Sobre el autor y la obra
-
Vida
del autor: (1843-1920)
-
Él
escribía mucho (más de 30 novelas)
-
El
realismo
-
Influencia
del naturalismo
-
Esta
obra fue la primera de su colección de “novelas contemporáneas;” aquí empezó a
examinar la vida de su propia época (en lugar de la historia de España)
-
Las
reacciones negativas a su novela (particularmente por la iglesia católica) – la
gente cree que la materia no es apropiada por una novela (la pobreza, la
inmoralidad sexual)
-
La
influencia de Don Quijote y la novela
picaresca en La desheredada
o
La
inhabilidad de Isidora de distinguir entre realidad y sueño
o
Conexión
entre el padrino de Isidora (José Relimpio) y Sancho (en Don Quijote)
o
El
hermano Mariano es reminiscente a los jóvenes de las novelas picarescas
-
Setting of work: Madrid, el manicomio (Leganés)
Notes from article (Frank Durand, JSTOR)
- naturalism
-Protagonist: Isidora Rufete, descendent of noble family (not the daughter of man in asylum, Rufete)
-Rufete suffers for attempting to climb social ladder
-begins in insane asylum of Leganés, parallels with real world (sometime referred to as Envidiópolis)
-thin line between sanity/insanity, Leganés/real world
-meets Canencia who appears to work at Leganés, but is actually a patient himself.
-"Isidora believes Rufete is not her real father and the action of this novel is the result of this crucial and mistaken assumption".
-Theme: mistaken belief in reality (Canencia's been living in it for a long time, Isidora is just beginning)
-Many physical/psychological abnormalities in her family. Her uncles is the "canónigo" who gives her papers that supposedly prove she is royalty (which of course, she's not).
-Her aunt knows the reality-that this dream of royalty is little more than a fairy tale one finds in novels. (Isidora ends up in prostitution: "Since her beauty was not sufficient to bring her the nobility she desires, she will now use it as a source of income").
-Galdos is presenting reality in contrast to the romantic ideals of the time (We'll see this them again in La Regenta)
-Thematic and structural comparisons with Quixote.
-Her brother "Pecado", was playing with pretend weapons with neighborhood children. Another boy wanted to be the leader-Pecado stabs him for real. Illusions of children playing --> harsh reality of civil war/adult "games"...ultimately, this is a turning point for him as a character (he later will commit suicide)
Outside/critical sources: Cambridge
Companion to the Spanish Novel, Chapter 6
-
Benito Pérez Galdós
o
Evokes principle of mimesis
o
Aim to reproduce life as objectively as possible
(depict things as they “really” are)
o
Use of language as an expression of personal and
national identity
o
Idea of contemporary social novel as a mirror of
society
-
Comparison of novel and mirror
o
Mirror that reflects life
o
Mirror image moves as novelist touches on
various aspects of life
-
Contradictory, unstable nature of mirror images
in novels of Galdós and Clarín
o
Shows both what is constant and what is variable
o
Idea of a vision of the process of change
-
Uncertainty is the muse of the Spanish realist
novel of the 1880’s – focus on the unstable nature of the mimetic mirror.
