Visor de obras.

In the current Cátedra edition of Fortunata y Jacinta Francisco Caudet provides a valuable service for Galdosian scholars by supplementing the text -based on the «La Guirnalda» first edition of 1887- with footnotes which quote material that was either discarded or changed at the galley stage. Although Caudet acknowledges his inability to record the thousands of galley revisions that Galdós made, he does propose to cite the more important ones. Surprisingly, however, he does not include one of the few scenes from the galleys which was deleted in its entirety. It occurs in Part IV, Chapter 2, Section V, where Moreno-Isla is trying to decide if he should make a parting visit to the Santa Cruz household before leaving for England. In the published text he defers his decision, but in the galleys he does go to see Don Baldomero, specifically choosing a time when Jacinta is out of the house. This excised segment immediately follows «¡Qué chiquillo me he vuelto!» and would have appeared on page 356 of Caudet's second volume:

Galdós replaced this scene with a single sentence that brings Moreno-Isla's mental debate to an end: «En fin, tengo tiempo de pensarlo de aquí á mañana, porque lo que es hoy, no iré».

When we examine the Fortunata y Jacinta galleys as a whole, we see t at Galdós rarely cut an entire scene. Rather, he preferred to trim away portions of scenes while leaving the framework intact. Why did he choose the more radical course in this case? Although we can never know for sure, perhaps Jonathan Culler's description of the writing process can provide some insights into the matter. According to Culler, an author's «[c]hoices between words, between sentences, between different modes of presentation, will be made on the basis of their effects; and the notion of effect presupposes modes of reading which are not random or haphazard. Even if the author   —180→   does not think of readers, he is himself a reader of his own work and will not be satisfied with it unless he can read it as producing effects» (116).

What are the effects produced by both the deleted scene and its substitution? In order to answer this question we must examine Galdós's change in light of the material that surrounds it. The chapter in which it is found, «Insomnio», relies heavily on the technique of retrospective dramatic irony. It is only upon re-reading this chapter with the knowledge of Moreno-Isla's imminent death that we can appreciate the irony in his joking references to his own corpse during his medical examination; or his desire not to die in Spain so as to avoid having his remains transported in vulgar funeral coaches; or his playful suggestion that Guillermina gnaw a hole in heaven to let him in when he dies; or his anguished wish to have one more day in Spain in order to find the beggar-girl whose singing had so enchanted him that afternoon. When viewed within this context, the ironic function of the deleted scene becomes clear. Its essence lies in Don Baldomero's refusal to give Moreno-Isla a proper good-bye because he would see him again the next day. But, none of the galley material leading up to this statement is necessary for the overall development of the novel. Both Moreno-Isla's ill health and his desire to avoid contact with Jacinta have been established earlier in the chapter. Also, these same concerns are re-enforced in the very next scene when he accidentally meets Jacinta on the steps to his home. Moreno-Isla's visit merely serves as a vehicle for Don Baldomero's ironic punch-line. In his galley revision Galdós was able to tighten up the narrative by deleting this scene and substituting a simple statement which retains all of the irony but eliminates the repetitive elements. Indeed, the ironic impact of the shorter version is actually stronger than the galley text because it is now Moreno-Isla who unwittingly denies himself what turns out to be his final farewell to Don Baldomero. By discarding this scene and then reworking its core element Galdós was able to achieve an intensified ironic effect in a more concise manner.

Though superfluous to the working out of the storyline, this galley scene is however an example of the artistry that Galdós often displays in his creation of situations which resonate with some incident occurring elsewhere in the novel. Moreno-Isla's difficult climb up the stairs to the Santa Cruz household in this deletion is reminiscent of his earlier entrance into their home in Part III, Chapter 2, Section IV. Both scenes mention the strain on Moreno-Isla caused by his physical exertion, but in each case the same circumstances elicit a markedly different emotional response from him. In the first scene Moreno-Isla, newly arrived in Spain, has accepted a luncheon invitation from Barbarita. He is delighted to find Jacinta greeting him at the door, which he calls «Puerta del paraíso», not only because of its position at the head of the staircase, but also because of Jacinta's presence when he reaches it. His flirtatious remark about Jacinta opening the door, «¡qué manos te abren...!», marks the beginning of Moreno-Isla's romantic pursuit of Jacinta (2: 68). The mirror image of this event is seen in the opening lines of the galley deletion, which shows Moreno-Isla complaining as he climbs the stairs of that «maldita casa» at an hour specifically designed to coincide with Jacinta's absence. Don Baldomero is unable to convince him to eat with the family, and Moreno-Isla's behavior toward his godfather boarders on rudeness because he is fearful that Jacinta may arrive at any moment. Moreno-Isla, having failed in his lengthy campaign to win Jacinta through his constant proximity to her, intends to leave Spain in hopes of conquering her from afar.

