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Please note that this event will be held in Widener Library, Room G55, to be accessed through the Massachusetts Avenue entrance. RSVP is mandatory due to a limited seating capacity of 20 persons in Room G55.

Commemorating the centenary of Pérez Galdós’s death, this session opens by giving attendees the chance to see the original manuscript of Fortunata y Jacinta, which is kept at Harvard University's Houghton Library. The viewing of the manuscript will be followed by a talk by Professor Luis Fernández Cifuentes, titled “Money and Realism: the battle of Galdós’ plots.” Situated against the late nineteenth century, an era of unprecedented economic growth under the industrial revolution, this talk discusses three of Galdós’s novels as prime examples of how realist authors contested certain laws of that growth proposed by the contemporary Political Economy, through their portrayals of irrational consumers and financiers motivated by the individual’s misguiding whims and desires.

Luis Fernández Cifuentes is Robert S. and Ilse Friend Professor Emeritus of Romance Languages and Literatures at Harvard University. He has published books on Lorca's theater and 20th century narrative, critical editions of Zorrilla, Palacio Valdés and Max Aub, and more than 80 articles on multiple subjects, from autobiography to travel literature. He is currently working on a cultural history of the year 1955 in Spain.

Photo gallery: https://cervantesobservatorio.fas.harvard.edu/en/galleries/photos/commemorating-galdos-widener

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