Los médicos y la medicina en Lo prohibido de Benito Pérez Galdós
The Doctors and the Medicine of the Time in The Forbidden by Benito Pérez Galdós

Summary/Abstract: Spanish literary critics consider Benito Pérez Galdós the most remarkable representative of realism in Spain, and, at the same time, one of the most important novelists in the history of universal literature. In his novel, The Forbidden, the writer presents with extreme accuracy all the realities of Madrid in 1880-1884, with details from the life of its inhabitants. Nowadays, the novel represents a priceless source of historical and anthropological information about Spanish society at the end of the 19th century. The author talks about a series of political events, describes the customs of the Spanish aristocracy and bourgeoisie, with receptions and favourite walking spots, but also presents the degree of scientific and technological development of that epoch. Benito Pérez Galdós is deeply interested in the medicine of the time, offering us some extremely interesting details about early healing methods and describing to us the characters’ symptoms with unexpected precision, as he follows the evolution of the illness with scientific interest, whether it’s about imaginary illnesses (almost each member of the hero’s family suffers from mania or nervous affection), or about real illnesses, which can lead to death. As James Whiston notes, “The Forbidden is, probably, the Galdosian novel in which diseases are frequently found, real or imaginary (Whiston 2001:109). The detail is not at all random: ”...the omnipresence of the disease in this novel signals a sick society.” (Whiston 2001:109)

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