In Their Own Voices - Autobiography As Historiographic Metafiction in Three Recent Spanish Novels

The South Central Modern Language Association
In Their Own Voices: Autobiography as Historiographic Metafiction in Three Recent

Spanish Novels
Author(s): Mercedes Mazquiarn de Rodriguez
Source: South Central Review, Vol. 18, No. 1/2, Spain Modern and Postmodern at the
Millenium (Spring - Summer, 2001), pp. 94-113
Published by: The Johns Hopkins University Press on behalf of The South Central Modern
Language Association
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/3190304
Accessed: 11-04-2017 01:58 UTC
REFERENCES
Linked references are available on JSTOR for this article:
http://www.jstor.org/stable/3190304?seq=1&cid=pdf-reference#references_tab_contents
You may need to log in to JSTOR to access the linked references.
JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted
digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about
JSTOR, please contact support@jstor.org.
Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at
http://about.jstor.org/terms
The South Central Modern Language Association, The Johns Hopkins University Press
are collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to South Central Review
This content downloaded from 192.30.202.8 on Tue, 11 Apr 2017 01:58:13 UTC
All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms
In Their Own Voices: Autobiography as
Historiographic Metafiction in Three Recent Spanish
Novels
Mercedes Mazquiardn de Rodriguez

Hofstra University
The Spanish novel continues to exhibit a marked interest in

history as we approach the end of the twentieth century and the
second millennium. Post-Franco historical narratives, however, no
longer promote a revisionist approach based on ideological
dissidence, as was the case in the 1960s and 1970s.' Instead,
narratives such as those that will be examined here-Lourdes
Ortiz's Urraca (1982),' Antonio Gala's El manuscrito carmesi
(1990; The Crimson Manuscript),' and Almudena de Arteaga's La
Princesa de Eboli (1998; The Princess of Eboli)4-adopt a
postmodernist perspective in order to question the truth of the
"official" history of Spain and subvert its canonical preeminence.
The protagonists/narrators in the above-mentioned narratives are
particularly concerned with contesting the roles assigned to them
by historians within the referred "official" history, and for that
purpose they offer alternative versions of their lives as they create
their fictional autobiographies. In his study, Postmodernist
Fiction, Brian McHale finds that, unlike classic historical fiction,
which attempts to camouflage the seam between historical reality
and fantasy, postmodernist fiction accentuates the seam that links
both areas "by visibly contradicting the public record of 'official'
history; by flaunting anachronisms; and by integrating history and
the fantastic."'5 Linda Hutcheon sees the postmodern historical
narrative as "a critical reworking, never a nostalgic 'return'."6 She
acknowledges that postmodem writing, whether of history or
literature, has textualized history by accepting that "both history
and fiction are discourses."'7 The past indeed existed, but by whom
and how that past was recounted is a different matter. Thus, the
writer of today is entitled to use the texts of history in a selective
and personal fashion to construct his/her own plots. These
plots-which at the same time question and exploit knowledge of
the historical past-Hutcheon calls "historiographic metafiction."
They combine historical content and the metafictional mode of
writing, a form of writing which, in the words of Patricia Waugh,
"self-consciously and systematically draws attention to its status as
an artifact in order to pose questions about the relationship
between fiction and reality," and, furthermore, such writings
0 South Central Review 18.1-2 (Spring-Summer 2001): 94-113.
Mercedes Mazquiarcin de Rodriguez 95
"explore the possible fictionality of the world outside the literary ficti
This study will focus on three historical personages-Urraca, Boabd
Princess of Eboli-fictionalized in the cited novels by Ortiz, G
Arteaga, and will analyze how each protagonist/narrator reconstructs h
self while deconstructing the accepted versions of that self and th
events which occurred in his/her time.
By a curious coincidence, Queen Urraca, the protagonist/narrator
novel, was rescued from neglect not only by the novelist but also by
Bernard F. Reilly, in The Kingdom of Le6n-Castilla Under Queen U
1126, in the same year of 1982. Reilly dubs Urraca "the Indomitable Qu
proclaims her "unique" among the women of her time, and even for t
history of the medieval West," for "she was both a woman and the cr
of a major western kingdom who ruled in her own right."'9 In his ext
documented book, Reilly comments that "The study of the reign of Urr
her prominence, remains a study of her public acts and the public ins
the realm itself. There is as yet no feasible method of penetrating her t
her councils ... the sources of information for the early twelfth century
and large, personal ones."'" This is precisely the task Ortiz set out to ful
historiography, Urraca's purported "autobiography." Elizabeth Ord6
from a letter written to her by Ortiz, dated 13 October 1983, in whic
author alleges that "the lack of historical references that were indeed d
was precisely an incentive to invent."" The same is reiterated lat
interview with Phoebe Porter in June of 1989, where Ortiz states that f
a-half years prior to writing the novel she studied the sources of the
accumulated material to sustain her story; although she found docu
chronicles of Urraca's time, no especial study of Urraca was availab
also conceded-and that lack of data freed her as a writer of fiction to re
character: "I felt freer to construct Urraca's character at the level of w
possibly could have thought. Everything else is historical. The ev
compromises, the battles, are real.""2 In other words, the facts, the batt
events; they represent the "truth," but the truth of past experience, and
White points out in The Content of the Form: Narrative Discourse and
Representation, the problem with "this truth" is that "it can no
experienced." This makes historical knowledge accountable to charg
the product of historians' imagination, and therefore having the same
authority as literature; both are texts.'3
Lourdes Ortiz's Urraca presents Queen Urraca's retrospective vers
life and the events that surrounded it, revolving around two focal
passion for power and her sexuality, both validated in the novel by th
the word, which the author bestows on her protagonist/narrator.
conscious references to writing in the novel-its metafictional approach
the questioning of what is fictional and what is real in history an
Imprisoned in a monastery at the outset of the story, Urraca arrogant
compassion--"No one could or should pity Urraca. They have not conqu
yet.""--and proclaims her resolve to become her own chronicler: "A que
a chronicler, a scribe who can transmit her deeds, her loves, and her suf
96 South Central Review
posterity; here I am, locked up in this monastery, in the year

