The Abyss Attraction in Galdós: the Theme of Suicide in La estafeta romántica

Abstract

Suicide is one of the most recurrent themes in Pérez Galdós novels. Among all the books that make up Los Episodios Nacionales, La estafeta romántica is probably the one in which this interest in suicide is best shown. With an epistolary structure, this work brings up the psychological and sociological reasons behind Mariano José de Larra’s and another three fictional characters’ suicides. This article examines the vital circumstances of these four characters in order to match them with the suicide typologies proposed by the sociologist Émile Durkheim. Considering as well the importance of this work’s historical background, we also analyze the possible symbolic implications of each of these four characters’ suicides.