Doña Perfecta es una novela sobre la intransigencia religiosa en la España del siglo XIX. Esta obra define a Benito Pérez Galdós como un escritor liberal, quien con su pluma señala al culpable de los males de su patria: la facción tradicionalista, cerrada al futuro, apegada a la letra, muerta para el verdadero espíritu cristiano; la que adopta por suyo el lema de dividir para reinar; que propicia la ignorancia popular, el caciquismo y la violencia en nombre de la pureza de la fe. Una dualidad de toda la historia: la estrechez de las ideas contra la tolerancia y el progreso. Ya en Misericordia concilia ese dualismo y concibe al dolor y a la injusticia como inevitables en la vida humana, cuyo único alivio es el amor al prójimo, la caridad. Proclama un cristianismo en toda la pureza que él imaginaba debía tener, omitiendo los principios eclesiásticos. (Sepan Cuantos, #107)
Author
People know Spanish writer Benito Pérez Galdós especially for his Episodios Nacionales (1873-1912), a series of 46 historical novels. Benito Pérez Galdós was a Spanish realist novelist. Some authorities consider him second only to Cervantes in stature as a Spanish novelist. He was the leading literary figure in 19th century Spain. Galdós was a prolific writer, publishing 31 novels, 46 Episodios Nacionales (National Episodes), 23 plays, and the equivalent of 20 volumes of shorter fiction, journalism and other writings. He remains popular in Spain, and galdosistas (Galdós researchers) considered him Spain's equal to Dickens, Balzac and Tolstoy. As recently as 1950, few of his works were available translated to English, although he has slowly become popular in the Anglophone world. While his plays are generally considered to be less successful than his novels, Realidad (1892) is important in the history of realism in the Spanish theatre.