-
Don
Quijote was influential for several realist novels, such as Clarín’s La Regenta and Galdós’s La desheredada
o
The play with the contrasting visions of reality
based on differing opinions/perspectives
o
Importance of the verb “parecer”
-
Manipulation of narrator in realist novel
o
Galdós often creates narrators that are reliable
but distracted witnesses
-
Use of mimesis in realist novels (Galdós and
Clarín) to question whether or not imitation leads to knowledge, and whether or
not knowledge itself is possible; exploration of the process of knowledge
-
Galdós’s La
desheredada
o
One of the most Quixotic of his novels
o
Intertextual allusions to the Quijote and to process of making a novel
o
Isidora’s uncle, don Santiago Quijano (“the
Canon”) is a Quixotic figure
o
Conflict/tension between scientific reason and
imaginative passion (in Isidora’s character particularly)
o
The novel (and Isidora’s state) is allegorical
for the condition of the Spanish state itself – disenchantment and
disinheritance
Personajes
-
Isidora
Rufete – la protagonista
-
Tomás
Rufete – el padre de Isidora
-
Encarnación
Guillén (“the Leech Woman”) – la tía de Isidora
-
Augusto Miquis – young medical student that
Isidora has known since childhood
-
Santiago
Quijano (“el canónico”) – el tío de Isidora
-
José
Relimpio – el padrino de Isidora; muy soñador; he is infatuated with Isidora
-
Laura
– la esposa de José
-
Emilia
y Leonor – hijas de José, bastante trabajadoras
-
Melchor
– hijo de José, siempre tiene un nuevo plan
-
Virginia
de Aransis – la mujer que Isidora cree es su madre
-
Sánchez
Botín – el amante de Isidora; muy controlador
-
Mariano
Rufete (“Pecado”) – el hermano menor de Isidora; es como opuesto a ella porque
le encanta lo vulgar
-
Joaquín Pez, the marqués of Saldeoro – eldest son
of important government guy, Don Manuel José Ramón del Pez; the widower of the
marquesa’s daughter; Isidora’s lover and the father of her son (Riquín)
-
Riquín – Isidora’s son from Joaquin
-
Juan Bou – Mariano’s boss; taught him
lithography trade; courts Isidora for a bit
-
Frasquito Surupa (“Gaitica”) -
Summary
The story revolves around
Isadora Rufete, although there are some other people that appear constantly
throughout the story. Isadora is very pretty, and has natural talents that never
are quite enough to help her reeeally change her situation. She is the sister
of Mariano and believes that the two of them are the illegitimate children of
the daughter of the Marquesa de Aransis. So, she comes to Madrid from La Mancha
and hopes to establish her claim and become a noblewoman. She has an aunt,
Encarnación (La Sanguijuelera) who runs a shop and, even though she berates
both her neice and her nephew, she does whatever possible to help them. Isadora
basically has an up-and-down life because she doesn’t know how to save and has
a terrible tendency to spend money. Mariano is a whiny dick, who doesn’t want
to work and always wants money from his sister (even though he spends it poorly
and always comes back for more, his sister always helps him). A young man named
Miquis is studying to be a doctor and wants to court Isadora, but she rejects
him for being too common. In fact, she rejects many people and most things
because she considers them to be “common.” Isadora is an idiot, in short. This is
why I hate Naturalism. From the first page, you know how it’s going to end.
Anyway, Isadora pursues her
lawsuit against the marquesa to become a member of her family. Of course, it
fails. But until it does, she can’t let go of her idea that she is destined to
be noble and above everyone else. But when it does fail, she falls completely
into vice and poverty. She has already had a kid with Joáquin Pez, Riquín, who
has an unusually large head and whose father will not claim him. Pez spends all
her money, even though the rest of his family manages their funds well, Mariano
kills a boy at the beginning and becomes a terrorist by the end of the novel.
Don José, the godfather of Isadora, lives with her at various times to try and
help care for Riquín (whom everyone loves). Eventually, Riquín stays with
Emilia, one of Don José’s daughters, as his mother descends into vice and
prostitution. Miquis becomes a wealthy and well-known doctor, Joáquin marries a
rich American woman, Juan Bou (a grabador
who tries to teach Mariano his art, proposes to Isadora, and is rejected) makes
lots of money through work, inheritance, and the lottery and appears to be on
his way to being married. Don José dies, it’s assumed that Mariano is going to
be killed by the authorities after he tries to kill a political figure,
Encarnación is wilting away in her old age, and Isadora disappears into the
night several hours before Don José dies (her leaving inspires the drinking
binge that does him in).
Temas importantes
-
Estilo
de escritura
o
Metafiction
§ “we” narrator quite frequently
§
“The reader already knows something of this, and
the rest, which is considerable and quite remarkable, will be revealed in due
course”
o
Narration in third person
o
Some exceptions to third person narration:
§
Chapter 11 – Isidora speaks in first person
§
Chapter 20 – directed at Isidora in second
person (“you”)
§
Chapters 24 and 30 – written like a play
-
Las
clases sociales
o
Isidora
cree que es de una clase social más alta (que no es realmente la hija de Tomás
Rufete)
o
Isidora’s aunt makes fun of her when she doesn’t
eat her stew, says she doesn’t know what it’s like to eat normal food since
she’s so high and mighty
o
Isidora – “How odious, coarse, and repulsive
common people are!”
