Date Available
5-21-2024
Year of Publication
2022
Document Type
Doctoral Dissertation
Degree Name
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)
College
Arts and Sciences
Department/School/Program
Hispanic Studies
Advisor
Dr. Ana Rueda
Abstract
This dissertation analyzes fantastic short fiction in terms of its relationship to the traditionalist and progressive forces that were vying for hegemonic control over Spanish national identity in the ever-changing period of the nineteenth century, demonstrating how these powers shaped Spain’s past and future national character to suit ideologically driven narratives and revealing how fantastic literature can disrupt these narratives to unlock new patterns of thought. In Chapter 1, entitled “Fantastic Short Fiction and National Identity,” I delineate the historical/political circumstances that led to the rise of Spain’s dominant ideological frameworks. I also establish my own definition of the fantastic which, though indebted to the work of other theorists of the fantastic (principally Sigmund Freud, Tzvetan Todorov, and David Roas), places more emphasis on this literary mode in its specific role as a tool to break down the universal categories with which one classifies experience. In Chapter 2, entitled “Spiritual Dissection: Tradition, Progress, and the Role of the Church in the Spanish Fantastic,” I examine stories—by celebrated authors like Bécquer and Pardo Bazán as well as unstudied authors such as Pedro Escamilla—which, though intriguing in their own right, fall short of creating a fruitful debate surrounding the meaning of Spanishness due to their overt traditionalist or progressive biases. Chapter 3, entitled “The Smile of Ángeles: The Ambiguous Artifact and the True Measure of the Fantastic,” on the other hand, highlights more realist short stories of the fantastic—penned by Alarcón, Becerro de Bengoa, Bécquer, Blasco Ibáñez, Escamilla, Estébanez Calderón, Fernández Bremón, Gómez de Avellaneda, Pardo Bazán, Serrano Alcázar, and Luis Valera—which represent the true measure of the fantastic in its capacity to break down ideological barriers, inviting the reader to forge new paths of understanding and imagine new visions of Spanish identity. Through my close readings of these fantastic short stories, my dissertation illuminates the privileged position of the fantastic in questioning essentializing narratives as well as calling attention to various authors and texts that perform this critical role.
Digital Object Identifier (DOI)
https://doi.org/10.13023/etd.2022.179
Funding Information
This study received the Dean's Competitive Fellowship from the College of Arts and Sciences at the University of Kentucky, which was awarded in fall of 2021.
Recommended Citation
Stewart, Morgan Keith, "The Fantastic Debate: Religion, Ideology, and National Identity in the Short Fiction of Nineteenth-Century Spain" (2022). Theses and Dissertations--Hispanic Studies. 52.
https://uknowledge.uky.edu/hisp_etds/52