will have to be my own historian to leave a record of the re
have taken, to give evidence-should death await me--that my
by the betrayal and obstinacy of an ambitious bishop and no
the full scope of my undertakings" (10). Since "they" (those
write history as it suits them, lying to justify her imprison
narrate her own story, "so the epic singers can pick up on th
on from village to village, and from kingdom to kingdo
statements are emblematic of a postmodern approach to hist
two "opposite" texts, the historical and the literary, in o
between accepted reality and fiction. Urraca's chronicle
transcends the monological form, for she creates an interlocu
her story: Roberto, a monk who guards her while a priso
Valdecaba.
As the narrative begins to unfold, Urraca reviews her life: as a child-very
much her father's daughter-as a woman, and, at the closing of part 1, as a queen.
It is obvious that Urraca admired her father's power as king, "emperador de todas
las Espafias" (13; Emperor of all the kingdoms of Spain), a flagrant anachronism
in its reference to "las Espailas" (the kingdoms of Spain) and to the premature
dream of the empire. She was only five when Alfonso VI defeated the Moors in
Toledo, but she recalls the moment when her father and his retinue entered the
vanquished city, her aunt and namesake up front, between the king and his
adviser, Ansiirez, and behind them, Urraca and her mother, Constanza. Urraca's
most precious toy would be a memento of that triumphal moment, a drum taken
from the Moors, and later she would relish learning the use of the sword. She
knew where power lay, and did not condemn her father's killing of his brother
Sancho, nor his sequestering his other brother Garcia in a tower. On the other
hand, she also learned from her mother's ways. Constanza, voiceless in her
environment, embroidered flowers and birds in ornamental borders. She was not
as weak as young Urraca perceived her to be, yet her instruments of power were
of a different nature than those of her father: "her prayers, and her prudently
administered coquettishness" (17). Her ally, Bernardo Salvatat, a Cluny abbot,
would later utilize his influence with the Pope and circumvent Alfonso's attempts
to repudiate his marriage to Constanza. Urraca was willful but observant, and she
benefited from her mother's lessons too, although she mainly remembers her
telling stories at bedtime. Her father's lust for women did not escape her either, as
she was aware early in her life of Alfonso's liaison with Zaida, "la mora
conversa" (the converted Moor) who bore him a son, a future heir. The boy's
premature death in battle prevented him from becoming Urraca's rival to the
throne. Urraca's craving for power stems from her childhood; she was convinced
that if she emulated her father's ruthless ways and her mother's "saber
hacer" (know-how), nobody would get in the way of her aspirations. Throughout
the narrative, Ortiz imbues the plot with feminist undertones. At times this is
accomplished by contrasting Urraca's rightful ambitions with the limitations of
her gender; for example, she concedes that both she and her half-sister Teresa
were just pawns in their father's designs for possible alliances, since they were
Mercedes Mazquiarndn de Rodriguez 97
only female heirs. Ironically, it was not to be her omnipotent father,

mother and Bernardo (later bishop and primate of Toledo) who would pre
arranging marriages for Urraca and Teresa with two noblemen from the li
Borgofla, Raimundo and Enrique respectively, in an effort to incre
influence of Constanza's own land within Castilla and Le6n. Each da
received a generous dowry, Galicia coming into Urraca's hands, and she be
build her dreams of an empire when someday she would succeed her f
queen of Castilla and Le6n. Urraca was betrothed to Raimundo when
eight years old, and, according to Reilly, possibly married then, although
law prescribed the minimum age for marriage as twelve." Raimundo p
the ambitious bishop from Galicia, Gelmirez, that he would become archb
but such promise could not come to fruition because of Raimundo's u
death. It was then that Gelmirez turned his attention to the young
attempting to prepare her for a role as "mediadora" (mediatrix), a role that
found unworthy of her position and her abilities. Urraca was left w
children, Sancha and Alfonso Raimimndez, and Gelmirez would tell h
through her mediation, the dynasty would be perpetuated, but she had oth
for herself, plans which she carefully concealed: "A woman is just a medi
thought the Bishop, and I would let him believe it, because I too had unde
that only with his help could I preserve what was mine."'6
On other occasions, Ortiz draws from Urraca's historically record
liaisons, sometimes turning them into a celebration of her female sexuality
other times, depicting Urraca's use of her sexuality as a means for pow
historically recognized lovers, Count G6mez de Candespina and Count
GonzAlez de Lara, were both interested in marrying Urraca, but the quee
to-have been more inclined to use them as political allies, without turning
into her masters. The first allusion to her sexual antics appears early in th
when she ponders that perhaps, if Raimundo had not died so early,
infidelities might have lessened. Raimundo had finally left me with child
he died, and I, for a time, dismounted the horse to bring the infant
emphasis mine). The sexually-charged motif of "horse-riding" will
frequently in the text. Urraca exudes sexuality in the novel, and to
underscore this, she sets out to seduce her monk/guard, Roberto. The
becomes her accomplice as she says, "I think with anticipation of embrace
will prove to be tempting as I find myself in this forced imprisonme
jerhaps hoping to obtain Roberto's assistance to escape from her prison. A
narrative unfolds, the process of seduction progresses; she uses another f
device, storytelling, to entice him: "My dear monk, I was also a warr
Yushuf ben Tashin's men ... Like them, I hardly dismounted from my hor
emphasis mine). Here the "horse-riding" motif confers on her a different k
power, the power of the Amazon-she is then a woman warrior on the bat
as well as in bed-and the sensual motif of smells makes its way into the na
discourse as she recounts her life as a queen/warrior: "my clothes smelled
and sweat and not of perfiumed ointments... I was too distracted by the aff
the Empire and now, when I see your hands-so dexterous with the b
see this cell with the eyes that Zaida [her father's concubine] saw h
gardens. I see silk cushions for you to lie on, my dear monk,
let my tongue wander over your body" (34). Urraca, sex
thoughts, tells Roberto: "I am somewhat tired, and this tend
uncombed, almost-red hair, like the hair of that young colt
close to desire" (34). To create the proper mood for the mon
reminisces about her lovers, G6mez Gonzidez, conde de
Pedro de Lara (the latter known to have shared her bed
death). She also cunningly describes her own erotic role
equating herself with exuberant natural forces: "I was the fo
had found lodging; I was the gazelle, the hare, the lion, the t
for them" (46). Self-reflexive thoughts then intrude in
comments, tongue-in-cheek, "Those, my dear monk, a
chronicle" (43), as well as "But I should not be distracted
should recount. A chronicle should not be caught up in f
personages" (44). She thus makes us aware of the ongoin
while at the same time presenting the historical and the pe
She teasingly ponders what she "should" tell, according to tr
what her personal life was really like, thus exposing the te
core of postmodern historiography.
Before Alfonso VI dies, he urges widowed Urraca to marry
el Batallador, out of concern that she might not be able to
her own. Following her own ambitious instincts, she a
proposal. At the closing of part 1, Urraca was proclaimed qu
death, and, shortly afterward, married Alfonso el Bat
Alfonso de Arag6n, el Batallador, had the reputation of bein
since Urraca expected that, because of their family ties (Ur
both great-grandchildren of Sancho de Navarra), the accusa
carry a threat of excommunication that would hover over th
to consummate their marriage. Facing Alfonso's lack of int
claims she offered him her back, commenting in jest t
forthcoming from their union. Ortiz introduces the intertex
and Alfonso are going to get married, and my mother s
sin" (48), to call attention to the motif of incest in the fami
the incestuous relations between Alfonso VI and his
foreshadowed possible intrigues by Queen Urraca's enemies,
verses again, this time referring to her, a new Urraca, and
cousin and husband. On the other hand, Alfonso's purpo
ironically deconstructed by Urraca's eroticism.
An anachronistic epigraph by the Arcipreste de Hita prec
debunking the historical reality of a chronicle written by a
by having her quote in her text a fourteenth-century write
an adroit stratagem to introduce the theme of the fantastic
the work, calling attention to Urraca's Galician roots by
Muxia, and using Poncia, Urraca's Galician maid-a bruj
-to introduce sorcery and myths associated with the lore o
notion of a diabolic black mass. Urraca/narrator refers back
her youth, a ceremony of her "initiation" into womanhood in Muxia,

