La Fontana de Oro en la proyección televisiva de Galdós: del espacio Los libros al telefilme Prim, el asesinato de la calle del Turco (2014)

Abstract

The pilot program of Los libros was dedicated to La Fontana de Oro by Benito Pérez Galdós. This television series was meant to be a space where the literary classics would be promoted with the hybrid structure of an educational documentary combined with a film adaptation. The choice of this novel about the Trienio Liberal as a reflection of the socio-political situation in the late stages of the Franco era is analyzed inside the role television would play in the consolidation of Galdós’ cultural heritage value. As the core thematic idea, La Fontana de Oro connects the 1974 program with the historical fiction television film, Prim, el asesinato de la calle del Turco, produced by TVE in 2014, in which the protagonist is the writer from the Canary Islands who, in 1870, celebrates the publication of his first novel. The dual coverage of this author’s beginnings allows us, on the one hand, to trace the evolution of how the literary legacy model was projected on television from the well-known adaptation with an educational function, to the original fiction with a post-modern tone, and, on the other hand, how said legacy was utilized in different types of discourse about the political transition of the democracy inside the public entity.