The Narrative Premise of the Dual Ending to Galdós's La Fontana de Oro

THE readers of the 1871 edition of Galdós's La Fontana de Oro are greeted with not onlyy two alternative conclusions to the novel, but also with an invitation by the narrator to freely choose a preferred ending after considering them both. The situation is further complicated by the narrative pretense that the tragic vision is the true account of the facts while the happy one is an artistic rendering. By presenting his reading public with this dilemma over a century ago, Galdós raised questions about the nature of narrative conventions which are similar to those issues being addressed by narratologists today.