was twelve years old, and she recalls Poncia's incantations and her
made Urraca lay down upon the rocks, which Poncia claimed were "un
piedra" (a barge made of stone), and chew from her herbs, until sh
herself with the barge, and, in turn, with a horse. Urraca/barca/caba
barge/horse) had menstruated, her blood coloring the blue waters of th
having learned from Poncia the power of that blood which made her a
readied herself to use it. The blood motif, begun in part 1 with refer
color red (the red of her colt's hair, the one she rode as she entered T
her father's entourage at age five) refers in part 2 to the onset of her p
is associated later with her second husband's (Alfonso el Batallador
strange taste for her menstrual blood: "Alfonso would come to me esp
those days to bathe in my impurity" (107), she says, a "misa negra" (b
they called it, with Urraca as Satan's priestess. At the conclusion of th
part of the novel, the narrator casts doubt on Roberto's existence
ambiguity. When Roberto misses a session with her, she declares that
him, "I need to talk, I need to tell my stories to the monk ... so that all
alive. And I tell him this, as if he were at my side" (63). Her use o
followed by the imperfect subjunctive, raises the possibility that
inventing him too. Is he real even as a fictional character? She resorts
tale style--mimicking her mother, Constanza, who would tell her storie
was a child-in another attempt to entice the monk by setting a mo
scenario that would appeal to Roberto's "marianismo" (Marianism),
serves to undermine the credibility of Urraca's chronicle, clearl
postmodern subterfuge that proposes to question the past in its various
The third and final part of the novel is introduced by another epigr
by Al-Xustari, which speak of the virtues of solitude, "my most
moments are those when I am one with myself" (116). This praise
contradicts Urraca's need for her male companion while in her cel
sentences of part 3 let the reader know that she has finally seduced R
has satisfied her sexual wants. Although the encounter has not b
gratifying, it leads her to relive her past erotic exploits, and to remem
lovers' idiosyncrasies, only then realizing that as she narrates those ev
chronicle, they are becoming textualized-like the chronicles of the his
claims to reject-and, consequently, the reality of her narrative is also
question, as is the existence of her monk: "And now all that becom
words. Even brother Roberto, who sleeps placidly, is already part of th
now retell. I no longer live in his flesh, only as part of my chronicle" (1
The double voice of the narrative discourse makes the motifs of
horse-riding (in love-making and war-making) emblematic of Urraca, t
lover and impetuous queen. Yet, as she reviews her life, the quee
accepts that she never loved war as her father and her first husband, R
Borgofia, did, and, in that context, she recalls el Cid, Rodrigo
mercenary without scruples"-demystifying another legendary fig
process."' She loved not war but the dream of the empire, an ideal that
three centuries premature.
Having textualized in her chronicle the two passions that con
eroticism and power, it was only fitting that she would then
her father's Jewish doctor; for if Poncia taught her about wo
riding," and the power of her sexuality, Cidellus introduced her
of power, the power of the written word, admonishing her wit
command, Urraca, is not over men, but over the written word
mentor, had exhorted her to write long ago, and now it was R
who provided her with the needed tools--paper, ink, a
Cidellus's advice. Armed with the word and with the phallic st
reconstruct her "self' in her chronicle, for as she asserts, "Wr
that reshape everything" (166).
Ortiz/Urraca fictitiously recreates the queen's life from her
using historical characters and events the way she wa
manipulating and turning around the recorded truth, and self-c
reference to her mixing of history with fiction in the narrativ
known about the circumstances of Urraca's death in March of
Urraca was still reigning at the time of her death is pro
However, the postmodern historiographer can assume that
Compostelanum" could inscribe that Urraca died during th
conceived in adultery, at the mature age of forty-six, a tes
recommends be "heavily discounted because of the obviou
author,"'9 Urraca/narrator should have no qualms about distor
placing Gelmirez's death before her own, or creating ambig
even vaguely suggesting an attempt to commit suicide
circumstances and time span of her imprisonment uncertain (
the fictional narrator tells us, that it begins in 1123), and om
L6pez de Lara, who fathered two children by her (Pedro a
consort until the time of her death. Real characters-such as h
Alfonso VI; her two husbands, Raimundo de Borgofla and Alfo
her lovers, Prado, G6mez Gonzalez, and L6pez de Lara
Raimiindez, the future Alfonso VII; Gelmirez; Pedro Ansfirez;
Constanza; Rodrigo Diaz; Yusuf; and others-populate her "ch
fabricated ones: Poncia, the monk Roberto, perhaps Cidellu
figures. Ortiz unravels her historiography constantly, remindin
fictional nature: "I heard one day that stories should be re
reworking my origins for my dear monk";20 "I am aware that
are always incomplete, deceptive" (63); "When I am writing, I
out everything, and the story turns its participants into pupp
"There is no single truth, Roberto, only many" (183), she says
question with Urraca: whose truth is valid? Are we to trust do
by interested and biased writers centuries ago? Or even re
craftily prepares and carries out the seduction of the m
interlocutor-page after page, we, the readers, also succumb to
her story.
Antonio Gala, long recognized as poet and dramatist, published his first novel,
El manuscrito carmesi, in 1990, for which he received the Premio Planeta of that
Mercedes Mazquiarin de Rodriguez 101
year. This is not Gala's first literary incursion into the historica
crossover from his studies in history; as far back as 1973 he had
revisionist historical drama, Anillos para una dama (Rings for a Lady), g
voice to el Cid's widow, Jimena, and allowing her to take center stage t
own story. In the foreword to the play, Gala stated what in his case has
be prophetic: "It may be that History is the only river where we can b
than once: any given chronology is only convention."2' Gala revisits
Spain in El manuscrito carmesi, and chooses Boabdil, the last Arab
Granada, as protagonist/narrator of his life and his time.
In the introduction that precedes the novel, Gala uses the Cervantine su
of the chance finding of an old manuscript written in Arabic, and adopt
of the transcriber, with the help of Moroccan and Spanish experts, an int
is as much a homage to Miguel de Cervantes as it is somewhat presumpt
to the implied parallel between the two writers. The manuscript
Boabdil's memoirs, "the Sultan in whose time Islam ceased to exist in Sp
one who surrendered Granada to the Catholic Monarchs on 2 January 1
"the transcriber" adds the following disclaimer: "I do not know if e
Boabdil tells us is true, or if he turns history in his favor. I do not know
he wrote it himself or if he dictated it to one or more scribes . . . whic
improbable given its graphic similarity-; I don't even know if
apocryphal work written during his time" (9). The distinct crimson col
paper accounts for the title given to the manuscript, El manuscrito car
playfully suggests that the "found-manuscript" could be apocrypha
attention to its dubious nature, a typical strategy of the postmodernist r
novel," as the transcriber ponders whether Boabdil himself wrote his m
Gala further affirms the revisionist intent of the novel through the tran
slares with the fictional author the opinion that History is unreliable, f
"always in flux: we know where it's coming from and the road it's taki
last analysis we don't know where it's going or when it will end."24
At the time the crimson manuscript was discovered, there were some
superimposed on top of it and one beneath it, which, in the transcriber's
seems to indicate that their intended function was to serve as prol
epilogue. The appearance of the prologue is another intertextual referen
Quijote, considering the relevance of the prologues in Cervantes's
furthermore, the preceding pages reveal that the manuscript was divide
parts "to facilitate the reading," another coincidence reminiscent of Cer
given that it follows the original division of El Ingenioso Hidalgo Don Q
la Mancha (The Ingenious Knight, Don Quijote of La Mancha)."2
prologue, Boabdil indicates that he is writing on the last crimson papers
from the chancery of the Alhambra, and makes the rather vague statemen
thinks he turns sixty-four years old on that day. If, as the manuscript say
Andarax at age thirty-one, he must have lived in Fez for more than thirt
yet the period of his life in Fez amounts to some twenty-five pages
reduced to a prologue and the epilogue, where he writes that at age sixt
awaiting deathll, which until then lhad eluded him. The lengthy manuscrip
Boabdil's life in Andalucia, serving to accentuate the importance he ascr
that period in contrast to the brevity of the pages narrating h

