Benito Pérez Galdós

Who was Benito Pérez Galdós?

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, 23 plays, and the equivalent of 20 volumes of shorter fiction, journalism and other writings. He remains popular in Spain, and galdosistas 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 is important in the history of realism in the Spanish theatre.

The Galdós museum in Las Palmas, Gran Canaria, features a portrait of the writer by Joaquín Sorolla.