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{{short description|1888 novel by Benito Pérez Galdós}}
{{for|the sound made by a cat|Meow}}
{{Infobox book
| name = Miau
| image = Portada de Miau de Galdós.jpg
| caption = The front (first) page of the first edition.
| author  = [[Benito Pérez Galdós]]
| publisher = Imprenta de la Guirnalda, Madrid
| country = Spain
| language = Spanish
| genre  = [[Literary realism|Realism]]
| pub_date = 1888
}}
'''''Miau''''' is a [[Literary realism|realist]] novel by [[Spain|Spanish]] writer [[Benito Pérez Galdós]], released in 1888.<ref name=Sackett>{{cite journal |title=Pérez Galdós: "Miau." |last=Sackett |first=Theodore Alan |journal=[[Hispanic Review]] |volume=48 |number=2 |year=1980 |page=258 |doi=10.2307/472970 |jstor=472970 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/472970 |accessdate=3 November 2024}}</ref> It tells a story about a lower-middle class family of [[Madrid]] in the 19th century. The main character is Ramón Villaamil, an ex-employee from the Ministry of Economy and Finance. He lives with his wife doña Pura, his sister-in-law Milagros, his daughter Abelarda, his grandson Luis Cadalso, and his detestable son-in-law Víctor Cadalso. Víctor's wife, Luisa Villaamil, who is dead, was the mother of Luis. ''Miau'' is the Spanish [[onomatopoeia]] for the sound made by cats, but it also stands for: '''M'''oralidad, '''I'''ncome tax, '''A'''duanas y '''U'''nificación de la deuda ([[morality]], [[income tax]], [[customs]] and unification of the [[debt]]), the four main ideas of Villaamil to improve the [[Ministry (government department)|ministry]] administration.
The work was "ignored or lightly regarded by the writer's contemporaries," and it was not until Robert J. Weber published ''The Miau Manuscript of Benito Pérez Galdós: A Critical Study'' in 1964<ref>{{cite journal |url=https://www.liverpooluniversitypress.co.uk/doi/10.3828/bhs.43.3.227 |title="The Miau Manuscript of Benito Pérez Galdos: A Critical Study" (Book Review) |first=H. B. |last=Hall |journal=[[Bulletin of Hispanic Studies]] |volume=43 |number=3 |date=7 January 1966 |doi=10.3828/bhs.43.3.227 |accessdate=2 November 2024}}</ref> that significant academic attention was drawn to the work, resulting in a "critical explosion" of interest and analysis.<ref name=Sackett/>
==References==
{{reflist}}
{{Benito Pérez Galdós}}
{{Authority control}}
[[Category:Novels by Benito Pérez Galdós]]
[[Category:1888 novels]]
[[Category:19th-century Spanish novels]]
[[Category:Novels set in Madrid]]
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