in Fez. The prologue appears to have been appended to the
years after the epilogue was in place, adding still more ambiguit
Boabdil's representation of the past in El manuscrito carm
connotations; he is a historical character trying to break a
assigned to him in previous historical plots that responded to
cultural designs different from his own. Boabdil/narrator com
been blamed for the loss of the kingdom of Granada, but "no o
find out what I was really like or if I fought with all my str
occurred to anyone that perhaps it was I-and not because I
personification of a people condemned to surrender Para
longer than I wore the crown."'26 He then sets out to provide an
history by narrating his version of events, and, in a larger cont
people in the Arab kingdom of Granada as it approached its en
the "official" version written by those who defeated him: "Hi
by the winners-the vanquished either do not survive or they
and as a result, History always aligns itself with the victo
persistent reference in the narrative as to how historians rep
each other, reasoning that if historians were writing in o
power-namely the victors-they would systematically writ
Hutcheon contends that power is "a dominant theme
metafiction's investigations of the relation of art to ideology,"
notion that postmodemist fiction empowers the writer to
creative discourse and challenge traditionally-accepted discour
diverging ideological perspectives. As Boabdil tells his stor
dignity the vanquished, the exiled, and the marginalized;
testimony of historians, presenting himself in a different ligh
scholar than a warrior, not a coward. In the cited prologue, as
to come, he inscribes: "Everything is over now. God is his ow
doubt that he has ever given a king a worse salary than he ga
himself-another God, king, and author?).28 His arrogance the
by the understated ironic charm of his closing words.
El mansuscrito carmesi opens with words that, at first sigh
fatalism, but a closer look uncovers the double significance of
"From the very beginning the text of our destiny is written d
we can do, if we are daring enough, is to transcribe it in our o
use the calligraphy we have been taught" (27). To what "te
here? A text written by God or by historians? Is he implying
the role of "God" when they claim to have the only valid kno
of the past? Our destiny seems to be equated to a text written
like historians and novelists such as Gala, who, in very postm
offers his calligraphy to Boabdil, his protagonist/narrator, and
power to "transcribe" the text of his life-that is, to present
it-and challenge conventional History, which is, after all,
resorts to the postmodernist strategy of binary oppositio
narrative: History/his-story, chronicles/fictional tales, male/fe
androgyny, homosexual love/heterosexual love subsumed in bisexuality, M

religious tolerance/Christian intolerance and forced conversion
encompassing all, the larger issue of Arab culture/Spanish culture.
Boabdil was the son of the aging sultan Muley Hacen and his prime
ambitious mother, a "manly-woman," had great expectations for him as
king of Granada. Boabdil, on the other hand, proved to be a reluctant warr
time when being a warrior was a quality sine qua non for the role that aw
at the particular crossroads of history he was to face in the late 1400s. B
was portrayed by historians as a weak, cowardly, and treacherous king, a
given the sobriquet of Zogoibi, "el Desventuradillo" (the Wretch
cobarde" (the Coward), "el traidor" (the Traitor). Gala rescues Boabdi
and the significance of his culture by allowing his character to reconstruc
persona. More importantly, Gala uses his novel as a medium to pre
revisionist view of Spanish history and culture, as a reminder of the impo
Arab contributions throughout almost eight centuries of living together in
land, as well as a way to point out the differences between the Spanish a
cultures, particularly with regards to sexual and religious practices
interrelations, and other customs.
The motif of Boabdil's homosexuality first appears in the early par
narrative. Boabdil reenacts his sexual initiation, at age eleven, by H
minister's son, at a party offered at his house in celebration of the birth
Prophet. The erotic encounter is graphically described, as is the boy's fee
elation at "having found his identity," as he enthusiastically admits, "at l
learned who I was and for what purpose I had existed" (114). Later, his m
him know that she was aware of his inclination to "el amor udri" (that bet
older man and a young boy), but made clear to him that he should marry
she had chosen for him, Moraima, and have one or two children with
retrospect, young Boabdil acknowledges his confusion about the sexes
never quite understood those who affirm that a man has both a masculin
feminine nature, because one and the other form his total being, which wa
in the image and likeness of God" (35-6). He further expresses confus
the role of men and women in his world; he cannot understand the concep
as "the companionship of man and woman: their ambits are so different
impossible to fuse them.... We oscillate between the harem and chiva
'udri' love alluded to by my mother ... ; in neither case is there a p
women: either because she is worn out and available or becaus
absent" (36). Gala makes Boabdil's homosexual preferences clear:
passions were to be, first, a boy named Jalib, mysteriously killed after B
marriage to Moraima, and, later, Farax, accidentally killed by Boabdil's ow
Yet he was a passionate lover to Moraima, and his bisexuality would exten
life in Fez, centered there in his relations with Amin and Amina (the twins
and sister, Boabdil adopted), whose incestuous relations, paired with
homosexual/heterosexual relations with the old Boabdil, become another s
of androgyny.
Boabdil admits having envied the Arab peasants as a child: "those peasants with
their powerful penises, strong hands, and broad shoulders, who rule the land they
love" (37). This metaphor of the land as woman, domina