o
Novel explores extremes of social classes
§
Very poor people like Isidora’s aunt (“the Leech
Woman”) and the people who live in her neighborhood
§
Lower-middle class people like Isidora’s
godfather’s family
§
Very rich upper class people like marquesa, or
the Pez family
o
Isidora – “Either the highest or the lowest. I
do not care for compromise: no halfway house”
-
La
locura/el sueño/la ilusión (vs. la realidad)
o
Isidora
cree que Tomás Rufete no es su padre verdadera (ella cree que es de una clase
social más alta)
o
Isidora’s constantly active imagination
o
Isidora constantly makes comparisons between her
own life and what she has read in novels; she romanticizes her life
-
El
manicomio
o
“this section of humanity imprisoned for being
ill, and observing how lunatics refine their madness through mutual example,
how they perfect their manias, how skilled they become in that horrifying art
of doing the reverse of what normal sense decrees!”
-
El
género
o
Distinction between mad men and mad women at
asylum
o
Augusto Miquis (medical student) tells Isidora
she doesn’t need to be educated, despite her desire to learn – “Woman’s
greatest charm is her ignorance”
-
Religión
o
Referencias
frecuentes a la importancia de fe y la confianza en la voluntad de Dios.
o
Marquesa’s preoccupation with the idea that her
sexually immoral daughter was forgiven by God at her death (Part One, Chapter
9).
o
Isidora “delighted in the practice of religion
out of sheer romanticism”
-
La
ambición
o
When Isidora describes her father, she says that
his one flaw was that “he was never content with his fate, but always yearned
for more”
o
Isidora’s godfather’s family – the daughters
struggle to dress just like upper class women despite their lack of money. The
mother dreams that her daughters will marry upwards to be able to advance.
o
Mariano/Pecado tells Isidora he wants to be
rich.
Notes from the novel:
Chapter 1
-
Tomás Rufete at the asylum; description of the
various crazy people there.
-
They transfer Tomás Rufete to a poorer
department of the asylum since his family is not paying for his care;
description of the bad conditions.
-
Comparison of two departments of asylum –
metaphor for city of Madrid?
-
Isidora comes to the asylum to see her father,
Tomás Rufete, and brings him money and clothing. While she waits, Isidora
speaks with a man about God’s will and her father’s insanity – she thinks he
works there, but he is actually a patient. Isidora tells him that she is not
really Tomás Rufete’s daughter, and that she’s actually of a higher class.
-
Rufete dies. A young medical student (Augusto
Miquis) tells Isidora and escorts her out
Ch. 2:
Setting-Madrid. Decaying city.
Sanguijuelera: "tía de su supuesta madre", low class woman who had economically worsened. "mujer de buena índole" y "genio turbulento. Unmarried, no kids.
Isidora's brother=Mariano, "Pecado", doesn't go to school. Revealed that Isidora's mother, Francisca, had died and Rufete (father) in Leganés.
Ch. 3:
Go to rope factory (de "sogas") to look for Mariano. Mariano doesn't know Isidora (his sister). Isidora objects to his job at the factory/"too good for that", should go to school instead. Declares she is not Rufete's daughter because canónigo said so, but rather granddaughter of marquesa. Her tía laughs at her, jokes about it, but then is a little mad, then very mad, then beats Isidora for being an airhead.
Ch. 4
Isidora is mostly in good health. Walking along in Madrid, admiring herself in the shopwindows.
Introduced to Miquis, young doctor, loved surgery and music.
"Ella deseaba y necesitaba instruirse", loves the word "Cosmos". Talking with Agosto (Miquis?) in zoo/park, he's flirting, wants to marry her, he says..then "el suicidio es la plena posesión de si mismo" (first hints of suicide in novel, premonition?). Isidora's concept of: presente trist/porvenir brillante. She refuses Miquis' marriage offer b/c she thinks she's too good for him.
Ch. 5:
Her uncle (canónigo) has written to noble in Madrid so she can "claim her inheritance".
Ch. 6:
Rafael, the poor majito. Puts on military clothes- "Había en la prenda militar una fabricación tosca, pero ingeniosoa, que denotaba tanta habilidad como falta de medios." He becomes Plim/Prim- leader of the kids... You can't really tell the age of kids by looking at them because height/robustness is deceptive. Boys pretending to be men...Fight ensues when one wants to be the new leader of the gang. Fight with stones. "El niño rabioso supera en barbarie al hombre." Then, Pecado takes out his knife. Boom, game's over. Ironically, everyone is screaming, "Pecado!" Guardia Civil shows up-tense moments..will they shoot him? Pecado realizes "I'm a criminal." They catch him, luring him with oranges.
