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Classical mythology forms an integral part of the complex intertextual design of Galdós's writing from the outset of his career. The ten novels of the First Series of Episodios nacionales (1873-75) offer a striking illustration of the key role that authors like Homer and Ovid play in Galdós's work. The Series evokes myths and mythological figures that serve as paradigms for its characters, themes, and plots. Gabriel Araceli, narrator and protagonist of his \"autobiography,\" recalls his youthful odyssey from Trafalgar through the Napoleonic War. Like Odysseus, he encounters enchanting women who lure him from his course toward his Penelope, Inés de Santocraz. Like Narcissus, he pursues the illusion of himself in his idealized others. The spellbinding voices of these women mirror the self-reflexive narrative process. The captivating power that women and their language have over Gabriel reflects that which Galdós's novels have over their readers.

Uses an eclectic mix of deconstructive, psychoanalytical, feminist and Jungian theory to discuss how Galdos perceives and criticizes stereotypes of the feminine accepted without thought or question by Spanish society. Argues that the Terrible Mother and the Immaculate Virgin are presented by the novelist as types or stereotypes which are unavoidably limited and incomplete, for they are imaginary constructs of a discourse and social order that have become unyielding and indelible.