In Tristana, the most important traits of Galdos’ art manifest themselves. Through intense contradictions, his heroes operate in the poor urban neighborhoods of Madrid, in an environment of dignified misery. The hurried, messy and sometimes harsh style characterizes the story that was masterfully transferred to the cinema by L. Bunuel.
Benito Pérez Galdós was born in 1845 in Las Palmas, in the Canary Islands, and died in Madrid in 1920. He lived through the period in which imperial Spain, with its overseas colonies, was in decline.
After completing secondary school, he moved to Madrid to study law.
The city fascinated him, and he set almost all of his works there. It was also in Madrid that he discovered theatre and became a devoted admirer of it.
He traveled to Paris, where he became acquainted with the works of Flaubert, Balzac, and Zola, and to London, where he encountered the writings of Dickens.