This dissertation analyzes the treatment of memory by four authors of the same generation—all born in the 1950's—in four novels of the late 1980's and 1990's: El jinete polaco by Antonio Muñoz Molina, El lápiz del carpintero by Manuel Rivas, Todas las almas by Javier Marías, and La lluvia amarilla by Julio Llamazares. Using Walter Benjamin's dialectics of melancholia as a framework, the first chapter studies how contemporary Spanish historiography and literature recreate recent Spanish history. The study focuses on the representation of the change from a rural country with an oral and collective memory to a society that undergoes a fast process of modernization and, almost simultaneously, postmodernization. The subsequent chapters analyze the novels using the principles of the deconstruction of Jacques Derrida and post-deconstructivist theories, which postulate a new understanding of the subject based on an ethical relationship with the Other. These chapters further observe a melancholic relationship with the past. This sensation of loss leads the narrators to search for their past in a series of objects which materialize the loss of meaning and the presence of the past in the present. Their narratives are a work of mourning which simultaneously recreates and listens to the voices of the dead informing the narrator's self. The dissertation points out the difference between the sense of melancholia present in the novels of Muñoz Molina, Rivas and Llamazares, which is caused by a historical trauma, and the sense of melancholia created in Marias' work, this one the effect of a transhistorical or structural trauma. Likewise, while in El jinete polaco, El lápiz del carpintero and La lluvia amarilla the work of memory is based on an ethical relationship with the past, in Todas las almas the constructive work of memory adopts a more ludic tone.

This dissertation analyzes the interplay between reality and fiction in four of Javier Marias's novels, Todas las almas, Mañana en la batalla piensa en mí, Negra espalda del tiempo and Fiebre y lanza, and in selections from his journalistic articles. It focuses on the antirealist elements at work, such as the melding of seriousness and humor, the incongruous mixture of history and fiction, and the unreliability of the intrusive narrator. Chapter I situates Marías in the context of the post-Franco years and chronicles his rejection of the literature of social realism and his incorporation of postmodern tendencies. Chapter II analyzes different types of humor in the aforementioned novels through the application of Bakhtin's theories of the carnivalesque, Victor Shlovosky's theory of estrangement, Geoffrey Harpham's studies on the grotesque, and Marías's own manipulation of history. Humor functions as an expression of play, an instrument of subtle criticism, a decoding challenge, and an artistic artifact. Historical figures subjected to humor include King Juan Carlos and Francisco Franco. Chapter III analyzes the juxtaposition of fact and fiction in Negra espalda del tiempo through the application of theories formulated by Phillipe Lejeune and Brian McHale. I compare Marías's biography of Wilfred Ewart, an ill-fated English writer, with those of Ewart's other biographers and with Ewart's own autobiography. In his reconstruction of Ewart's life, Marías raises questions about authorial reliability and textual stability. Drawing attention to the subjective role of the author, he makes connections between his life and Ewart's, and employs fictive devices to illuminate reality. Chapter IV examines the postmodern characteristics of Marías's journalistic essays. Marías incorporates humoristic techniques and fictive devices to make his readers aware of cultural and political change, but unlike Larra, with the absence of a national mission.

The universe of Marguerite Yourcenar is primarily masculine and the opposition between masculine and female is capital. Men dominate or initiate the action whereas women are supporting characters or negative. The women often appear as a deadly element which makes contemptible whatever they touch, making themselves by rebound conspicuous human beings, whether it is on the level of their intellect, their femininity, maternity or female sexuality, usually assimilated to prostitution. Prostitution thus crystallizes the attraction and the rejection of the female body. Although the feminine tries to get rid of this dirtiness and this opposition, the combat is impossible and the only exit is to dissolve, to disappear or to become masculine. On the contrary, men appear as positive characters. Fathers have filiations which mothers are unable to have, even if this bond is rather a chosen bond, more intellectual than biological. Homosexuality is a sexuality only fallen to men and makes it possible for them to live without women and to avoid a sexuation. Marguerite Yourcenar had nevertheless to develop a new vocabulary to approach this topic that was still a taboo. Homosexuality in the works of Marguerite Yourcenar is however ambiguous and hides a double and transgressive discourse. Because of this sexuality, men will have to find a different manner to perpetuate through transforming, as the feminine had done it. The need for men to perpetuate themselves without sexuation is actually linked to Far-Eastern philosophies at the same time as to the myth of Oedipus and shows that the masculine and feminine only want to create themselves ex nihilo.

Mi disertación se ocupa de la narrativa de ficción del escritor argentino Enrique Anderson Imbert porque es una parte fundamental de su obra que no ha sido suficientemente difundida y mucho menos estudiada. La temática de los relatos de Anderson Imbert se basa en un deseo único: rechazar la realidad cotidiana y sustituirla por un mundo propio, proceso durante el cual surgen los hechos fantásticos. Opino que su técnica ofrece otra aproximación a la literatura fantástica, ya que los elementos extraordinarios incorporados al relato nacen de sus ideas, son un reflejo de sus bases filosóficas, un solipsismo arraigado en el que el sujeto aparece como un ser universal que se repite en el tiempo. Esta noción se corresponde con lo inconsciente colectivo de Carl Jung quien sostiene que sus contenidos y modos de comportamiento son iguales en todos los individuos. Así, selecciono un grupo de cuentos y minicuentos donde lo fantástico ocurre debido a desfasajes temporales que afectan la temporalidad del narrador y de los personajes creando un mundo caótico sin posibilidad de salida. Para analizar los cuentos me apoyo en un marco teórico que abarca, en principio, diferentes postulados sobre las teorías de lo fantástico, aunque el núcleo de mi estudio se basa en los postulados de Tsvetan Todorov v Rosalba Campra. En segundo lugar, y como resultado de la inverosimilitud de los hechos, me apoyo en las teorías de Wolfgang Iser y de Umberto Eco quienes estudian, desde diferentes ángulos, la respuesta del lector ante los silencios del texto. En tercer lugar, incluyo los estudios de Carl Jung sobre lo inconsciente colectivo y sobre la relación entre literatura y psicología para examinar el proceso de creación de los cuentos de Anderson Imbert, su funcionamiento y posterior explicación de los hechos sobrenaturales que amenazan y alteran la temporalidad del ser.

