The very acute and lively Spanish critic who signs himself Clarín, and is known personally as Don Leopoldo Alas1, says the present Spanish novel has no yesterday, but only a day-before-yesterday. It does not derive2 from the romantic novel which immediately preceded that: the novel, large or little, as it was with Cervantes, Hurtado de Mendoza, Quevedo, and the masters of picaresque fiction.
Clarín dates its renascence from the political revolution of 1868, which gave Spanish literature the freedom necessary to the fiction that studies to reflect modern life, actual ideas, and current aspirations3; and though its authors were few at first, “they have never been adventurous4 spirits, friends of Utopia, revolutionists, or impatient progressists and reformers.” He thinks that the most daring, the most advanced, of the new Spanish novelists, and the best by far, is Don Benito Perez Galdos.
I should myself have made my little exception in favor of Don Armando Palacio Valdes, but Clarín speaks with infinitely5 more authority, and I am certainly ready to submit when he goes on to say that Galdos is not a social or literary insurgent6; that he has no political or religious prejudices; that he shuns7 extremes, and is charmed with prudence8; that his novels do not attack the Catholic dogmas—though they deal so severely9 with Catholic bigotry10—but the customs and ideas cherished by secular11 fanaticism12 to the injury of the Church. Because this is so evident, our critic holds, his novels are “found in the bosom13 of families in every corner of Spain.” Their popularity among all classes in Catholic and prejudiced Spain, and not among free-thinking students merely, bears testimony14 to the fact that his aim and motive15 are understood and appreciated, although his stories are apparently16 so often anti-Catholic.
I
Doña Perfecta is, first of all, a story, and a great story, but it is certainly also a story that must appear at times potently17, and even bitterly, anti-Catholic. Yet it would be a pity and an error to read it with the preoccupation that it was an anti-Catholic tract18, for really it is not that. If the persons were changed in name and place, and modified in passion to fit a cooler air, it might equally seem an anti-Presbyterian or anti-Baptist tract; for what it shows in the light of their own hatefulness and cruelty are perversions19 of any religion, any creed20. It is not, however, a tract at all; it deals in artistic21 largeness with the passion of bigotry, as it deals with the passion of love, the passion of ambition, the passion of revenge. But Galdos is Spanish and Catholic, and for him the bigotry wears a Spanish and Catholic face. That is all.
Up to a certain time, I believe, Galdos wrote romantic or idealistic novels, and one of these I have read, and it tired me very much. It was called “Marianela,” and it surprised me the more because I was already acquainted with his later work, which is all realistic. But one does not turn realist in a single night, and although the change in Galdos was rapid it was not quite a lightning change; perhaps because it was not merely an outward change, but artistically22 a change of heart. His acceptance in his quality of realist was much more instant than his conversion23, and vastly wider; for we are told by the critic whom I have been quoting that Galdos’s earlier efforts, which he called Episodios Nacionales, never had the vogue24 which his realistic novels have enjoyed.
These were, indeed, tendencious, if I may Anglicize a very necessary word from the Spanish tendencioso. That is, they dealt with very obvious problems, and had very distinct and poignant25 significations, at least in the case of “Doña Perfecta,” “Leon Roch,” and “Gloria.” In still later novels, Emilia Pardo-Bazan thinks, he has comprehended that “the novel of to-day must take note of the ambient truth, and realize the beautiful with freedom and independence.” This valiant26 lady, in the campaign for realism which she made under the title of “La Cuestion Palpitante”—one of the best and strongest books on the subject—counts him first among Spanish realists, as Clarín counts him first among Spanish novelists. “With a certain fundamental humanity,” she says, “a certain magisterial27 simplicity28 in his creations, with the natural tendency of his clear intelligence toward the truth, and with the frankness of his observation, the great novelist was always disposed to pass over to realism with arms and munitions29; but his aesthetic30 inclinations31 were idealistic, and only in his latest works has he adopted the method of the modern novel, fathomed32 more and more the human heart, and broken once for all with the picturesque33 and with the typical personages, to embrace the earth we tread.”
