purgatorio" [1894] and "Torquemada y San Pedro" [1895]) within the context of the political economy and contemporary socio-cultural and medical debates. It investigates the extent to which notions of profit, efficiency and utility inform the "Torquemada" series by being juxtaposed with contemporary ideas on economic waste, inefficiency and loss, providing new insights into and a better understanding of the series.
Endorsements
'The study represents a valuable addition to Galdos criticism, as well as critical analysis of the Spanish realist novel of the last half of the nineteenth century. It provides a much needed analysis of key discourses of the day and the way in which Galdos responded to them. The book itself is well organized and edited, features which have not always been given their due importance in recent studies in literary criticism. Such attention to detail is much appreciated.' Mary L. Coffey, Bulletin of Hispanic Studies, 86 (2009)