.jpg){kind=link}
I. Perdido
. , .
« », , « . ».
:
«¿ , ?».
, , .
« », . « , . ».
« », .
A B1 retelling of Galdós’s novel
Marianela Marianela
Benito Pérez Galdós
This is a retelling of Benito Pérez Galdós’s novel in Spanish, not the original text: a MovaReader adaptation for readers who are learning all the tenses and want a real Spanish novel. In the catalog it is B1: about 15,800 words, 12 words per sentence on average. 14 chapters follow the novel of 1878 from the night Teodoro Golfín gets lost in the Socartes mines to the operation that may give the blind Pablo his sight.
- B1
- 15 837 words
- 3-4 hours
Will this text hold?
A2
Earlier
At A2 the grammar will stop you more than the plot: sentences of 12 words instead of the 9-10 of the A2 shelf, wishes and fears in the subjunctive and the conditional (Si me dieran a elegir entre no ver y perderte), and many conversations retold in reported speech.
A2B1
This text
Right for B1: all the tenses you are learning in sentences of 12 words, everyday vocabulary with the words of the mines explained by the scene, and 14 chapters of about 650 to 1,500 words that read one at a time.
Check this passageB2
With room to spare
At B2 the retelling reads almost without translation, in 3-4 hours or less. After it come the complete Spanish texts of the B2 shelf, where long words are about twice as frequent: one in fourteen in Unamuno’s Mist.
Start readingThe average sentence has 12 words, against 9-10 in the Spanish A2 adaptations such as Don Quixote and Alice in Wonderland. A word of 9 letters or more comes up about once in 26 words, against once in 36 in the Don Quixote adaptation and once in 14 in Unamuno’s Mist, a complete text on the B2 shelf with 13 words per sentence; many of the long words here are names such as Florentina and Aldeacorba. This is the first step in the catalog where a MovaReader retelling uses all the tenses at nearly the pace of the original: the pluperfect, the conditional and the subjunctive come in natural use (Si me dieran a elegir entre no ver y perderte; Yo quiero que vea), and many conversations are retold in reported speech. The difficulty is even: each of the 14 chapters has 11-14 words per sentence. Hence B1. This is the catalog’s assessment, not a certificate.
- 15 837
- words
- 12
- words in an average sentence
- 3-4
- hours of reading
MovaReader. Project Gutenberg
What it is about, without the ending
One September night the eye doctor Teodoro Golfín loses his way among the red, empty pits of the Socartes mines in northern Spain. His guide out of the dark is Pablo, the handsome and clever son of a rich landowner, blind from birth. Pablo’s own guide is Nela, an orphan of sixteen with the body of a child, who sleeps in a basket in the miserly Centeno household and believes she is good for nothing. She describes the world to Pablo, and he, who has never seen a face, is sure that she must be beautiful. When Golfín decides to operate on Pablo’s eyes and Pablo’s lovely cousin Florentina arrives with her father, Nela begins to dread the day her master will see her. What happens after the operation is not revealed here.
Compare two places
Marianela
VIII. Una esperanza
« , ¿ ? ¿ ? , . ¿ ? , , , . ¿ ? ¿ , , ? , . . , , ».
Choose an underlined word.
Subjunctive after a feeling
Es muy triste que usted no pueda ver: after es triste que Spanish uses the subjunctive, pueda instead of puede, “it is very sad that you cannot see”. Le preguntó si no le parecían bellos is reported speech: Pablo’s question is retold, not quoted. ¿Es verdad que existís, estrellas?: existís is the vosotros form of existir, because Pablo speaks to the stars as to a group of people. Quién sabe: “who knows”.
A prayer built on the subjunctive
Cuando me vea y deje de quererme: after cuando about the future Spanish uses the subjunctive, “when he sees me and stops loving me”. Yo quiero que vea: after querer que, “I want him to see”. Daría mis ojos para que él viera: the conditional daría, “I would give”, followed by para que with the imperfect subjunctive viera, “so that he could see”. Hazme and mátame are commands with the pronoun attached: “make me”, “kill me”.
Chapters
Translation while you read
The book stays free on every plan. Reader, €1 a month, removes the daily limit on words and sentences.
Reader
€1 a month
Reader translates whole sentences, and here that helps most in Nela’s long speeches, where a wish in the subjunctive hangs on a fear, as in her prayer: ¿Qué será de mí cuando me vea y deje de quererme?
ReaderIf this book is not the one
All books at this levelBefore you read
Is this the original or a learner adaptation?
A learner adaptation, not the original text: MovaReader retold in Spanish Benito Pérez Galdós’s Marianela, a Spanish novel first published in Madrid in 1878. The language and length have changed: modern Spanish with all the tenses, 12 words per sentence on average, 14 chapters and about 15,800 words, while the novel has 22 chapters and is more than three times longer. The main line remains: Golfín lost in the mines, Pablo and his guide Nela, the Centeno household, Pablo’s idea of beauty and Nela’s sense of her own ugliness, the arrival of Florentina, the operation and Nela’s flight, up to the ending as Galdós tells it. His long reflections on the mines, on charity and on Nela’s beliefs are condensed into a few sentences. The complete Spanish text is not in the catalog yet.
Is there an audiobook?
There is no audio version of this adaptation: MovaReader gives you the text, not a recording. Tap an unfamiliar word and its translation appears next to it; here that will often be the world of the mines, such as galería, mineral or hornos.
Can I translate a whole sentence?
The Reader plan translates whole sentences. Here they average 12 words, and you will want one translated mostly where the narrator puts a whole feeling into one long line, like Si hubiera sabido hablar como las personas instruidas, habría dicho que no quería estar presente cuando la cambiaran por otra. The free plan also translates single words, up to a daily limit.
How many hours does it take?
The whole adaptation takes 3-4 hours at the pace of someone who still translates new words. A chapter averages about 1,130 words, or 11-19 minutes of reading, so one evening covers three or four chapters.
Where does the text get easier?
The difficulty is even: each of the 14 chapters averages 11-14 words per sentence, so there is no easier stretch. Long words vary a little more: in chapters III and IV, about the Centeno household and Pablo’s home, about one word in 36 has 9 letters or more, and in chapter XIII, “El nuevo mundo”, about one in 18, mostly names such as Florentina.
Will my place in the book be saved?
Yes, once you sign in: the reader keeps your last place and the words you opened, so next time you carry on from there. The contents on this page also take you straight to any chapter, say IX, “La Virgen de las moras”, where Nela meets Florentina among the brambles.