For her, as I confess for me, “Doña Perfecta” is not realistic enough—realistic as it is; for realism at its best is not tendencious. It does not seek to grapple with human problems, but is richly content with portraying34 human experiences; and I think Señora Pardo-Bazan is right in regarding “Doña Perfecta” as transitional, and of a period when the author had not yet assimilated in its fullest meaning the faith he had imbibed35.
II
Yet it is a great novel, as I said; and perhaps because it is transitional it will please the greater number who never really arrive anywhere, and who like to find themselves in good company en route. It is so far like life that it is full of significations which pass beyond the persons and actions involved, and envelop36 the reader, as if he too were a character of the book, or rather as if its persons were men and women of this thinking, feeling, and breathing world, and he must recognize their experiences as veritable facts. From the first moment to the last it is like some passage of actual events in which you cannot withhold37 your compassion38, your abhorrence39, your admiration40, any more than if they took place within your personal knowledge. Where they transcend41 all facts of your personal knowledge, you do not accuse them of improbability, for you feel their potentiality in yourself, and easily account for them in the alien circumstance. I am not saying that the story has no faults; it has several. There are tags of romanticism fluttering about it here and there; and at times the author permits himself certain old-fashioned literary airs and poses and artifices42, which you simply wonder at. It is in spite of these, and with all these defects, that it is so great and beautiful a book.
III
What seems to be so very admirable in the management of the story is the author’s success in keeping his own counsel. This may seem a very easy thing; but, if the reader will think over the novelists of his acquaintance, he will find that it is at least very uncommon43. They mostly give themselves away almost from the beginning, either by their anxiety to hide what is coming, or their vanity in hinting what great things they have in store for the reader. Galdos does neither the one nor the other. He makes it his business to tell the story as it grows; to let the characters unfold themselves in speech and action; to permit the events to happen unheralded. He does not prophesy44 their course, he does not forecast the weather even for twenty-four hours; the atmosphere becomes slowly, slowly, but with occasional lifts and reliefs, of such a brooding breathlessness, of such a deepening density45, that you feel the wild passion-storm nearer and nearer at hand, till it bursts at last; and then you are astonished that you had not foreseen it yourself from the first moment.
Next to this excellent method, which I count the supreme46 characteristic of the book merely because it represents the whole, and the other facts are in the nature of parts, is the masterly conception of the characters. They are each typical of a certain side of human nature, as most of our personal friends and enemies are; but not exclusively of this side or that. They are each of mixed motives47, mixed qualities; none of them is quite a monster; though those who are badly mixed do such monstrous48 things.
Pepe Rey, who is such a good fellow—so kind, and brave, and upright, and generous, so fine a mind, and so high a soul—is tactless and imprudent; he even condescends49 to the thought of intrigue50; and though he rejects his plots at last, his nature has once harbored deceit. Don Inocencio, the priest, whose control of Doña Perfecta’s conscience has vitiated the very springs of goodness in her, is by no means bad, aside from his purposes. He loves his sister and her son tenderly, and wishes to provide for them by the marriage which Pepe’s presence threatens to prevent. The nephew, though selfish and little, has moments of almost being a good fellow; the sister, though she is really such a lamb of meekness51, becomes a cat, and scratches Don Inocencio dreadfully when he weakens in his design against Pepe.
Rosario, one of the sweetest and purest images of girlhood that I know in fiction, abandons herself with equal passion to the love she feels for her cousin Pepe, and to the love she feels for her mother, Doña Perfecta. She is ready to fly with him, and yet she betrays him to her mother’s pitiless hate.
But it is Doña Perfecta herself who is the transcendent figure, the most powerful creation of the book. In her, bigotry and its fellow-vice, hypocrisy52, have done their perfect work, until she comes near to being a devil, and really does some devil’s deeds. Yet even she is not without some extenuating53 traits. Her bigotry springs from her conscience, and she is truly devoted54 to her daughter’s eternal welfare; she is of such a native frankness that at a certain point she tears aside her mask of dissimulation55 and lets Pepe see all the ugliness of her perverted56 soul. She is wonderfully managed. At what moment does she begin to hate him, and to wish to undo57 her own work in making a match between him and her daughter? I could defy anyone to say. All one knows is that at one moment she adores her brother’s son, and at another she abhors58 him, and has already subtly entered upon her efforts to thwart59 the affection she has invited in him for her daughter.
