El exilio liberal de Salvador Monsalud en la segunda serie de los Episodios nacionales de Benito Pérez Galdós

© 2019 Liverpool University Press. All rights reserved. This paper studies the ten novels which constitute Benito Pérez Galdós' second series of Episodios nacionales in light of the historical and literary studies related to the exile of liberals, an aspect of the series not yet addressed by literary criticism. The main character of the series, the conspirator Salvador Monsalud, is analysed on one hand through reconstructions of his adventures during his life as an émigré by means of analepsis, summaries, and the testimonies of other characters; and on the other by studying the evolution of the hero. This leads us to conclude that Galdós used the experience of the exile as a substantial element in the evolution of the character, and that he relied mainly on the writings of Mariano José de Larra, as a Spanish romantic who had first-hand knowledge of European liberalism, and the work of José de Espronceda and Ángel de Saavedra, the Duque de Rivas, to reveal the romantic profile of Galdós's hero.