Monday, November 19, 2012

English translations of novels by Galdós

Following up on the legal papers that were served me earlier this year by Richard (see the comments in this post), I thought I would provide a separate post for linking to my posts on the novels translated into English by Benito Pérez Galdós. I had no plans to go this far on his works but when you go with the flow as I do, stuff like this happens. I’m in no rush to check things off the list but I do have a few of these lined up to read over the next few months.

Books in English translation by Galdós

Angel Guerra (1890-91)

The Disinherited (1881)

Doña Perfecta (1876)

Fortunata and Jacinta (1886-87)

Gerona (1874)

The Golden Fountain Café (1870)

Miau (1888)

Misericordia (1897)

Nazarín (1895)

Our Friend Manso (1882)

Reality (1889)

The Shadow (1870)

The Spendthrifts (La de Bringas) (1884)

Torment (1884)

Torquemada
  • Torquemada at the Stake (1889)
  • Torquemada on the Cross (1893)
  • Torquemada in Purgatory (1894)
  • Torquemada and Saint Peter (1895)
Trafalgar (1873) (English translation available here)

Tristana (1892)

The Unknown (1889)

Short Stories in English translation by Galdós

"The Novel on the Tram"

Plays in English translation by Galdós
Mariucha (1903)

Posted reviews about movies based on Galdós' novels
The Grandfather (El Abuelo): 1988, Spain
Viridiana (based on Halma): 1961, Spain/Mexico
Tristana: 1970, Spain

11 comments:

Amateur Reader (Tom) said...

For a writer who remains as little known as Galdós, the length of the list is astounding.

Dwight said...

And they run the gamut from easily available to outrageously expensive. Several will need to be interlibrary loans because of limited availability and/or cost.

Jacobus 323 said...

Does anyone know if "Nazarin" has ever been translated into English?

Dwight said...

Yes, it's on the list. The copy I have is from Oxford University Press' "The World's Classics" series. Translated by Jo Labanyi. Published in 1993. I just did a search on used book sites and it can be found for under $10.

Unknown said...

please, does anybody know about an English translation or summary of "miau"?

Dwight Green said...

I have a Penguin Classics edition of "Miau," translated by J. M. Cohen. I did a quick search on abebooks.com this morning and found editions for under $5. Good luck!

Silvia said...

Trafalgar, his first "Episodio Nacional", it's also translated and free here,

https://archive.org/details/trafalgaratale00galdgoog

Dwight said...

Thanks so much Silvia. I've added it to the list along with the link. I greatly appreciate it!

Silvia said...

Nazarín is also translated! (I just love this author, I came back to your post in order to link it to an English reading friend who asks which would be the best first title for her to try? I don't know which one to recommend, since his books are somehow very different though his writing traits come through in all of them. You have a long and very complete book like Fortunata, or the lighter historic fiction of his Episodios, -some translated, the romantic and delightful Doña Perfecta, less complete but shorter as well, My friend Manso, -lovely title... and you've reviewed titles I have not read yet, so... it's difficult to me to recommend her a title.

Dwight said...

I thin k either Doña Perfecta or Manso would be good first books, as would Tristana (more available than most titles because of the recent NYRB release). All would give a flavor of his writing, and if she's interested then she can go on to the more complicated and lengthy ones. So nice to see his books are getting recommended!

Silvia said...

Yes, that's what I thought. I have two good friends who read Fortunata and Jacinta. One of them read Doña Perfecta before, and I bought Manso for her. Another third friend read Manso, (but she didn't think much of it, -maybe the humor didn't get through the translation, because it's very humorous, and it plays with the idea of a Manso telling us that he's a fictionalized character.)

I haven't read Tristana, but I've read Nazarín, and I find it very interesting (there's also a movie made inspired on it, with a Mexican twist.)

The person that asked, -a fourth person, lol-, ended up reading The Novel in a Tram, and I did the same just to realize I've read this short tale before. And she loved it, (same as I did.)

Thanks for the recommendations. I think you are just right about them.