Caballuco, what shall I say of Caballuco? He seems altogether bad, but the author lets one imagine that this cruel, this ruthless brute60 must have somewhere about him traits of lovableness, of leniency61, though he never lets one see them. His gratitude62 to Doña Perfecta, even his murderous devotion, is not altogether bad; and he is certainly worse than nature made him, when wrought63 upon by her fury and the suggestion of Don Inocencio. The scene where they work him up to rebellion and assassination64 is a compendium65 of the history of intolerance; as the mean little conceited66 city of Orbajosas is the microcosm of bigoted67 and reactionary68 Spain.
IV
I have called, or half-called, this book tendencious; but in a certain larger view it is not so. It is the eternal interest of passion working upon passion, not the temporary interest of condition antagonizing condition, which renders “Doña Perfecta” so poignantly69 interesting, and which makes its tragedy immense. But there is hope as well as despair in such a tragedy. There is the strange support of a bereavement70 in it, the consolation71 of feeling that for those who have suffered unto death, nothing can harm them more; that even for those who have inflicted72 their suffering this peace will soon come.
“Is Perez Galdos a pessimist73?” asks the critic Clarín. “No, certainly; but if he is not, why does he paint us sorrows that seem inconsolable? Is it from love of paradox74? Is it to show that his genius, which can do so much, can paint the shadow lovelier than the light? Nothing of this. Nothing that is not serious, honest, and noble, is to be found in this novelist. Are they pessimistic, those ballads75 of the North, that always end with vague resonances76 of woe77? Are they pessimists78, those singers of our own land, who surprise us with tears in the midst of laughter? Is Nature pessimistic, who is so sad at nightfall that it seems as if day were dying forever? . . . The sadness of art, like that of nature, is a form of hope. Why is Christianity so artistic? Because it is the religion of sadness.”
W. D. HOWELLS.
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alas
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| int.唉(表示悲伤、忧愁、恐惧等) | |
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derive
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| v.取得；导出；引申；来自；源自；出自 | |
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aspirations
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| 强烈的愿望( aspiration的名词复数 )； 志向； 发送气音； 发 h 音 | |
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adventurous
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| adj.爱冒险的；惊心动魄的，惊险的，刺激的 | |
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infinitely
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| adv.无限地，无穷地 | |
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insurgent
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| adj.叛乱的，起事的；n.叛乱分子 | |
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shuns
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| v.避开，回避，避免( shun的第三人称单数 ) | |
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prudence
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| n.谨慎，精明，节俭 | |
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severely
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| adv.严格地；严厉地；非常恶劣地 | |
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bigotry
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| n.偏见，偏执，持偏见的行为[态度]等 | |
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secular
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| n.牧师，凡人；adj.世俗的，现世的，不朽的 | |
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fanaticism
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| n.狂热，盲信 | |
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bosom
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| n.胸，胸部；胸怀；内心；adj.亲密的 | |
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testimony
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| n.证词；见证，证明 | |
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motive
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| n.动机，目的；adv.发动的，运动的 | |
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apparently
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| adv.显然地；表面上，似乎 | |
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potently
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tract
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| n.传单，小册子，大片(土地或森林) | |
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perversions
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| n.歪曲( perversion的名词复数 )；变坏；变态心理 | |
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creed
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| n.信条；信念，纲领 | |
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artistic
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| adj.艺术(家)的，美术(家)的；善于艺术创作的 | |
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artistically
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| adv.艺术性地 | |
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conversion
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| n.转化，转换，转变 | |
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Vogue
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| n.时髦，时尚；adj.流行的 | |
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poignant
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| adj.令人痛苦的，辛酸的，惨痛的 | |
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valiant
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| adj.勇敢的，英勇的；n.勇士，勇敢的人 | |
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magisterial
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| adj.威风的，有权威的；adv.威严地 | |
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simplicity
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| n.简单，简易；朴素；直率，单纯 | |
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munitions
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| n.军火，弹药；v.供应…军需品 | |
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aesthetic
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| adj.美学的，审美的，有美感 | |
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inclinations
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| 倾向( inclination的名词复数 )； 倾斜； 爱好； 斜坡 | |
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fathomed
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| 理解…的真意( fathom的过去式和过去分词 )； 彻底了解； 弄清真相 | |