man with his oversized and strong phallus, endowed with t
his seed or semen, was apparently at the core of his passio
wife Moraima. It also served as reference to the phall
scratching the paper to create his manuscript.
Homosexuality was not a stigma in Muslim society as i
world, although it was not uncommon in the latter, as Gala
Nasim, a eunuch and former Christian, is the proper m
young Boabdil what a harem is-with the caveat that there
in the past, and that there were also male concubines-an
(and the reader) parallel stories of homosexual relations am
on the Spanish side, citing Enrique IV as an example. F
narrative, it is a Spanish painter whom King Fernando
paint a picture of Boabdil, who would talk about "bujarron
Castillian court; he would tell stories about don Juan II, fa
Queen Isabel, known as the "amador de toda gentileza" (love
and reveal don Juan's involvement with don Alvaro de
Couplets of the Provincial and ofMango Revulgo veritably
He attests to the fact that Arab customs were very much p
particularly among the highest classes. The garrulous paint
and ponders whether they were indeed Arab customs, sinc
blamed for everything. Gala's choice of language attaches a
painter's discourse, suggesting that hypocrisy and the rigi
his own people accounted for the difference in attitudes t
within the two cultures."9 There is further reference to t
sensuality in other ways of life; for example, the proverb
water fountains, baths, irrigation, was not shared by thei
leading Boabdil/narrator to comment tongue-in-cheek that
water, and use it just for drinking. He ruminated over
concluding that Christians did not use their sense of smell:
anything (it will be better to say that they lack a sense of
hand, bathe and perfume ourselves; such acts are a sin to t
obligated to don Christian attire as a prisoner, and, unable
his habits of cleanliness, he feels "hostile" to his own b
never before perceived, "the stench of my armpits, my f
semen--either still wet or already dried up--my hair
breath" (203). The coarse language subverts the validity of
in reference to the care and pampering of the body, which
to their repressed sensuality.
Gala introduces the subject of Boabdil's fondness for w
origins to his training as a Nazarit prince. His father assign
heir to instruct him in aspects of protocol, politics, know
poetry, and philosophy), and in the art of war. It was aroun
to Boabdil, that he found his calling as a writer, upon
carmesies-the red parchment used in the chancellery for o
correspondence-and decided that he would leave his mark
Mercedes Mazquiardn de Rodriguez 105
later, at age fourteen, he began to write his memoirs on the papers he re

himself on that occasion. The future king had thus found his sexual in
and his vocation as a writer in his early adolescence. Self-conscious
the writing motif surface repeatedly in the text. Sometimes he uses a p
device such as "Releyendo lo anterior" (79; re-reading the aforesaid
has passed since I wrote on these crimson parchments: a conclusive and
that has changed on its own the positions of all the personages in this s
On other occasions he uses writing as an escape, the blank paper a refe
silent listener, his only interlocutor and recipient of his testimony: "I
for these sheets of paper, not the crimsons, to force myself to do
concrete. .... And then, what ingratitude it is in my part to destroy th
they are now the only friends with whom I can have a dialogue, or by w
be known" (201-2), or "My purpose is to recount for myself briefly the
the Dynasty to which I belong" (240). But, more significantly, th
represent the image Boabdil chose to carve for himself in History, quest
truth of History and trust in those who inscribed historical events in the
as well as their motivation, concluding that his words were as valid as th
historians and chroniclers of the past. He writes, "It would not be wrong
having learned from Ibn Jaldun what is it and how the history of mank
be read, I say what I know it to be in my own voice" (241, my emphas
alludes to himself as an Arab, and to his people as having been f
whipping boy of Spanish History: "Before I started to write, I refl
-answers for the chroniclers? One of them perhaps chose, long ago, a s
whom to unload all the blame and the others pass on the error from one
as if they were passing on such opulent inheritance. History accept
always, because it is simpler not to contradict itself and not alter the
order someone established probably to rid himself of an accusation or
gains" (255). Gala, subscribing to the postmodern dictum of
interpretative possibilities, presents Boabdil in conflict with his own t
doubting its validity, admitting with dismay that he, himself, may ha
another chronicler, and that perhaps he too may have written a biased
the events he narrated. History and his/story are both textual cons
Boabdil ponders what his children are to learn from his testimony. Ev
de C6rdoba, at a meeting with Boabdil, indicts the infallibility of Histo
to Boabdil: "Chroniclers should be understood by peoples and children:
to be very simple and extol what is benefiting to extol. He who loses is
one, and he who wins is the noble one. Besides, the winner is the one w
the story" (466-67). As Boabdil prepares his departure from Granad
that a new epoch is dawning on Spain, he remarks, "And without us the
Spain will be different" (470), and questions, "How will you live now w
other, in what mirror will you see yourself, what Granada would you
what lost Paradise to be reconquered ... ?" (471). The allusion to th
appropriation of the myth of the lost Paradise is an intertext that has con
currency, Spain being the lost "Paradise" to the losing side--be it u
Second Republic or in the post-civil war period-a Paradise all long to re
his book, Narrating the Past: Fiction and Historiography in Postwar Sp
Herzberger portrays Francoist historiography as comminglin

