From the time of its publication in 1881 to the present day, critics have acknowledged that La desheredada occupies a landmark position in Galdbs' literary development. I The novel initiates the series of Novelas con- temporcineas, in which Galdos seeks to transform the modern Spanish novel into an instrument ofmoral and social reform, a didactic project that identifies him ethically and ideologically with the utopian objectives of Krausist educators.2
Appropriately, in the Dedicatoria to La desheredada the author addresses the novel to the potential healers of social ills, "a 10s que son o deben ser sus verdaderos medicos: a 10s maestros de escuela."3 By articulating the Dedication in this way, Galdos inadvertently assigns the past, present, and future specific critical parameters that subsequently emerge in the context of the novel. The narrative, which roughly encompasses the years 1872-76, captures the eager, collective anticipation of the realization of egalitarian ideals with the abdication of Amadeo I and the declaration of the First Republic, ensuing disillusionment at the ineptitude and corruption that undermine the Republic, and total condemnation of the horrifying spectacle of vanity and greed that follows in the wake of the Bourbon Restoration. In the present, the purview of the Dedicatoria, Moraleja, and of the novel's intrusive, moralistic narrative voice, implied author and narrator effect a process of dissociation, in which the Republic and republican ideals as embodied in recent Spanish history are severed from the superior ethics with which they are theoretically imbued. In this fashion, Galdos rationalizes the debacle of Spanish Republicanism, attacking human corruption without faulting or dismissing democratic ideals out of hand. The present thus becomes a timein which to assess past andcurrent moral weakness and lay the foundation for the ethical reforms which must precede successful sociopolitical reform. Implicit in the author's criticism of past and present is the vague outline of a future utopian society in which men of the highest character will protect and maintain the welfare of the community through institutions genuinely representative of the collective interests of the public.4 As the historical continuum of La desheredada unfolds, the reader witnesses the formation of a blueprint for social change and the appearance of an incipient political consciousness.
Galdos' novel chronicles the process of social levelling that had begun to reshape the class hierarchy in Spain as early as the mid-1850's5 In his presentation of the Marquesa de Aransis and her mausoleum-like palace, the author provides a requiem for the waning dominance of the landed aristocracy and their archaic code of conduct. The Marquesa continues to follow the leisure-class patterns of the nobles of the past, spending the "season" abroad, and only a few days in her tasteless dwelling in Madrid with its Neophilologus 75 (1991) 390-398