171
Perceptive comments on the style and its effect are provided by R. Gullón, Psicologías..., pp. 63-64.
172
Nimetz, Humor..., p. 182.
173
«Las citas bíblicas en Misericordia de Galdós», Cuadernos Hispanoamericanos, Nos. 250-52 (1970-71), p. 504.
174
The fact that Benina and St. Rita have similar surnames is noted by the following critics: Germán Gullón, El narrador en la novela del siglo XIX (Madrid: Taurus, 1976), pp. 118-20, 126; Walter T. Pattison, Benito Pérez Galdós (Boston: Twayne, 1972), p. 136; Alfredo Rodríguez, Estudios sobre la novela de Galdós (Madrid: José Porrúa Turanzas, 1978), p. 73; Robert Russell, «The Christ Figure in Misericordia», Anales galdosianos, 2 (1967), 106.
175
This and all subsequent references to Misericordia are indicated parenthetically in the text and are taken from Benito Pérez Galdós, O. c., Novelas y miscelánea (Madrid: Aguilar, 1970), III, 683-798.
176
Benedictine Monks of St. Augustine's Abbey, Ramsgate, The Book of Saints, 4th ed. (New York: Macmillan, 1947), p. 510; John J. Delaney, Dictionary of Saints (New York: Doubleday, 1980), p. 493; John J. Delaney and James E. Tobin, Dictionary of Catholic Biography (New York: Doubleday, 1961), p. 994; The Encyclopedia of Catholic Saints (New York: Chilton Books, 1966), V, 109-11; Enciclopedia Universal Ilustrada - Europeo-Americana (Madrid: Espasa-Calpe, 1926), LI, 823b-24a; The New Catholic Encyclopedia (New York: McGraw-Hill, 1967), XII, 514b; The Saints, ed. John Coulson (New York: Hawthorn Books, 1958), p. 389.
177
According to H. Chonon Berkowitz, the character of Benina was inspired by Catalina Robayna, the family nursemaid who raised the young Galdós from infancy in the Canary Islands before he went to Madrid (Pérez Galdós: Spanish Liberal Crusader [Madison: Univ. of Wisconsin Press, 1948], p. 173).
178
Robert Russell (note 2183, above) and Theodore S. Beardsley, Jr. («The Life and Passion of Christ in Galdós Misericordia», Homenaje a Sherman H. Eoff [Madrid: Castalia, 1970], pp. 39-58) perceptively observe certain parallels and similarities between Galdós' depiction of Benina and a number of episodes in the life of Christ as it is recorded in the New Testament. These «Christ-like» elements seen in Benina's characterization are not incompatible with our belief that Benina is also a saint figure. A Christian saint, in the fullest sense of the term, is an exemplary Christian, one who emulates and imitates Christ in words as well as deeds. Gustavo Correa alludes to the saintly nature of Benina when he says: «El camino de la mendicidad es, para Benina, camino de santificación y la conduce a un angelismo que sobrenaturaliza su persona y la hace superior a todos los demás seres de la tierra» (El simbolismo religioso en las novelas de Pérez Galdós [Madrid: Gredos, 1962], p. 206).
179
According to accepted theological views, angels are saints (George H. Demetrakopoulos, Dictionary of Orthodox Theology [New York: Philosophical Library, 1964], p. 158; The New Columbia Encyclopedia, eds. William H. Harris and Judith S. Levey [New York: Columbia Univ. Press, 1975] P. 2394b).
180
La Santa Biblia, antigua versión de Casiodoro de Reina, revisión de 1960 (Lima: Sociedades Bíblicas Unidas en América Latina, 1960). The Spanish version of the Bible is quoted here to show more clearly the relationship of the Biblical language to Galdós' development of Benina.