of heroism with the correlative of lofty deeds ('great unde
terms)," and he cites the Reconquest "as a prominent
himself dubbed in his own time 'el reconquistador'."" It
mythic aura attached to the so-called Spanish Reconques
exclaim, appropriating for himself (anachronistically) a con
judgment: "It is not a matter of religion, nor of ideals, nor
impose by force our own religion and our own ideals; it
baseness and niggardliness: to seize what others enjoy
possessions and even their lives so that they cannot defend
is not a matter of chance ... but of carrion."32 Gala, wh
stated years earlier that history was perhaps the only river
more than once, contradicts that assertion at the conclu
carmesi, agreeing with Heraclitus on its impossibility: "Th
we see today is nothing but an invention; however, without
be no present. ... History lacks a beginning and an end; it i
bed does begin and end, but not the water that runs throug
twice in the same water, a Greek man so forewarned" (581
real, but the precision and veracity of chroniclers and hist
them is questionable; therefore, as postmodernism tea
interpretations, including fictional ones, will continue to a
presumed definitive authority.
On the issue of religion, Gala contrasts the two cultures at
of crusade was rekindled by the Spanish in an effort to reu
Catholic monarchs all territories still in control of the Ar
There was Gala's Boabdil, to whom God was one, and con
way God was adored made him different. A Boabdil who em
religious principles, projecting his own personal view
affirming those of Islam: "Our religion is respectful in pr
Christianity are not alien to us; salvation is attainable follo
Cunningly, Boabdil does not quote from the Book of Koran
emphasize his plea; his use of literary intertexts instea
another strategy to create ambiguity, positing the questio
the religious text or the literary ones? Boabdil identifi
Arabi, who, metaphorically, makes his heart a sanctuary f
"My heart is grazing for gazelles, a convent for the Christi
idols, the Kaaba for the pilgrim, the tables of the Tora
Koran... I practice the religion of love" (520-1). Gala's
spirit of acceptance of different religious beliefs in co
enemy; the Catholic Monarchs reneged on their agreem
eventually forced not only the muddjares, but also the Je
Spanish territory, to convert to Christianity or leave. In a
fictional Boabdil, Gala expresses his sympathy for the
compelled to abandon their Sefarad, the land they had inhab
years, and go again to the desert, "once again they will ha
the trees" (544). This citation, another literary intertext, is
Mercedes Mazquiaraln de Rodriguez 107
historical drama by Gala, Las citaras colgadas de los 6rboles (Their Lutes
on the Trees)." In this revisionist historiography, Gala is not just sa
historical figure of Boabdil from ignominy, but rescuing from obli
cultural legacy left to Spain by Arabs and Jews.
As is typical of fictional historiography, Gala mixes historical character
fictional ones: Boabdil himself, Muley Hacdn and his brother el Za
mother, Benegas, Aben Comisa, the Count of Cabra, the Count of T
Gonzalo Fernmndez de C6rdoba, Fernando de Arag6n, and Isabel de
inhabit the pages of the apocryphal memoir alongside the imaginary
Nasim, Jalib, Farax, Amin, Amina, and others. Most historical events an
are accurate, but the author's imagination transforms incidental happen
casts doubt on them, proposing other possible accounts. Hutcheon conced
the mixing of the historical with fiction, and the "tampering" with facts
major means to making the reader aware of the particular nature of the h
referent."" As was the case in Urraca, the circumstances of the deat
protagonist in El manuscrito carmesi border on the unreal. The historian
Elliot sets the time of Boabdil's exile in the autumn of 1493, but is rath
with respect to his death, simply stating that he "some years later lost h
battle.""35 Gala lets him live in Fez for over thirty years, and one may
Boabdil's fictional autobiography less valid a supposition?
Besides mixing historical and fictional facts, and historical and fi
characters, Gala also mixes historical intertexts with fictional ones, espe
literary ones; besides the already mentioned allusions to Cervantes, h
from poems by Arab poets, from philosophers, and from his own literary
such as Anillos para una dama and Las citaras colgadas de los drboles,
fostering a sense of doubt as to what separates reality from fantasy, an
allowing a certain validity to the alternative realities presented in the nar
Gala's novel is, overall, an apologia for the Arab culture that flourished
for almost eight centuries, and a recognition of its worthy heritage.
The third and last novel to be discussed here, La Princesa de Eboli, was
published in May of 1998, and is currently in its eleventh edition. This is
first novel inspired by the Princess, but it appears to be the first by a
author, Almudena de Arteaga. Like her literary subject, de Arteag
descendant of the notable Mendoza family. Ana de Mendoza y de l
Princesa de mboli, is the protagonist and narrator in this apoc
autobiography, and, in keeping with postmodern historiographies, she w
up the revisionist re-making of her "self' and the important histo
occurrences that led to her downfall and imprisonment. Almudena de Ar
does not try to present Ana de Mendoza as a sympathetic character in her
in fact, she lets the narrator call attention to her frivolous, haught
imperious personality. But the protagonist/narrator does have the p
manipulate history and present her alternative version of the events tha
affected her life, namely her affair with Antonio PNrez and her su
involvement in the happenings that led to the assassination of don
Austria's secretary, Escobedo.
The Princess was a powerful and attractive woman whos

insignificant, became the topic of conversation and gossip. T
such gossip is hinted when, in the opening paragraph of the
Eboli uses a simile to disparage the curiosity seekers that alway
comparing them to the intrusion of sun rays through the ca
"What an empty life for those who must attend to matters pe
and meddle in their personal affairs!"36 she says, only to adm
she concealed her satisfaction when people talked about h
begins and ends in 1592, the year of her death. She is confin
in her own palace in Pastrana, separated from the world by
bolts. La Eboli, as she was often called, was first impriso
Tower of Pinto; six months later, she was transferred to the T
another severe enclosure, and eventually to her palace of
There she enjoyed some freedom within the palace and its ga
accompanied by her children and friends, but she was later a
life of "scandalous luxury," the excuse that was ultimately u
the rooms of the tower, with her only companions her d
servant that occupied a mattress on the floor."7 Ana, who sh
interrupts the Princess's thoughts and begs her to recount the
she can pray for her soul. Ana's request accounts for the title
of the novel, "Cu6nteme, madre" (tell me, mother), estab
relationship between the mother/narrator, in the fami
storyteller, and the daughter, her captive listener and silent
reader is privy to the two Anas' "dialogue," or rather t
monologue, and thus becomes a non-textualized interlocutor.
The narrative consists of the Princess of Eboli's oral testim
story, revealing her "self' as if in a confession, a fact further
words at the conclusion of the novel, "my only will now is to
and to confess, for you [Ana] well know that for quite some
have the energy to rise from bed" (my emphasis).38 The
statement is the implied play on words with testar and conf
to her daughter has been "heard," and the careful exposition
life-her testimony-textualized in the book, becomes her test
The story begins with references to Eboli's childhood. A
was aware of her father's disappointment at not having had a
to compensate by accomplishing what was expected of a boy.
taught her to embroider and pray, her father, who did not
children, decided to do with her what he would have do
children. He would take Ana hunting, which she considered
to ride like Amazons but I managed to learn to ride like hor
the bridles like the great horsemen ... men's chores fulf
women's" (13). Like Urraca in Ortiz's novel, the narrator
with masculine achievements, committing herself (as "autobi
Sidonie Smith refers to as "a certain kind of 'patrilineal' con
of Women 's Autobiography, Smith sees the woman-narrator
Mercedes Mazquiaracn de Rodriguez 109
authority of individualism, "reassuring her reader that women, and this

