Teaching Galdós

Teaching Galdós' work to current university students is a rewarding challenge. The prolificacy of the author, his modernity and the openness of his work have resulted in a wealth of critical material and a wide range of different interpretations.

It is my contention that his work deserves an innovative approach, particularly if students are to be encouraged to engage with an author, who, coming from the 19th century, might be initially labelled as 'wordy', 'outdated' and 'incomprehensible'.

I taught Galdós at level two: second year, focussing upon the novels Doña Perfecta, Tristana and Torquemada en la hoguera. 'New ways of teaching literature' was commissioned and peer-reviewed by the LLAS Subject Centre, 2006.

Over the years I have become increasingly fascinated by the advantages of using film to teach Galdós's work. I gave a presentation on my teaching of Buñuel's film in conjunction with my teaching of the novel Tristana ('Teaching literature with film') at the LLAS Subject Centre's 'Routes into reading' symposium.

At level three (final year), in 2003 I embarked with Claire Allam (a Producer from the Learning and Teaching Services department of the University of Sheffield) upon the formidable challenge of getting students to select sequences from two of Galdós's works that exist in both novel and play form and turning them into films.

The films were extremely imaginative and include a Hollyoaks/telenovela version of Realidad, the suicide of Realidad transferred into a modern-day news report, a 'chat show' version of El abuelo (which involved a three-camera/live TV style shoot) plus Realidad's Federico portrayed as a drug addict.

What we've not yet transferred into video include the students' (sepia) film noir version of Realidad and Federico being knocked down by a tram in the centre of Sheffield!

Teaching Galdos's work with film is a fascinatingly stimulating experience and it is certainly something that the students enjoy. As well as gaining valuable employability skills (such as problem solving, team building, project management) through the filmmaking process, students come to engage closely with the works and have a lot of fun in the process.

Some examples of the feedback we've received:

  • "I think it made his work a lot easier to understand as we brought it to life. Also you had to analyse each line of the dialogue to decide how you wanted it acted, so this made me understand it more."

  • "I was able to look at his work through another medium and concentrating on one scene made me understand the characters a lot more."

  • "A great 'creative' module, a chance to do something different."

  • "I really enjoyed this module - very challenging and good fun."

  • "Loved it."

  • "Usually I find literature quite boring, but doing something exciting with Galdós’s work really interested me […] This has definitely been my favourite module that I’ve studied at University."

By Dr Rhian Davies

If you have any queries or would like more information about these modules, please email rhian.davies@sheffield.ac.uk.