Memory of the tangerine arabist Ricardo RuízOrsatti on the centenary of Galdós’death

Abstract

The history of Spanish Arabism is often confused with that of the academic discipline, but the role played by Arabic translators and interpreters must also be taken into account, in which the brothers Ruíz Orsatti, Ricardo and Reginaldo must be remembered. Ricardo Ruíz Orsatti played an important role in Spanish-Moroccan relations in the first half of the 20th century. But his name is especially known for the correspondence he had with the writer Benito Pérez Galdós between 1901 and 1910, which would be decisive for the drafting by the novelist of two of his national episodes. Aita Tettauen y Carlos VI en la Rápita. The centenary of the death of the Canarian writer seems a propitious occasion to place this correspondence in its context and rescue the figure of Ricardo Ruíz Orsatti.