INMA RIDAO CARLINI. Rich and Poor in Nineteenth-Century Spain. A Critique of Liberal Society in the Later Novels of Benito Pérez Galdós. Woodbridge: Tamesis, 2018. 214 pp.

Gabrielle Miller

doi:10.18192/rceh.v43i2.4679

Abstract

Highlights

In Rich and Poor in Nineteenth-Century Spain, Inma Ridao Carlini revisits seven of Benito Pérez Galdós’s lesser-studied novelas contemporáneas to highlight the realist giant’s ambivalent and often critical attitude toward liberal economic structures that emerged in Spain in the second half of the nineteenth century
The author is interested in uncovering “Galdós’s historical approach to his portrayal of Restoration society” and convincingly demonstrates her thesis that Galdós viewed the uneven emergence of liberal society in Restoration Spain as “the result of fundamental transformations that had taken place throughout the nineteenth century” (1)
The first two chapters delve into the “themes of wealth, credit and speculation” (11) that are prevalent in Lo prohibido and the Torquemada novels, respectively

Summary

Introduction

The first two chapters delve into the “themes of wealth, credit and speculation” (11) that are prevalent in Lo prohibido and the Torquemada novels, respectively. In Rich and Poor in Nineteenth-Century Spain, Inma Ridao Carlini revisits seven of Benito Pérez Galdós’s lesser-studied novelas contemporáneas to highlight the realist giant’s ambivalent and often critical attitude toward liberal economic structures that emerged in Spain in the second half of the nineteenth century.

Results

Conclusion