Thesis advisor: Elizabeth Rhodes / Hegemonic groups perceive changes, political, economical or social unrest as a direct threat to their status quo. One way to confront the dangers of loosing old privileges is through the redefinition and revival of old codes of conduct and behavior that in the past set them apart from the rest. In the process, old heroes considered instrumental in establishing and shaping their power are retrieved and glorified, and their heroic deeds offered as examples to emulate in the present. During the XVII Century, and in analogous circumstances, the Spanish Baroque writer Baltasar Gracián observes with trepidation the rapid changes in his own society, the breaking down of the social and political order of Imperial Spain. To protect his interests as member of the hegemonic group: —male, Catholic, noble and scholar—, he looks back in history and constructs heroic paradigms utilizing old heroes whose values embody his own. Since the heroic figures incarnate the ideals of the elite, there are neither heroes nor heroism outside the hegemonic class. This dissertation studies three texts by Baltasar Gracián (1601-1658): El Héroe (1637), El Discreto (1646), and El Criticón (Part I, 1651, Part II, 1653, Part III, 1657), that are centered on the heroic male, analyzing changes in the consecutive male heroic prototypes in light of the author's social and historical experience. Gracián's evolving heroic models respond to transformations in the hegemonic position of the Spanish state, moving from profuse optimism and idealism in his first text to disillusion and abandonment in the last one. The Jesuit's work is a crucible in which he tests Occidental values and heroics over his lifetime, adapting each heroic prescription to satisfy the political, historical, social and religious necessities of his present. Although Gracián's heroic formula changes over time, the connecting thread remains: the blood nobility of Castile/Aragón will save the hegemony of the nation. This elitism verbalizes a reactionary anachronism that negates the heroic essence, which is to act in the world on behalf of others. Gracián's texts are progressive, specular images of the author and his society. In all cases, the heroic figure functions as metonym of the Empire in which the strength of the hero confirms the power of the State. / Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2009. / Submitted to: Boston College. Graduate School of Arts and Sciences. / Discipline: Romance Languages and Literatures.

Cette thèse a pour objet la représentation de l’Europe dans les romans espagnols du XVIIe siècle et en particulier de trois d’entre eux : le Persiles (1617) de Miguel de Cervantès ; l’Estebanillo González (1646), attribué à Gabriel de la Vega ; et le Criticón (1651-1657) de Baltasar Gracián. Ces récits ont la particularité d’investir de vastes étendues européennes, alors que la plupart des romans du Siècle d’Or – hormis les livres de chevalerie – tend à se resserrer sur le territoire ibérique. L’enjeu de ce travail est de montrer que cette extension européenne est indissociable de projets littéraires ambitieux. Loin de se borner à une fonction ornementale, la géographie choisie par le romancier fonde un positionnement vis-à-vis du champ littéraire et du contexte historique. Dans nos récits à échelle continentale, investir des contrées jusqu’alors inexplorées par le roman est une façon d’aborder des formes et des thèmes inédits ; et traverser les territoires de plusieurs genres permet de confronter diverses écritures et des visions du monde généralement dissociées. Corrélativement, cette étude cherche à montrer que l’existence de « romans européens » dans l’Espagne du XVIIe siècle est liée à l’émergence de l’Europe comme d’une réalité prégnante : un espace culturel partagé, en passe de se substituer à la Chrétienté médiévale des livres de chevalerie ; un échiquier géopolitique où est remise en question la suprématie habsbourgeoise ; en somme, un horizon décisif pour l’existence des Espagnols. Si le Persiles, l’Estebanillo et le Criticón développent une écriture originale, c’est aussi pour explorer l’histoire en cours et la réécrire en y projetant un imaginaire propre. / This dissertation deals with the representation of Europe in seventeenth-century Spanish novels, with a special focus on three of them: Miguel de Cervantes’ Persiles (1617); La vida y hechos de Estebanillo González (1646), attributed to Gabriel de la Vega; and Baltasar Gracián’s Criticón (1651-1657). These texts have in common their opening onto vast European areas, whereas most of Spanish Golden Age novels –with the notable exception of the romances of chivalry– tend to be restrained in Iberian lands. Therefore, the main issue of this study is to show that their European spread is inseparable from ambitious literary projects. Indeed, by choosing a specific geography for their stories, the authors take position within the narrative world and the historical context. In our continental-scale fictions, covering novelistic terras incognitas is a way to reach unexplored themes and forms; and crossing genre-territories enables a mutual test of generally dissociated aesthetics and worldviews. Besides, this work aims at demonstrating that the existence of a few ‘European novels’ in the seventeenth-century Spain is linked to the emergence of Europe as an unavoidable reality: a shared cultural space, on the way to replace the medieval Christendom perpetuated by the old-fashioned romances of chivalry; a geopolitical arena where the Habsburg supremacy is being increasingly questioned; and, all in all, a decisive background for the Spaniards. In order words, one can better appreciate the aesthetic originality of Persiles, Estebanillo and Criticón, when observing that these fictions are also intended to recreate by rewriting the recent past of Europe.