Visions of the Revolution of 1854: Frances Calderón de la Barca and Benito Pérez Galdós

Abstract

In this article, we oppose two visions on the Revolution of 1854: the first by an eyewitness, Frances Calderón de la Barca, who was present at most of the events she described, the second by the novelist Benito Pérez Galdós, who wrote on the subject 50 years later, in the more global context of his Episodios nacionales. We will consider the narrative strategies put into place in both works, the social position of the protagonists, and in particular the linguistic characterisation of the popular classes (using such terms as “people”, “mob”, “populace”, “scum”).