This is the fourth episode in the Second Series of Galdós’s Episodios, or the fourteenth out of a total of forty-six.

It is set in 1821, that is, during the Trienio Liberal, the three years (1820-1823) that followed the uprising called Levantamiento de Riego. In the previous episode, La segunda casaca, we witnessed this insurrection: Colonel Rafael de Riego (1784-1823) succeeded--after more than fifteen uprisings of various colours attempted by other military or politicians--, in spearheading a revolt that forced king Fernando VII to accept the 1812 Constitution which he had revoked when he came back to Spain in 1814. This liberal interlude finished when France sent in 1823 another army (theme for Episode sixteenth – Los Cien Mil Hijos de San Luis) to help Fernando gain back his absolutist rule.

We could expect that these three years during which the country functioned as a constitutional monarchy would have lured Galdós when considering and writing his historical recreation: Liberalism had triumphed finally. And yet, they didn’t. In this volume I found Galdós tone, so far outstandingly equanimous, much more enervated and irritable than in the previous episodes. This liberal period failed, not just because it came to an end after so short a time, but because in itself it was loaded with problems. Two major ones are identified by Galdós, although they both shared some common characteristics.

The Liberalists split into two currents: the exalted and the moderates (exaltados y moderados). The exalted or comuneros were seen by Galdós, in their extremism and their impulse to violence, as execrable. There are several sections in which he expounds on the brutish characteristics of these ‘mobs’-- I have marked in several updates a few of these passages. The moderados, however, do not fare a lot better than the rioting crowds. For these are shown prey to personal ambitions and passions as well as captive to Freemasonry—hencethe title, the Grande Oriente, or the Hispanicised branch of the French Grand Orient.



This organization then is the protagonist of this Episode; Galdós devotes considerable sections to describing the functioning and scheme of the Freemasons, listing and exploring all its terms and complex system of symbols and structure. Clearly Galdós has done his research for the novel is loaded with peculiar terms. I found these parts slightly tedious, which may be was part of the effect desired by the writer. Freemasonry comes across as somewhat ridiculous, at least in the way it was put into practice in Spain during the 1820s, for it had lost a great part of the original spirit of the Enlightenment and acquired and barren formality bordering with the grotesque. Reading this section I discovered that there is in Paris this museum, which I hope to visit next time I am in the always alluring city.



Galdós provides fascinating depictions of Madrid active in its underground political activity in which cafés, such as the Fontana de Oro Golden Fountain—now converted into a sort of Irish Pub , as well as various periodicals offer nuclei of associations. Indeed, Galdós’s first historical novel, La Fontana de Oro, from 1870, explores further this ambiance. I hope to read it at some point. I have also enjoyed loose references here and there either to particular sites in Madrid or to operatic events, in particular to those musical works based on Beaumarchais (Rossini’s Barber of Seville or Mozart’s Le Nozze di Figaro, given that I had watched both of them recently in the Met Covid-19 daily broadcasts).



The character that provides the linking thread to the Second Series, Salvador de Monsalud, offers in this adventure greater complexity than that offered by Gabriel de Araceli of the First Series in the picaresque tradition. He is more modern, assuaged by self-doubt and deterred by frustrations. He still bears an idealism, that is easy to identify with Galdós’s own, and in this sense Monsalud can be seen to hold also a symbolic dimension: the country which is trying to find its way in history.



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Next: 7 de Julio19-century 2020 fiction-spanish ...more34 s1 comment Rafa Sánchez417 89

La peripecia vital de nuestros protagonistas durante el reinado de Fernando VII prosigue con el trienio liberal de 1820 a 1823, en esta entrega vemos la actuación disfuncional del gobierno mangoneado por las logias masónicas. La descripción sarcástica que hace Galdós del funcionamiento ridículo de las sesiones nocturnas en las diferentes logias, roza en la burla inmisericorde, la verdad es que pocas veces hemos visto a Galdós tan hiriente como con la mamarrachadas y mojigangas de los masones, creo que porque no les perdona la oportunidad perdida para la nación. Los altos ideales de libertad y progreso son bastardeados por una caterva de botarates, muy parecidos a sus oponentes absolutistas, lo que dará finalmente lugar a la reacción del Rey Felón.

Nuestro protagonista Salvador Monsalud va adquiriendo entidad como personaje, desesperado ante tanta incuria. 4 s José Manuel200 1 follower

Estamos en 1821. La monarquía absoluta de Fernando VII decepciona, incluso a muchos de los que fueron partidarios de su restauración tras la derrota de los invasores franceses. En la Corte se multiplican las asociaciones políticas o seudopolíticas (masones, comuneros) que ejercen de grupos de presión y rivalizan en colocar a sus afiliados en puestos de responsabilidad para intentar controlar el aparato de un estado desorganizado.
Galdós entra a saco con la masonería y sin restarle importancia al fondo de la cuestión (su ambición por el poder, como la de otros muchos), ridiculiza sus formas y pompas. Lo mismo hace con las agrupaciones rivales. Entre unos y otros (o hunos y hotros, como diría después Unamuno) España se va hundiendo. ¡Qué pena de letra "h", aparentemente muda pero que en este contexto huele a humillación!
Nuestro protagonista en este episodio es Salvador Monsalud, a quien ya conocimos en otros anteriores. Y aparecen nuevos personajes, perfectamente descritos, que tendrán mayor protagonismo en los siguientes libros.
historical-fiction spain spanish-literature2 s Javier Sánchez84 10

Intenso y trepidante episodio nacional en el que se entremezclan amoríos con sucesos terribles y en el que describe el funcionamiento de las sociedades secretas que durante el trienio liberal conspiraban desde distintos frentes para combatir lo que suponían eran restos de absolutismo y servilismo, lo que les llevó a cometer auténticas barbaridades en nombre de la libertad.episodios-nacionales1 David Jordan82 1 follower

Después de un volumen más, sigo pensando que Monsalud es un personaje más interesante y ambiguo que Gabriel.
En este volumen nos metemos a fondo en el universo de sociedades secretas, masones y vemos cuan complejo es el triennio liberal
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