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Abstract
The underlying surface of the palimpsest in question is not physical. Instead, it is constituted by the events and persons of the Spanish War of Independence from Napoleonic France. Although this period officially extends from 1808 to 1814, the epoch-making Battle of Trafalgar in 1805 initiates the period for many historians as well as for the novelists Benito Pérez Galdós and Arturo Pérez-Reverte. Onto this surface, then, from 1805 to our own days, narratives have been and continue to be created: some in words (lexical representations), some in images (graphic representations), and some in hybrid graphic-lexical, as well as in filmic, versions. Commonly those who come later in the process are very familiar with earlier representations. Over both them and the underlying historical events and persons these later “painters” create their own narratives of all or part of the 1805–14 period. This article centers on the narratives of Galdós and Pérez-Reverte as especially prominent layers of the palimpsest of the war while contextualizing their layers of the palimpsest onto a canvas that includes the contributions of Francisco José de Goya and the Count of Toreno.
Notes
Permission to reproduce the eight figures of the Appendix was granted by Prof. Enrique Rubio Cremades, Director of the Biblioteca Virtual Miguel de Cervantes, and Ms. Julia Bernal, Subdirector of the Taller Digital of the Univ. of Alicante effected their electronic transfer. Without the help of these colleagues, this article would have been much less than it is. Many thanks to them and the institutions they represent.
1. See the Web page of the Biblioteca Nacional de España, under the section of “Dibujos y grabados,” to get a sense of the wealth of graphic and graphic-lexical materials created by eyewitnesses to the war from May 1808 onward.
2. Enguídanos's broadside may be consulted in the Urbión-Hernando edition of Pérez Galdós, Episodios nacionales 1: 253.
3. Carrafa's engravings with captions may be consulted in the Urbión-Hernando edition of Pérez Galdós, Episodios nacionales 1: 312–13.
4. On the epic dimension of the first series of Episodios, see Miller, “Epic” and “Galdós and the Theory.”
5. For a complete study of the portrayal by Galdós of the English in the first series, see Miller-Ojeda.
6. For a full discussion of the Montealegre manuscript, see Miller, “The Montealegre.”
7. See Varela Hervías for Galdós's letters to Mesonero and Ortega 23–36 for Mesonero's letters to Galdós. The correspondence begins in the 18 May 1875 from Galdós to Mesonero and comes between the last volume of the first series of Episodios that was written in February to March 1875, and the first volume of the second series that was written in June to July of the same year. At the same time it should be remembered that the first volume of the second series of Episodios, El equipaje del rey José, is strictly speaking still treating War of Independence materials: the final departure of José Bonaparte from Madrid and the last great victory of Wellington against the French at Vitoria; moreover, as a somewhat older child by the 1813 time of the novel, Mesonero could have had more direct memories of the French in Madrid and shared them orally with Galdós.
8. See Galdós, “Galería de españoles” and “Galería de figuras” for the flavor of Galdós's appreciation of Mesonero. In the present context, consider this statement by Galdós: “No hay mas que abrir… El antiguo Madrid para comprender que la ciudad de los tres Felipes y …Mesonero Romanos son tan amigos, como pueden serlo el lienzo y el pintor, el pentágrama y el músico. Aquel distinguido madrileño… no solo ha desentrañado el oscuro plano de su antigua configuración, ha demarcado hábilmente los progresos del caserío, de las calles, de las plazas, sino que también ha pintado sus costumbres con extraordinaria exactitud” (Galdós, “Galería de españoles” 259).
9. In my “Esbozo” 259–61, I develop a theory of the density of illustration for narrative texts.
10. All these questions are treated in great detail by me in Galdós gráfico, esp. in 167–219.
11. All figures are in the appendix, and the appendix consists of the eight pages—137 to 144—of no. 18 of vol. 13 (1848) of the SPE.
12. For more on this, see Miller, “History and Interpretation.”
13. Pérez-Reverte's novel El pintor de batallas, in which Goya has a significant presence as a “painter of battles,” demonstrates just how important the graphic part of the historical record is to the author.