Quixotism

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Quixotism
The Imaginative Denial of Spain's Loss of Empire

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Christopher Britt Arredondo - Author

SUNY series in Latin American and Iberian Thought and Culture

N/A
Hardcover - 274 pages

Release Date: December 2004

ISBN10: 0-7914-6255-2
ISBN13: 978-0-7914-6255-3

Price: $24.95
Paperback - 274 pages

Release Date:

ISBN10: 0-7914-6256-0
ISBN13: 978-0-7914-6256-0

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Summary

Exposes the cultural roots of Spanish fascism.

Quixotism explores how a group of Spanish intellectuals, writing during the time of Restoration Spain (1876–1931), incorporated the figure of Don Quixote into an on-going debate on Spanish national and imperial decadence and used this figure to promote a nationalistic and jingoistic formula for national-imperial regeneration. Commonly known as the Generation of '98, these writers turned Spain's military defeat at the hands of an emerging American empire into a moral victory. Christopher Britt Arredondo uses the term Quixotism to denote a premodern heroic ideal centered on the figure of Don Quixote as he explores these writers. Here, he shows how Ganivet turns Quixote into a spiritual conquistador; Unamuno, into a tragic messiah; Maeztu, into a smiling priest; and Ortega, into a paternalistic master. Quixotism is a new critical category of political and cultural relevance, not only for fin-de-siècle Spain and the National-Catholic Spain of the Franco era, but also the democratic, postmodern Spain of today.

"Restoration Spain (1876–1931) saw the loss of its last colonies in the Spanish American War … Britt-Arredondo examines the reactions to those events through the works of several writers of the ‘Generation of 1898’ … The author emphasizes their use of the heroic representation of Don Quixote as a symbol for their vision of an ideal, imperial national identity and regeneration. He explores how the fascists were able to exploit such views politically and suggests that these influences may linger, as evidenced by the official 1998 ‘forgetful commemoration.’" — CHOICE

"This ambitious book addresses one of the most debated topics in Hispanism—the character and significance of the Generation of '98—from a new, thought-provoking angle. Britt Arredondo proposes a new critical category, Quixotism, as a way of identifying a particular cultural response to the national identity crisis following the loss of the final remnants of Spain's overseas empire." — Susan Kirkpatrick, author of Las Románticas: Women Writers and Subjectivity in Spain, 1835–1850

Christopher Britt Arredondo is Assistant Professor of Spanish at The George Washington University.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments

Introduction: Monumentalizing Quixote

PART I. THE BIRTH OF QUIXOTISM

1. Quixotist Madness

2. Quixotist Imagination

PART II. DECANDECE

3. Paralyzed Imperialism

4. Perverted Catholicism

5. Diminished Value

6. Resentful Masses

PART III. QUIXOTISM

7. Don Quixote as Spiritual Conquistador

8. Don Quixote as Messiah

9. Don Quixote as Lover

10. Don Quixote as Master

Conclusion: Spanish National Quixotism

Supplement: Don Quixote in Exile and Spain's Ex-colonies

Notes

Index

Related Subjects

European History
Literary History
Spanish Studies

42955/4-6256-0(MR/MH/MC)

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