Ch. 7:
Isidora is humiliated. More daydreaming about being the daughter of a marquesa. Even gives money to poor people (delusional...)
Ch. 8:
Don José: honrado, from decent family, had served in mili, but had spoiled any $ he may have had. Isi's godfather. Married to Laura. Critique of Isidora's spending. Laura says Isi should work. Her brother is now in jail and though canónigo sends her money, it's not enough.
Ch. 9:
Situación: decaying palacio de Aransis with the viuda of Aransis (daughter had died, too.) Opens room of dead daughter for first time since her death. Says: ¡Pobre hija mía! ¡Pobre Pecadora! ...hmm, so how did she die?..."las faltas de la hija habían sido de estas que en los términos sociales no tienen excusa". "Murió de encierro (obv, pregnant), y fue víctima de la inquisición de honor."
Ch. 10:
Meet: the caserón who "siempre acompañaba al marqués de Aransis" "algo pariete de los Miquis". Exaltation of the things of the past. Mention of "nobles fisionomías" (theme in these past few works)
Don José says to Miquis "Why are some people so rich, others so poor?" (class divide). They mention viuda's daughter, say she was beautiful.
Ch. 11:
Isidora is restless, insomnia. Can't get her beauty sleep before she sees her "grandmother", the marquesa/viuda.
Ch. 12: "Los peces (sermón)"
Big fish: men in the government/bureaucracy---"be fruitful and multiply" (e.g. gov't keeps growing). "El árbol fecundísimo del Poder protegía con su plácida sombra a la familiar." Don Juan Manuel Ramón Pez is one of them. Another son, Joaquín is great, but a really immoral ladies' man.
Ch. 13:
Isidora arrives at Joaquin's house. More about her desire to "reclaim" her nobility. She picks up money from the canónigo there. Joaquín tells her she should buy her own house. Brief flirteo. Then she says she doesn't want any money, tries to leave but she's locked in. Threatening moment, but then he lets her go.
Ch. 14:
Joaquín sends an apology and $ to Isidora, wants to see her again. Christmastime, people shopping in the streets. Isidora goes to pick up her brother, Mariano, from jail. Isidora is out of $, but doesn't want to ask Joaquín or Doña Laura. Isidora tells Mariano he should go to school; he want a job that will make him rich. He tells Is. to give him money or else he'll beg in the street (¡The Shame!)
Ch. 15:
Mariano plays torero with friends, rips up his clothes. They go to the theatre together, surrounded by people who can positively influence them.
Ch. 16:
Is. goes back to the palace of the marquesa de Aransis in her daydream. Then, she goes in real life & her delusions aumentan. She tells marquesa that Sr. De Pez had told her... The marquesa things she's trying to pass for her deceased, disgraced daughter, Virginia. Marquesa: Estás completamente equivocada. You've been fooled. But, if you need money or something. Isidora: "Pido justicia, no limosna." Kicks her out.
Ch. 17: Isidora wants to die, but doesn't know of a good, dignified way to go. Really upset.
Ch. 18: Discussion of equality, of the disappearance of classes. General opinion: this seems unlikely. As for religion, go through the motions to save your soul, but don't be too serious about it. In married life, be the better person-when you're husband is sleeping around, be the abstinent one.
Part 2
Ch. 19.
Isidora has had a child with a deformed head (fisionomía!), in a lot of debt. Married to Joaquín (?), inherits some money from canónigo. Civil war in Spain. "En España, el primer paso para la ruina de una cosa es su triunfo."
Ch. 20:
Narrator address Isidora, "tu espíritu está siempre en estado de fiebre." She's spent the inherited money on Mariano's schooling, clothes, etc. Eventually, she resigns to the fact that she'll work, ¡Pero trabajaré! ¿No tengo yo manos?. Begins to budget with Don José so that their finances would be more in order.
Ch. 21-23: Mariano is also spendthrift when there's money. Catalanes repeatedly stereotyped as "hard workers". One Catalan, Juan Bou, is industrious, but also gambles it all away. Mariano is sent to a school to learn printing...he's not super trabajador by any means (does enough to get by). Mariano also bets (?) Isidora is now living in Madrid, riqueza con modestia.
