A group of students, between the ages of 12 and 13, were able to face one of the greatest challenges of their entire educational career yesterday: finishing a story by Benito Pérez Galdós. This feat, which makes any self-respecting action video game look ridiculous, was part of the activities that the house-museum of the writer from Gran Canaria had prepared for the 180th anniversary of his birth.
The journey I had to make Benito Perez Galdos to the Peninsula, between 1862 and 1865, when he was still a young law student and a promising novelist, was very different from what could be done today. By then the boat trip was much more uncomfortable and since Gran Canaria required a first stop at Tenerife before embarking on the final and toughest part towards Cádiz.
Well, that journey towards that first scale was reflected by the writer born in The Gran Canarian palms in one of his incomplete stories, A journey of impressions, of which he only ends his first chapter, One night on board. But yesterday, a group of young people, between 12 and 13 years old, were able to put themselves in the shoes of the greatest figure of Spanish Realism and finish it, being able to unleash their talent and imagination with the help of the most important author that has ever existed. in the Castilian language of the 19th century.
Surprise
It was, of course, one of the activities that had been prepared in the house-museum that bears the name of the writer on the occasion of the 180th anniversary of his birth. The museum space had organized a real surprise for these ESO student of the Pérez Galdós Institute. With the eloquent didactic explanations of the education technician of said space, Raquel Peñate, and between 10:00 and 12:00 hours, these adolescents were able to visualize in the first place and on a giant screen the first projection of the animated short titled as that first chapter with a more than remarkable quality.
Really A journey of impressions It was a project carried out by Benito Pérez Galdós together with his former teacher at the San Agustín school, Teófilo Martínez de Escobar, consisting of jointly writing a book with twenty-two chapters. But this initiative was reduced to just two. First, One night on board, was written by Galdós and in it he recounts the terrible effects produced by the sea voyage, from the moment he boards the ship. The second, Nine hours in Santa Cruz de Tenerifebelongs to Martínez de Escobar, and focuses on the stay on the neighboring island before resuming the trip to the Peninsula.
Crossing to Cádiz
The two chapters were written in the month of September 1864 when both authors were returning by boat to Cádiz: Benito bound for Madrid and Don Teófilo for Seville. The house-museum had prepared extensive didactic material based on this journey so that young people could learn and have fun at the same time. And it is that, fortunately, the educational system of this country has realized, once and for all, that the study must be anything but sacrifice.
In this way, after the projection of the animated work, the little ones were able to finish that story at their own free will. But they could also draw vignettes, covers, comics, collages, puzzles and even play a Pass word related to the visit.
early texts
«We wanted young people to know the means of transport in the XIX centuryand bring to light those early texts that Galdós wrote in Canary Islands», pointed out the technician. “Because many times we place Benito as a novelist in Madrid, but he has a lot of texts in Gran Canaria,” she added.
However, the most interesting part were the moments before the screening in which Raquel Peñate was able to interact with the students. “Don Benito moved to Madrid at the age of 19,” she pointed out. “Because then there was no University in the Canary Islands and made that journey, he has a bad time and gets dizzy, “he added next.
A six or seven day trip
And he asked the young people: Does anyone know how long a boat trip from the Canary Islands to the Peninsula lasts?». “Four days,” answered one of the smartest. «It lasted between six or seven days, not like now when it only takes 43 hours,” added the educator.
The journey was from Gran Canaria to Tenerife and then from Tenerife to Cádiz and “the transport was by steamboat, much slower, until the propeller arrived and changed everything.” Another question the educator asked was: “Here Benito tells something that happened to him. Can anyone tell me what literary movement he belonged to? «Wasn’t he a poet?, rushes another assistant. “No, he wrote poetry, but he really was a novelist of the Realism. In other words, what he described was what he saw or stories that happened to him around him, “he replied.
Boarding at the Las Palmas pier
Peñate also described how boat passengers arrived at the ship at the first dock in the palmshe San Telmo pierwhere it is now in El Hoyo.
At the same time, different personalities also read excerpts from some novels referring to their most iconic characters such as Leon RochMr. Anselmo, Felipe Centeno, Maximino Manso, Mrs. Perfecta, Marianela or Rosalía Bringas, among others.