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picturesque
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| adj.美丽如画的，（语言）生动的，绘声绘色的 | |
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portraying
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| v.画像( portray的现在分词 )；描述；描绘；描画 | |
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imbibed
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| v.吸收( imbibe的过去式和过去分词 )；喝；吸取；吸气 | |
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envelop
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| vt.包，封，遮盖；包围 | |
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withhold
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| v.拒绝，不给；使停止，阻挡 | |
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compassion
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| n.同情，怜悯 | |
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abhorrence
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| n.憎恶；可憎恶的事 | |
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admiration
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| n.钦佩，赞美，羡慕 | |
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41
transcend
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| vt.超出，超越(理性等)的范围 | |
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artifices
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| n.灵巧( artifice的名词复数 )；诡计；巧妙办法；虚伪行为 | |
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uncommon
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| adj.罕见的，非凡的，不平常的 | |
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prophesy
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| v.预言；预示 | |
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density
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| n.密集，密度，浓度 | |
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supreme
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| adj.极度的，最重要的；至高的，最高的 | |
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motives
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| n.动机，目的( motive的名词复数 ) | |
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monstrous
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| adj.巨大的；恐怖的；可耻的，丢脸的 | |
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condescends
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| 屈尊，俯就( condescend的第三人称单数 )； 故意表示和蔼可亲 | |
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intrigue
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| vt.激起兴趣，迷住；vi.耍阴谋；n.阴谋，密谋 | |
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51
meekness
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| n.温顺，柔和 | |
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52
hypocrisy
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| n.伪善，虚伪 | |
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53
extenuating
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| adj.使减轻的，情有可原的v.（用偏袒的辩解或借口）减轻( extenuate的现在分词 )；低估，藐视 | |
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devoted
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| adj.忠诚的，忠实的，热心的，献身于...的 | |
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dissimulation
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| n.掩饰，虚伪，装糊涂 | |
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perverted
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| adj.不正当的v.滥用( pervert的过去式和过去分词 )；腐蚀；败坏；使堕落 | |
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undo
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| vt.解开，松开；取消，撤销 | |
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abhors
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| v.憎恶( abhor的第三人称单数 )；（厌恶地）回避；拒绝；淘汰 | |
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thwart
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| v.阻挠，妨碍，反对；adj.横(断的) | |
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brute
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| n.野兽，兽性 | |
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leniency
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| n.宽大（不严厉） | |
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gratitude
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| adj.感激，感谢 | |
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wrought
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| v.引起；以…原料制作；运转；adj.制造的 | |
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assassination
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| n.暗杀；暗杀事件 | |
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compendium
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| n.简要，概略 | |
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conceited
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| adj.自负的，骄傲自满的 | |
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bigoted
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| adj.固执己见的，心胸狭窄的 | |
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reactionary
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| n.反动者，反动主义者；adj.反动的，反动主义的，反对改革的 | |
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poignantly
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bereavement
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| n.亲人丧亡，丧失亲人，丧亲之痛 | |
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consolation
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| n.安慰，慰问 | |
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inflicted
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| 把…强加给，使承受，遭受( inflict的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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pessimist
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| n.悲观者；悲观主义者；厌世 | |
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paradox
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| n.似乎矛盾却正确的说法；自相矛盾的人(物) | |
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ballads
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| 民歌，民谣，特别指叙述故事的歌( ballad的名词复数 )； 讴 | |
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resonances
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| n.共鸣( resonance的名词复数 )；（声音） 洪亮；（文章、乐曲等） 激发联想的力量；（情感）同感 | |
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woe
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| n.悲哀，苦痛，不幸，困难；int.用来表达悲伤或惊慌 | |
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pessimists
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| n.悲观主义者( pessimist的名词复数 ) | |
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