This thesis deals with two seventeenth century Spanish writers: Maria de Zayas y Sotomayor y Mariana de Caravajal y Saavedra. Almost unknown to modern criticism, both of them shared with Miguel de Cervantes and Lope de Vega one interest, the novela corta. Zayas's novels are original, aggressive, violent and rebellious. These characteristics lead some to consider her the most outstanding Spanish feminist writer. Meanwhile, Mariana de Caravajal, the escritora madre, her opposite and counterpart, remains forgotten. The thesis begins with a short history of the anecdote as it evolved through the centuries, culminating in the Spanish short novel. The study continues with a critical examination of the way in which each writer's individual message is expressed within the constraints of the short novel form. The work concludes with a comparative study of the motives, characters and styles employed in the Novelas ejemplares y amorosas (1637) and Desenganos amorosos (1647) of Maria de Zayas and Navidades de Madrid y noches entretenidas (1660) of Mariana de Caravajal.

The story of king Pelayo is one of the first legends of the Iberian Peninsula after the Moorish invasion of 711. It is clearly a necessary response to this invasion, and also an attempt to legitimize the newly established monarchy of the Kingdom of Asturias. In its effort to restore the "glories" of the now extinct Gothic kingdom, these monarchs needed a miracle and a foundational hero as the backbone of their national historiography. Furthermore, from its early conception until the present day, the legend of Pelayo has never been cast into shadows, and even though it has seldom been a popular story, it has always served as vehicle to the prevailing ideology of its time. In other words, the story of Pelayo was never an innocent one. It has always been subordinated to a very specific ideology and to society's attempts to legitimize itself. This dissertation examines the ties between the historiographic fictions of Spain and the concept of nation-building. My research attempts to analyze the story as it is, a literary fiction that can be traced back to other, older stories and, in short, to prove that this story has been the backbone of Spain's national identity—at least one of them—ever since its first recorded manifestation in the 9th century. The main thesis of this dissertation is not so much the analysis of the origin of this legend—as this is easily found in the Albeldense and Alphonsine chronicles—but, rather, its debt to other "fictions" and its development throughout the Spanish Middle Ages. The different rewritings of the legend during these centuries are an exceptional witness as to what was the prevailing ideology of each different time period, so that, accordingly, every reworking of the legend must be checked against the religious, political and sociological culture that produced it. What is being analysed here is not merely the development of a literary hero, but rather the foundational fiction in which a country's ideological grounds are based.

The trials of the Basque witches conducted during the 16th and early 17th centuries had a significant effect on the development of Golden Age Spanish Literature. Taunts and jests alluding to the punishment and humiliation of witches abound throughout many texts, as do scenes where characters are questioned about family histories that include connections to witchcraft; all this at a time when state and church authorities took the matter very seriously. In spite of this, many characters in the Spanish literature of the period were directly associated to magic. The most famous and imitated of these is la Celestina, who helped shape many subsequent female characters that exhibited magical abilities. Although magical characters are fairly abundant in the literature, witches per se, who would be portrayed as characters that violate Christian dogma or renege on their faith and engage in a pact with the devil, were not often seen in Golden Age Theater. This project will study a number of plays known today that feature witches; among them, Entremés famoso de las brujas (1675) by Agustín Moreto, Las brujas fingidas y berza en boca (late 17th century), an anonymous work, and Amazona en las Indias (1635) by Tirso de Molina. A fourth play will also be studied, Entremés de las brujas (1742) by Francisco de Castro. Although this fourth play was published in the 18th century, it makes use of the aquelarre as a narrative element, as seen in the work of Moreto and in Las brujas fingidas. Having selected these works, this project will focus on the socio-historical context under which they existed in order to determine if the witches they portray violate established social norms or if, on the contrary, they help preserve and strengthen them. We also seek to determine whether they uphold or challenge the perceived need to eliminate and/or punish social disorder. To answer these and other questions, we will study how beliefs and myths about witches are incorporated into these plays, how witches and witch-like characters interact with other dramatic personae, and how given social norms are inverted, especially when practices forbidden or regulated by the Spanish Inquisition are concerned. Lastly, this dissertation analyzes the social paradox that emerges from the portrayal of female characters associated with witchcraft in these four theatrical works. These characters are framed as contradictory figures that correspond, in one way or another, with the contrasting cultural forces of the era. Their presence on stage communicates the crisis of the baroque, under which the plot aligns with the mechanisms of control of patriarchal culture. To this end, we analyze the representation of witches not only as sources of divergent discourse, but also as a means of disseminating mainstream discourse and propaganda; since the portrayal of these women highlights their identity as “the other” to an audience that at the same time applauds them.

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