Friday, September 14, 2012

The October Fortunata and Jacinta read-along

Ramon Casas
"La Madeleine" (1892)
I'm finally getting around to formally announcing the October read-along of Fortunata and Jacinta by Benito Pérez Galdós. Never having officially hosted a read-along, bear with me as I stumble my way through it. I'll try and adhere to a schedule, at least loosely:
  • Week of October 8—Volume 1
  • Week of October 15—Volume 2
  • Week of October 22—Volume 3
  • Week of October 29—Volume 4
That's a lot of book in a short period of time but I don't want it to drag on indefinitely (which tends to be my style too often). I plan on posting resources and (hopefully) helpful links for anyone joining in. If you find something you find useful or interesting and would like to pass it on, feel free to let me know and I'll add it to an upcoming resource page. At some point I hope to write about the 1980 TV series adaptation (561 minutes!). Here are some posts I've made on the novel so far and other Galdós-related posts:

A few resources on the novel and Galdós.

The initial post on the novel, thanks to a mention of it by The Neglected Books Page. Also contains a few quotes I had posted in another online life.

A few more quotes from the novel, focusing on the moneylender Torquemada (and his "student" Doña Lupe).

Posts on Galdós' Torquemada series

Posts on The Spendthrifts by Galdós

I'll post more on the novel and the read-along soon. As always, feel free to comment on the novel in my posts and let me know when you post on it...I would like to keep a "links" post near the top of the page during October.

Updates:

Himardi at The Argumentative Old Git has a post on Nazarin in this post and includes some of the film adaptations by Buñuel. I'm just starting to explore Buñuel's films. I'll post on these soon. I hope.

Article: The streets of Madrid as a structuring device in Fortunata y Jacinta by Phyllis Zatlin Boring looks at the structural framework of the novel, including diagrams of the love triangles and linkages of the city streets.

6 comments:

Amateur Reader (Tom) said...

I'm going to get moving on the novel soon. There is no way, now way a all, that I finish it in a mere month.

My edition is only about 800 pages, but they are such big pages.

Dwight said...

So will I...for the same reasons. It's huge, but so worth it.

Richard said...

Ditto X 2 (~1200 pages w/notes en español). About to jettison all frivolous reading obligations to gear up...

Dwight said...

Heh...just as I'm about to try and squeeze in another Galdós novel before the read-along.

Doubtful that will happen, but you never know. I'll repeat, with anything of Galdós or Alas (I failed to mention him earlier), it is worth jettisoning everything else. Not that the others aren't worth it, just that these guys kick some serious .... wait... I mean, they're good. Yeah, very good.

Richard said...

I actually got off to a late start despite my good intentions and have just now jettisoned all extraneous reading materials. Wish me luck catching up! P.S. I'm relieved to see here today that the targeted guideline for Vol. 1 is the "Week of October 8" and not "October 8" as I had thought I remembered--more wiggle room for the Galdós straggler, he he!

Dwight said...

Richard, no problems. Glad you're getting started. Don't worry on the timing...my schedule will be thrown off the early part of the week for various family things. I'll try and have the complete outline up by Monday. I hope it helps everyone reading along.