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Anales galdosianos [Publicaciones periódicas]. Año XII, 1977
to bear on Máximo by Manuel when he persuades his mentor to stop at an unphilosophical buñolería
at the unphilosophical hour of four A.M.: « Transacción... Procuremos conciliarlo todo, como dice
su hermano de usted » (90). It is one of the many ironies of the novel that Máximo transige much
more than he ever realizes, although he does speak of the problem on several occasions, particularly
in the light of Manuel's duel (105).
The height of Máximo's coming to terms with his society is in his consenting to speak at the velada
along with any number of cursis before a popular audience. On this occasion Manuel, the man for
the century 111 , triumphs, and Manso fails, whereupon his brother tells him, « Nunca serás nada...
porque no estás nunca en situación. ¿Ves tu discurso de esta noche, que es práctico y filosófico y
todo lo que quieras? Pues no ha gustado, ni entusiasmará nunca al público nada de lo que escribas, ni
harás carrera, ni pasarás de triste catedrático, ni tendrás fama... Y tú, tú eres el que hace en mi casa
propaganda de modestia ridícula, de ñoñerías filosóficas y de necedades metódicas » (125-126). 112
The shifting mixtures of active and passive in the brothers Manso and in their relationship with
Manuel reach their apogee in the triple courtship of Irene, in which, of course, the younger man
cuckolds the two Mansos, each proceeding according to his established character: José María brutal
and unscrupulous, Máximo timid and analytical, while Manuel merely acts with the natural vitality
and drama of youth. Later Máximo laments that, unlike Manuel, he was not Adam but rather the
methodical angel defending the gates of the paradise of reason (200). The role of Manuel, then, as
simultaneous protegé and rival of both the Manso brothers is rather elaborately worked out as part of
the mansedumbre motif of the novel. Irene's saying that the two brothers are « el día y la noche
» (101) should not mislead us. Galdós has used such complex and superficially contradictory name
symbolism elsewhere. The Miau manuscript reveals that the unloved Villaamil sisters, Luisa and
Abelarda -the author's draft changes suggest it- take their names from the medieval lovers Héloïse
and Abelard, despite the sex change and inappropriate relationship 113 . The irony of their relationship
to Víctor, the unworthy man they both love, it thus expressed. For related artistic reasons Tristana, in
the novel of the same name, is not called Isolda.
111 « Parece que en él ha querido la Naturaleza hacer el hombre tipo de la época presente. Está cortado
y moldeado para su siglo, y encaja en éste como encaja en una máquina su pieza principal » (129).
112 One is reminded of the equally decisive climax in discurso form of a later Galdós novel,
Torquemada en el Purgatorio .
113 Robert J. Weber, The Miau Manuscript of Benito Pérez Galdós (Berkeley, 1964), p. 47.
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