in particular, can aspire to and achieve full 'human-beingness.'"39
Ana de Mendoza y de la Cerda was not quite thirteen when the negotia
for her marriage to Ruy G6mez (who was almost her father's age)
completed. She tells of her excitement when the Prince-the future P
and a good friend of G6mez-arrived to act as sponsor at their wedding,
her first dance with Philip at the celebrations of the affair. Her husband
the king's favorite and she served as one of the four lady-attendants to
third wife, Elizabeth of Valois, almost the same age as Ana. It
rumored-although never proven-that Ana was Philip's mistress, an
narrator dismisses, and most historians doubt. The narrator retells t
known incidents in her life: the loss of an eye (the patch she used to cov
became her identifying symbol); her dispute with Santa Teresa in Pastra
the histrionics following her husband's death, when she ran to the conv
Ebolis had sponsored in Pastrana and attempted to become a nun, w
prompted the prioress to say the famous words, "The Princess a nun? I kn
House will be undone."40 These episodes attest to the Princess's impul
imperious personality, but it is her life after returning to the court from he
period as a nun that constitutes the focus of the novel.
Much has been written about her relationship with Antonio Perez, a man
historians suspect to have been Ruy G6mez's illegitimate son and who be
Philip I's secretary. By most accounts they were lovers; however, so
only their close relations and "alliance." J. H. Elliott talks about "th
alliance that had developed between Antonio P6rez and the widowed Prin
Eboli .... The exact character of her intrigues with Perez remains a myst
and Gregorio Marafl6n, in his biographical study of Antonio P6rez, refers
as Pdrez's mistress, but then recants and says that "the allegation of an
between the Princess and Perez is totally worthless, being no more than th
tattle of servants and known perjurers." He further adds that in couples
sort, "we have to do with women affected by a passion for command wh
man as an instrument to satisfy it."42 Marafi6n probably found it diffi
admit such sexual prowess in a Spanish woman of her social stature, yet
no qualms about blaming her for PNrez's downfall, taking a rather misog
approach: "The Princess, in her hunger for power, exacerbated
widowhood, swooped like a hawk on to the swollen-headed Antonio P
And P6rez ... sexually unbalanced, let himself be dominated by the imper
Dofila Ana. And she led him by the nose till she ruined him."43 It took a S
woman writer of today to turn her affair with P6rez into the most com
force in her life. She insinuates her attraction to Antonio even befo
husband's death, but their intimate relationship becomes the center
story-the story she is telling her own daughter-after her failed atte
embrace a religious life. She describes the beginning of their sexual r
when, preoccupied with the possibility of losing her father's inheritance
returned to her house one day, finding Antonio in her patio, she went t
decidedly, "I grabbed his hand and ran upstairs . . . and I took him t
chamber. While we were going up I ordered the servants

pressed me against himself and kissed me."44 She def
explaining that she was young and needed the love and support
that, she needed to satisfy her sexuality: "I still felt very youn
That kiss unleashed my sensuality in a way I had heard of but
What I had to fulfill as an obligation to your father, some
unexpectedly turned into passionate want" (110). And so it wa
after their kisses, she felt "a sudden obsession to be one with
by little my clothes came off, from my cloak to my undercloth
to feel his skin over mine led us to lie down together" (110, m
As part of their friendly relations, Antonio kept her in
comings and goings in the court, and they discussed plans to
and to exercise their power. She claims to have "suggeste
political excuse to get the king's bastard brother
Countries-since Perez wanted to keep control in that area.
Juan's secretary, Escobedo, to Madrid, and led to the plannin
(supposedly by Antonio with the complicity of the king
outspoken in his criticism of their adulterous relations, and s
She recalls telling Antonio, "I would appreciate it if you would
meddlesome man" (118), but other than her annoyanc
meddling in their personal affairs, she presents herself a
involvement in Escobedo's demise. By chance, she witnes
Escobedo from her window and later learned of his death. An
of what had taken place made the Princess his accomplice
before. Whether she was indeed instrumental in involvin
intrigue of the affairs in the Low Countries, as Elliot suggests
that Perez managed to escape, first to Arag6n, and then to P
in exile until his death. La Eboli, on the other hand, remained
over ten years, until her death. In the narrative, she qualifie
Escobedo affair as unwitting, at best indirect: "my greates
illicit cohabitation with Antonio . . . now we were talkin
sin" (122). Although in "her" version of this affair she cla
steer away from the incident, she also admits that she
accusation about the king "knowing" the truth, which she be
fate. Because of her known and admitted arrogant and im
king, fearing that she would talk, punished her far more sever
man who had planned the murder and had given the orde
Marafi6n blames her for instigating Escobedo's death, and me
himself wrote in his Relaciones that he had Escobedo killed "by
the satisfaction of La Eboli,"' but does not cite the page num
the end, the king wanted to protect his reputation, and, as an
he had the means to isolate the Princess, and Antonio made h
difficult to believe that the savvy secretary was really "led by
woman. The narrative posits the question of whose truth is th
Almudena de Arteaga, a historian and a lawyer turned noveli
Mercedes Mazquiardn de Rodriguez III
La tboli without fault, but in her fictional historiography, she gives an

