Ido del Sagrario’s Alimentary Madness

Abstract

Throughout his enormous literary production, Benito Pérez Galdós (1843–1920), arguably the greatest literary figure of his age writing in Spanish, describes in detail various physicians and diverse medical matters. He was closely acquainted with prominent doctors of his time, such as Manuel Tolosa Latour (see Ricard 87–90, Schmidt 91–94), and apparently studied particular questions in considerable depth, whether in actual medical tomes or in “case histories,” as recounted in other writers’ fictional treatments. His interest in the works of his British contemporary, Henry Maudsley, author of Physiology and Pathology of Mind (1867), illustrates the scope of this applied afición [zeal] (Randolph 49–56). There are also various instances of Galdós’s personal experience of medical issues that, along with matters he had studied or discussed with physicians in person, would enter into his fictional discourse: migraine and arguably syphilis constitute cases in point.1 Among his eighty novels, Fortunata y Jacinta (1886–1887) offers some of the most salient examples of such medical intersections, evidencing Galdós’s diverse (and sometimes diffuse) medical knowledge and interests.KeywordsFood AllergyDengue FeverCreative ImaginationEpileptic AttackStrict AvoidanceThese keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.