Without the rose, but following the tradition of the International Book Day of giving away a copy, the Tenerife Tram has placed The Novel on the Tram, by Gran Canarian author Benito Pérez Galdós on each seat. Passengers on the first morning vehicles were able to enjoy the initiative that caught many by surprise. “They are to be taken, opened, and transported to the novelist’s universe through reading,” they revealed the mystery on their X account.
The journey on the Tenerife Tram will be more entertaining during the day this Wednesday 23 April. Travellers appreciated the gesture on social networks, considering it a great initiative to promote reading. Some complained that there were books strewn on the floor. “In my carriage, only two of us were reading. It’s a pity that many people are on their phones instead of immersing themselves in literature,” one user claimed.
The Figure of Galdós
Benito Pérez Galdós was born in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria in 1843, but his legacy continues to thrive, not only on the island that honoured him as a favourite son but worldwide. The Spanish novelist, playwright, chronicler, and politician is one of the foremost representatives of 19th-century realistic novel. The Novel on the Tram, the chosen work to commemorate Book Day, tells a long and tortuous series of events that happen to him during a normal day in Madrid. The story with a first-person narrator mixes the real with the fantastic.
The story unfolds on a tram from another era, the Tram-Vía de Madrid of 1871. The animal-drawn vehicle went from the Salamanca neighbourhood to the Las Pozas neighbourhood. During this journey, a passenger tells the narrator the story of a countess who deceives her husband. The curiosity about the tale is such that the narrator begins to delve deeper by listening to conversations between passengers and through snippets of papers.
