SOURCE: "The Episodio Nacional: An Approach to the Genre," in The Spanish Historical Novel 1870-1970, Tamesis Books Limited, 1973, pp. 1-10.

In the following excerpt, de Gogorza Fletcher differentiates between two kinds of historical fiction in Spanish literature—the episodio nacional and the traditional historical novel.

Spanish literature in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries has developed a new genre, the episodio nacional, or the historical novel of the recent past, of which two types may be discerned: (1) the novel of a recent historical period prior to the writer's experience and (2) the novel of historical events contemporary with the writer's own lifetime.

The fact that prominent critics have disputed the term "historical novel" as applied to [Benito Pérez] Galdós' Episodios and have seen a fundamental similarity between the Episodios and Galdós' other novels opens up the question of genre which we shall try to clarify briefly. Amado...