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Anales galdosianos [Publicaciones periódicas]. Año XII, 1977
illusion of their possible autonomy and our knowledge of their dependency. The questions that follow
upon that illusion constitute an inquiry into the nature of fiction through the problematic relationship
between author and character. To the extent that he is known to us as an invention of Galdós, Máximo
Manso here serves that investigative aim. And as happens regularly when the question matters more
than the answer, the investigation produces no findings. At the end, in successive paragraphs, Máximo
appears to will his own death -« Y tal era mi anhelo de descanso, que no me levanté más »- while
yet dependent on his conjurer to effect it -« El mismo perverso amigo que me había llevado al mundo
sacome de él » (L, 307, 308).
Máximo's death fits this scheme. Some critics have expressed puzzlement or sought vain
explanations for his death from natural causes at the age of 35. But how old is Máximo Manso; how
old is he now? Is he 35 as stated in the novel and therefore 35 forever? Is he 94, the age of the
novel at this writing? Or is he 129, the sum of the two? The point, of course, is that Manso does
not die; his story merely comes to a close. To borrow Nimetz' felicitous turn of phrase: «Although
a mirage, Manso never quite disappears» 136 . Manso's death is not physical; it is, like his birth, a
conjurer's act. A text cannot die. It can only reach its natural end, at which point, with one stage of
the creative act completed, it lies in a continued state of dormant existence until it is read, reread,
recreated, reexperienced. Manso can presumably die in his role as creator, though not as creation, a
fact which actually assures him of survival on both counts: as creator, he lives through his creations,
as Galdós does through Manso, even if his earthly traces disappear and his creations -Manolo, Irene-
also autonomize themselves; as creation, there is no way in which he can suffer mortality, for a « yo
sin carne ni hueso » (I, 1) is pure spirit.
In the novel's opening paragraph, Manso designates himself as a myth. A myth exists eternally, and
a mythical figure enjoys life and significance beyond that of the ordinary human being. Novel writing
is myth creation. Thus, when Máximo dies, he does not simply vanish from the earthly scene. His
death is a signal that the process of his mythification has been accomplished. That is, he dies because
the fictional mission has been realized: his story has been told; he has been created. He is now ready
to pass into eternity. How is it he can tell us about his own demise? As subject and object, as teller
of his tale, as creator of himself, he stands both outside and inside the fiction. He is a fictional being
who is witness to his own fictionalization. From Máximo's perch outside the process of which he is
136 Michael Nimetz, Humor in Galdós (New Haven: Yale Univ. Press, 1968), p. 98.
98