Until May, centenary specimens from the donation of Edelmiro Trillo can be seen
The Library dedicates an exhibition to serialized novels from the 19th and 20th centuries from its collection
This genre, which brought literature closer to the general public, is the precursor of current formats such as television series
'El folletín: la literatura de kiosk' is the new exhibition in the Central Library of Benidorm. It wants to remember this genre so popular in the 19th and 20th centuries from collections and copies that are part of the municipal collection. The Councilor for Historical and Cultural Heritage, Ana Pellicer, explained that "in addition to hosting reading animation activities and book presentations, the library facilities have also become an exceptional space in which to develop exhibitions that are didactic and informative. and that at the same time allow us to make our bibliographic collection known, whether they are works acquired by the City Council or from private donations”.
In the case of 'El folletín: la literatura de kiosko', "copies from the 20s of the last century, from the donation of Edelmiro Trillo, are exhibited, among which titles by Eugenio Sue, Víctor Hugo, León Tolstoy, and Alejandro Dumas stand out. , from whom you can see a first edition in Spanish from 1845 of one of his masterpieces, 'The Three Musketeers of the King', published in installments a year earlier.
The mayor has stressed that "in these types of exhibitions the didactic component is always very present, hence, in addition to the two showcases with bibliographic material, six panels have also been installed to explain the origin, evolution, and references of this literary genre" . A genre, he specified, that "although it may seem so distant to us, it is more linked to our present than we think, since it gave rise to audiovisual formats as common and current as television series, with which audiences are familiar of all ages".
Although traditionally the serial was identified with low-quality literature, the truth is that some of the great classics of the 19th century were published in installments, elevating the genre. This is the case of 'The Three Musketeers' and 'The Count of Monte Cristo' by Dumas; Flaubert's 'Madame Bovary'; Dickens works; or referents of Russian literature such as Tolstoy's 'War and Peace' or 'Crime and Punishment' and
Dostoevsky's The Karamazov Brothers. Spain was by no means alien to this genre, with writers of the stature of Pérez Galdós or Pardo Bazán participating in it.
Pellicer invited "library users and also those who do not attend regularly to enjoy the exhibition, available until next May".