Ch. 24: New style-chapter written like a play. Married to Joaquín (?) who tells her "sólo yo te comprendo". She loves him, but she views it as a castigo. Still thinks she's nobility. Joaquin says: "En España no se recompensa el mérito...los escritores, los artistas...mueren de hambre." The only way to make money is getting involved in gov't (IMPT critique, related to moral of novel, click here. **)
Chapter 25
-
Isidora goes to the fair (spends tons of money,
as per usual) – her lover Botín’s anger that she went without permission (very
controlling/possessive)
-
Botín is angry that Isidora is wasting his money
and pawning the gifts he’s given her; he demands everything back, including her
clothes, and then he tells her to leave the house.
Chapter 26
-
Isidora goes to her godfather José’s house.
-
Her son Riquín is sick, and Augusto Miquis
arrives to attend him; first time she’s seen him in a while.
-
Mariano’s jealousy of Melchor and his success;
his own ambition (versus his laziness). Mariano’s rebellious nature and
determination to be independent. After a while of jealousy, he disappears for a
long time.
-
Melchor loans Isidora money, and takes her and
Riquín away when the child is sick
-
Melchor’s business venture fails and he
disappears
Chapter 27
-
Friendship between Isidora and Juan Bou; they go
together to see the Aransis house. Bou mocks the extravagance and Isidora is
offended.
-
Juan Bou proposes marriage to Isidora and she
rejects him, saying she loves another man
Chapter 28
-
Isidora is in great poverty/debts; she asks Augusto
Miquis for help. He advises her to marry Juan Bou and give up her fantasies of
becoming a marquesa.
-
Isidora goes to live with Emilia (the daughter
of her godfather). She begins to help Emilia working in the house. However, any
advances she has made are ruined, because Joaquin comes back and wants her help
with money again.
-
Augusto Miquis is constantly tempted by Isidora,
who he finds “divine.” He restrains himself by constantly remembering his
fiancée/wife.
Chapter 29
-
Progress of the lawsuit – Don José gave
testimony on Isidora’s side.
-
Juan Bou’s great financial success; he continues
working even still (admirable as a hard worker).
Chapter 30
-
Change in writing style, written like a play.
-
Joaquin’s bad fortune. Isidora visits him and is
hopeful. They talk about the future.
-
Isidora gives Joaquin a decent sum of money; we
don’t know where it’s come from
-
Isidora is arrested for forgery
Chapter 31
-
Isidora in prison. She is accused of forgery
because of the documents claiming that she is the granddaughter of the
marquesa. They realize that she is innocent and tell her that she has been
deceived.
-
Mariano has been very ill; he’s changed – “the
fever’s fried his brains”
Chapter 32
-
Mariano starts playing at making small bombs.
-
Bou tells Mariano that his sister Isidora is a
lost cause.
Chapter 33
-
A new male friend (Frasquito Surupa, or “Gaitica”)
pays some of Isidora’s legal fees.
-
Isidora meets with a lawyer Miquis has provided
for her about the lawsuit. The lawyer insists that the documentation is false,
and Isidora reacts very badly.
-
Isidora is forced to see that her uncle the Canon
was a gullible fool and begins to doubt the delusion she has believed for so long;
she starts to question everything.
Chapter 34
-
Mariano’s bad health – epileptic fits and
alcoholism
-
Mariano is supremely jealous that he cannot
advance and remains stuck in poverty; he feels as though the entire nation is
conspiring against him. He pulls out a gun and fires it at a large parade, to
get attention.
Chapter 35
-
Isidora’s humiliation because of Mariano’s
public crime.
-
Don José has become an alcoholic; he has gone a
little crazy and has lost his memory.
-
Isidora finally gives up faith in her “nobility”
and renounces her “rights.” She is able to leave the prison, and Gaitica pays
off her last fees and tells her to come live with him.
-
Riquín is living with Emilia, and they don’t
allow Isidora to have him back.
-
Isidora had a relationship with Gaitica but it
failed and he beat her severely. She has deteriorated in both health and
beauty, and has become bitter. She now thinks of becoming a prostitute.
Chapter 36
-
Isidora’s bad health
-
Isidora becomes a prostitute despite don José’s
despair. She leaves and that’s the end of the novel…
Chapter 37
-
“the moral”
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