Benito Pérez Galdós

Biography

Benito Pérez Galdós (1843–1920) was a Spanish realist novelist, dramatist, and liberal politician widely regarded as the greatest Spanish novelist since Cervantes. Born in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, he moved to Madrid at nineteen and spent his life chronicling Spanish society. His monumental Episodios Nacionales (National Episodes), a series of forty-six historical novels, traces Spanish history from the Battle of Trafalgar through the Restoration. His contemporary novels, including Fortunata y Jacinta and Doña Perfecta, dissect Spanish society with Balzacian breadth. Galdós was nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literature five times but never won, likely due to political opposition from conservative Spanish factions.