Although general critical opinion holds that Moreno-Isla's respect for Jacinta kept him from actively trying to seduce her during his last sojourn in Spain, subtle evidence from the text suggests otherwise. Through Moreno-Isla's thoughts in Section ii of the «Insomnio» chapter we learn about the evasive manoeuvres that Jacinta uses to discourage Moreno-Isla's advances: «las pocas veces que la cojo sola, no adelanto nada. Si le digo cualquier reticencia delicada, se hace la tonta. Evita el encontrarse sola conmigo» (2: 338). Later in that section Jacinta chastises Moreno-Isla for filling his head with «cosas imposibles». She tells him that he should «no desear lo que no se puede tener» and says that she agrees with his cousin Moreno Rubio's assessment that his ill health stems from his «malas ideas» (2: 340). We know from the conversation between Moreno-Isla and his cousin in the previous section that these ideas are of an amorous nature. Indeed, as Gonzalo Sobejano has observed, Moreno-Isla's primary role in the novel is to show that Jacinta remains faithful to Juanito despite the opportunity to do otherwise (221). Chapter 1 of Part IV ends with Aurora's remarks to Fortunata concerning a possible affair between Jacinta and Moreno-Isla, but the very next chapter proves these accusations to be false. Moreno-Isla's thoughts throughout Chapter 2 reveal that Jacinta is fully aware of his advances, but that she simply chooses not to respond to them. In the series of interior monologues that fill Section iii, Moreno-Isla specifically refers to his assault on Jacinta's virtue as a «[c]ampaña», that «pareció fácil, resulta no ya difícil, sino imposible» (2: 342). He now plans to change his strategy in order to try to achieve with his absence what he was not able to gain through his presence: «De lejos la querré lo mismo que de cerca, y ella me querrá tal vez. Seré para ella como un sueño, y los sueños suelen herir el corazón más que la realidad» (2: 347). Although Moreno-Isla's thoughts are halted with this statement in the published text, they continue for several more sentences in the galleys. Caudet does reproduce this deletion in a footnote on page 347 of his second volume. This excised material reveals Moreno-Isla's eagerness to leave for England so he can begin to write love letters which Estupiña will secretly convey to Jacinta (in yet another example of Estupiña's smuggling capacity). From the published portion of his thoughts we know that Moreno-Isla has indeed broached the subject of a relationship with Jacinta on at least one occasion:

Through letters, however, Moreno-Isla would have been able to muster all of his persuasive powers to try to break down Jacinta's resistance. Indeed, Moreno-Isla is well aware of the one motivation that might induce Jacinta to be unfaithful: «Por un niño, bien se podría dar la virtud» (2: 343). As Harriet Turner has suggested, Jacinta's barrenness can possibly be traced to her infrequent moments of intimacy with Juanito (15). If so, taking a lover might substantially increase her chances of conceiving a child. Moreno-Isla, though rejected by Jacinta, is not willing to give up his fight for her. In   —182→   Section iv we learn that he intends to return to Spain in Spring of the next year in order to continue his pursuit of Jacinta after she has had time to miss him. Of course, all of these plans are brought to an abrupt end with Moreno-Isla's premature death, which in itself has an ironic dimension. Not only does his death cure his chronic insomnia, but it also allows him to absent himself immediately from Jacinta.

