Past Editions:
Chapter 1, On the Novel: Mirror and Text
Chapter 2, The Legacy of Don Quijote
The Regional Novel: Alison Sinclair.
Key words in intellectual history of 19th century:
-Revolution, evolution (from Darwin), nation, travel industrialism
Evolution as a term that itself has evolved, e.g. from preformationism (1744), the gradual unfolding of a form of life already perfected. 19th century-transmutation (kinda like modern understanding)
Change: from something already foreseen to something that change might cause something entirely new.
Rev./Nation/Travel: are symptomatic of evolution or act as stimuli to its discovery
Novels associated with regionalism- can be sidelined, on occasion, b/c of political predictability/ literary naivete.
--> Regionalist novels aren't necessarily realist novels. Rather, they are vehicles of cultural exchange.
- Generation of 1898, esp: Return to pueblo, scrutiny of rural life to see whether it signals sickness or holds hope of recovery to good health. Concern with nat'l identity, political decadence. (Later, Franco extols rural life-seen in Goytisolo and Martín Santos)
Larra: critique of customs/bourgeois pretentiousness. Echoed by Galdós and Clarín. His narrative style will be "rediscovered" by Goytisolo later.
Romanticism -->costumbrismo 1830s/1840s-->regionalism 1850s-90s--> regional novel (progression of growth)
-writing of travel books= cultural response to periods of crisis and upheaval (e.g. Azorín's Castilla, and post civil-war Viaje a la Alcarria by Camilo José Cela.)
-regionalist writing is like internal travel.
La gaviota:
-First major example of a regional novel.
-Static impression given by series of vignettes o Andalusian life. These tableaux (set pieces) form a plot line through their sequence.
-concept of nation-as inherited from Romantics influenced from other regions in Europe- is that of patria chica- the homeland is the immediate region, not the whole of Spain.
-uncertainties in tone and narrative that present contrast to positive/idealized version of regional life.
Common characteristic: "outsider" viewing the area with a new perspective, e.g La gaviota's German male protagonist. Julían in Pazos de Ulloa. "surprised" and "impressionable" newcomers who posesses some sort of civilized knowledge.
Protagonist, Stein, discovers rural idyll of isolated community that harbors even more isolated girl, la gaviota (nicknamed for strength/quality of voice- but, isn't this a little ironic? raucous noise vs. melodious.) Turns to motif of civilization/barbarism, rural life of virtue placed in danger by contact with sophistication/pretentiousness of city. Called beatus ille plot. María is "rescued" from rural brutishness only to fall into immorality when removed to city from her original envi.
-strained idealization of chosen characters/improbable plot
-novels of regionalism imbue characters with a symbolic function
-Fernán Caballero, according to Kirkpatrick, desires to make her female character worthy while lacking the conviction to make her fully admirable.
Galdós, however, has a national perspective.
Historically: Napoleonic wars, brief period of liberal constitution (1820-23), restoration of Fernando VII to the throne in 1814, 1823. Liberal revolution of 1868, turno pacífico 1874-1897 (switching back and forth between liberal/conservative governments)
-regionalist novels have ample examples of divide between moderados/progresistas
Los pazos de Ulloa: reflect author's regard for Zola's narrative technique, high proportions of free indirect style, narrative focused through characters of variable reliability.
-We begin to notice a tension between political views of center (Madrid) and rural areas.
-Conservative writers see influence from the capital as threatening the life-affirming values of the regions.
-Liberal/critical writers see center as a sign of enlightened ideas in contrast to backward/close-minded ideas.
-Contrast between regional/national as conflict/fear of conflict
Alarcón/Fernán Caballero/Pereda/Valera: traditionalist (we could include Mesonero Romanos here)
Alas/Galdós/Pardo Bazán: Socially concerned (we could include Larra here)
Fernán Caballero: espouses cause of Spanish nationhood, enshrines customs in prose.
Larra: evinces radical awareness of shortcomings of Spanish mores. (Alas/Gal/ParBaz will continue this production of "troubled narratives")
-Despite an agenda of preservation, perception of what is enduring leads to idealization.
Generation of 1898: views peasant of Castille as enduring type. MEANWHILE, Romantics/costumbristas focus on peasant of Andalucía.
-Idealization of Andalucía's cante jondo by Lorca.
-Ortega y Gasset: calls Andaluces holgazanes, even though the lived reality of landless poor was exactly the opposite.
Geographical differences between harsh north/lush-fertile south are reflected in lit.
Also, difference in presence of church (in north, priests were locals. in south, priests were outsiders), dependence/independence, mobility/immobility because of systems of land tenure (north, Cantabria: family farms, co-ops, Galicia: land is split continuously when inherited=minifundismo).
-in north, isolation.
Difference between the natural as beautiful or natural as festering/degenerate
Pardo Bazán: reversion to "stock" is the consequence of inbreeding, leading to atavism, criminality, and extinction of the race. (Comes from Nordau's work, Degeneration, and the theories of an influential Italian criminologist who argued physique/crime are related- FISIONOMÍA)
-naturalist novelist who explores the unhappy mix of heredity and environment. (e.g. Nucha, city bred and ill-equipped by temperament/upbringing for rigors of rural life.) Marriage of Pedro to Nucha is conceived as solution to Pedro's immorality. The obvious naturalistic choice for succession would've been Rita, with her child-bearing hips. Julián/Nucha experience region as a hostile place/fosters primitivism
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