It is interesting to note, however, that Moreno-Isla does not die in the original (Alpha) manuscript.¹⁴⁹ Rather, he is prominently featured in one of the several possible endings sketched out by Galdós in the final pages of that manuscript:

In her analysis of this ending Mercedes López-Baralt notes that the juxtaposition of Moreno-Isla's behavior and Jacinta's pregnancy implies that the babys father is Moreno-Isla rather than Juanito (21). Indeed, this may have been Galdós's intention because earlier in the Alpha manuscript he mentions that «Moreno ha tenido varios hijos naturales» (Flyman 456). Clearly the possibility of an afflir between Jacinta and Moreno-Isla is totally at odds with the manner in which Galdós develops and concludes his novel in both the Beta manuscript and the published text. Yet, as López-Baralt observes, Galdós does retain the concept of a union between these two characters by allowing them to become the symbolic parents of Fortunata and Juanito's baby (21). In the oft-quoted final lines to the penultimate section of the novel Jacinta's thoughts refashion the child into an image of herself and Moreno-Isla. Then she mentally restores Moreno-Isla to life by thinking that «bien podría Moreno haber sido su marido... vivir todavía, no estar gastado ni enfermo» (2: 534). In the long absence of his death Moreno-Isla does indeed become a dream that wounds Jacinta's heart.

By making the Jacinta/Moreno-Isla parentage of Juanín a product of Jacinta's wistful imaginings rather than a concrete reality, Galdós was able to preserve Jacinta's virtue while allowing her to acknowledge and accept Moreno-Isla's affection. I am unable to agree with José Schraibman's assertion that Moreno-Isla appears to be in love with Jacinta but actually is only interested in achieving another sexual conquest (12). In the «Insomnio» chapter, Moreno-Isla's numerous interior monologues testify that his feelings for Jacinta are unlike any he had ever experienced before, and literary convention holds that characters do not consciously lie to themselves in their thoughts. Moreno-Isla may well have begun his pursuit of Jacinta out of purely sexual motives, but in the course of his dealings with her, he develops a profound emotional attachment for this woman whom he cannot have. When in Section iii Moreno-Isla confesses to himself that «de esa mujer digo yo lo que hasta ahora no he dicho de ninguna, y es que si fuera soltera, me casaría con ella», we witness a genuine declaration of his love (2: 343). Moreno-Isla's sincerity is rewarded at the end of the novel when all of his wishes concerning Jacinta finally come true, though not in the way that he had anticipated. In Section iii he longed   —183→   for Jacinta to tell herself. «¡Qué bueno es este Moreno! Si yo fuera su mujer, no me daría disgustos, y habríamos tenido un chiquillo» (2: 346). And in Section vi, just moments before his death, he wondered Jacinta might respond to him differently on his next visit to Spain: «¿Y quién me asegura que el año que viene, cuando vuelva, no la encontraré en otra disposición? Vamos a ver.. ¿por qué no había de ser así? Se habrá convencido de que amar a un marido como el que tiene es contrario a la naturaleza; y su Dios, amigo de Estupiñá, le ha de aconsejar que me quiera. ¡Oh!, sí, el año que viene vuelvo... en Abril» (2: 362). Indeed, in the final irony surrounding Moreno-Isla's character, it is precisely in April of the next year when these things come to pass. Jacinta, in possession of Fortunata's newborn baby, scorns Juanito and finally enters into an alliance, albeit only spiritual, with Moreno-Isla.

Butler University

• Culler, Jonathan. Structuralist Poetics: Structuralism, Linguistics, and the Study of Literature. Ithaca: Cornell Univ. Press, 1975.
• Hyman, Diane Beth. «The Fortunata y Jacinta Manuscript of Benito Pérez Galdós». Ph. D. Diss. Harvard Univ., 1972.
• López-Baralt, Mercedes. «Fortunata y Jacinta en gestación: de la versión Alpha a la versión Beta del manuscrito galdosiano». Anales Galdosianos 22 (1987): 11-24.
• Schraibman, José. «Una parodia de una parodia: Juanito Santa Cruz y Moreno-Isla». Revista de Filología de la Universidad de La Laguna 1 (1982): 7-12.
• Sobejano, Gonzalo. «Muerte del solitario (Benito Pérez Galdós: Fortunata y Jacinta, 4.ª, 11, 6)». El comentario de textos, 3: La novela realista. Madrid: Castalia, 1982. 203-54. (Rpt. in Fortunata y Jacinta de Benito Pérez Galdós. Ed. Germán Gullón. Madrid: Taurus, 1986.)
• Pérez Galdós, Benito. Fortunata y Jacinta. Ed. Francisco Caudet. 2 vols. Madrid: Cátedra, 1985.
• Turner, Harriet S. «Family Ties and Tyrannies: A Reassessment of Jacinta». Hispanic Review 51 (1983): 1-22.