alternative interpretation of the events that led to her incarceration until the end
of her life.
In Urraca, El manuscrito carmesi, and La Princesa de Eboli, three historical
characters reinvent themselves: Urraca is no longer seen as the daughter of
Alfonso VI and the mother of Alfonso VII, but as a queen in her own right;
Boabdil presents himself as a wise and vulnerable man, more an intellectual than
a warrior, no more the Zogoibi, the coward, the traitor; and Ana de Mendoza y
de la Cerda, the maligned Jezebel, does not apologize for her actions. Instead,
she reaffirms her passionate relationship with Antonio Perez, and, while
admitting her desire to have a voice in the affairs of the court-a voice denied to
her by her gender, and thus channeled through the men in her life, Ruy and
Antonio-she provides an alternative version of her participation in the crime
that ruined her life. As Linda Hutcheon points out, skepticism about history has
brought about "the New Historicism," a new awareness "that history cannot be
written without ideological and institutional analysis, including analysis of the
act of writing itself.""32 In The Politics of Postmodernism, Hutcheon further
addresses the evolution of traditional narratives in historiographic metafiction:
"we now get the histories (in the plural) of the losers as well as the winners, of
the regional (and colonial) as well as the centrist, of the unsung many as well as
the much sung few, and, I might add, of women as well as men."33 The literary
rewriting of history continues to enjoy popularity in post-Franco Spain-both
Gala's and de Arteaga's novels became best sellers-but this trend does not
focus on Francoist historiography, instead seeming to respond to a desire to
exercise a newly-regained freedom of thought, to look into possible lies or
"untruths" recorded as official history from the beginnings of Spain as a nation,
leaving it open to alternative versions. The postmodern approach in these
current Spanish historiographic narratives also frees "the other" from political
repression, as is the case with female and gay sexuality, and other aspects of
religious and cultural otherness.
NOTES
1. See David K. Herzberger, "Postscript: The Return to History," in Narrating the Past: Fiction
and Historiography in Postwar Spain (Durham: Duke University Press, 1995), 152-56.
2. Lourdes Ortiz, Urraca (Madrid: Editorial Debate, 1998). All translations from this work are
my own.
3. Antonio Gala, El manuscrito carmesi, Ediciones de Bolsillo, 2d ed. (Barcelona: Editorial

Planeta, November 1997). All translations from this work are my own.
4. Almudena de Arteaga, La Princesa de Eboli (Barcelona: Ediciones Martinez Roca, April
1999). All translations from this work are my own.
5. Brian McHale, Postmodernist Fiction (New York: Methuen, 1987), 90.
6. Linda Hutcheon, A Poetics of Postmodernism: History, Theory, Fiction (New York:
Routledge, 1988), 4.
7. Ibid., 89.
8. Patricia Waugh, Metafiction: The Theory and Practice of Self-Conscious Fiction (London:
Methuen, 1984), 2.
9. Bernard F. Reilly, The Kingdom of Le6n-Castilla Under Queen
(Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1982), 352.
10. Ibid., 353.
11. Elizabeth J. Ordofiez, Voices of Their Own: Contemporary Spanish N
(Lewisburg: Bucknell University Press, 1991), 141.
12. See Phoebe Porter, "Conversaci6n con Lourdes Ortiz," Letras Femenin
44.
13. Hayden White, The Content of the Form: Narrative Discou

Representation (Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 1992), 147.
14. Ortiz, 9.
15. Reilly, 13.
16. Ortiz, 26.
17. Birut6 Ciplijauskait6, La novela femenina contempordnea (1979-1985): Hacia una
tipologia de la narraci6n en primera persona (Barcelona: Editorial Anthropos, 1988), 157. The
author comments on the "anticlerical spirit" of Ortiz's novel, but finds the "desheroizaci6n" of el Cid
more shocking, and attributes "Urraca's" characterization of el Cid as mercenary to the emmity
between Urraca's father, Alfonso VI, and el Cid. I believe that by cutting to size the figure of el Cid,
Ortiz is trying to provide an alternative interpretation to his mythic deeds, in keeping with a
postmodern approach to historiography.
18. Ortiz, 154.
19. Reilly, 201.
20. Ortiz, 57.
21. Antonio Gala, Anillos para una dama, 5th ed. (Madrid: Ediciones Jucar, 1986), 23.
22. Gala, 8-9.
23. McHale, 90.
24. Gala, 10.
25. See Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra, Don Quijote de la Mancha, Texto y Notas de Martin de
Riquer (Barcelona: Editorial Juventud, 1966), 92. In his edition of Don Quijote de la Mancha,
Martin de Riquer states: "Cervantes dividi6 su libro El ingenioso hidalgo don Quijote de la Mancha
en cuatro partes; luego, al publicar en 1615 la continuaci6n de la novela la intitul6 Segunda parte del
ingenioso caballero don Quijote de la Mancha y prescindi6 de las divisiones internas."
26. Gala, 21.
27. Hutcheon, Poetics, 186.
28. Gala, 23.
29. In Jos6 Ortega, "Cuatro cr6nicas noveladas de la destrucci6n de Granada" (La palabra y el
hombre 91 [July-Sept. 1994]: 85-107), Ortega translates and cites Xavier Domingo, Erotique de
1 'Espagne ([Paris: J. J. Pauvert, 1967], 75), to refer to the different concept of "love" in the Arab and
Christian cultures, "el irabe integra en el acto sexual su aspiraci6n mAs elevada mientras que el
cristiano asocia la carne con el pecado" (89).
30. Gala, 203.
31. David Herzberger, Narrating the Past: Fiction and Historiography in Postwar Spain
(Durham: Duke University Press, 1995), 123-4.
32. Gala, 220.
33. Antonio Gala, Las citaras colgadas de los drboles. gPor qua corres, Ulises? (Madrid:
Editorial Espasa Calpe, 1977).
35. J. H. Elliott, Imperial Spain: 1469-1 716(New York: Mentor Book, 1966), 50.
36. Arteaga, 11.
37. See Gregorio Marafi6n, Antonio Pgrez: "Spanish Traitor," trans. Charles David Ley (New
York: Roy Publishers, n.d.), 217-18. Marafi6n's introduction to the English translation is dated June
1953.
38. Arteaga, 185.
Mercedes Mazquiardn de Rodriguez 113
39. Sidonie Smith, A Poetics of Women's Autobiography: Marginality and the Fiction
Representation (Bloomington and Indianapolis: Indiana University Press, 1987), 52.
40. Marafi6n, 88.
41. Elliott, 262.
42. Marafi6n, 95.
43. Ibid., 96.
44. Arteaga, 109.
45. Marafi6n, 96.
47. Linda Hutcheon, The Politics ofPostmodernism (London: Routledge, 1989), 66.

In Their Own Voices - Autobiography As Historiographic Metafiction in Three Recent Spanish Novels

Enviado por

Dados do documento

Título original

Direitos autorais

Formatos disponíveis

Compartilhar este documento

Compartilhar ou incorporar documento

Opções de compartilhamento

Você considera este documento útil?

Este conteúdo é inapropriado?

Direitos autorais:

Formatos disponíveis

In Their Own Voices - Autobiography As Historiographic Metafiction in Three Recent Spanish Novels

Enviado por

Direitos autorais:

Formatos disponíveis

The South Central Modern Language Association

In Their Own Voices: Autobiography as Historiographic Metafiction in Three Recent

Mercedes Mazquiardn de Rodriguez

The Spanish novel continues to exhibit a marked interest in

0 South Central Review 18.1-2 (Spring-Summer 2001): 94-113.

posterity; here I am, locked up in this monastery, in the year

only female heirs. Ironically, it was not to be her omnipotent father,

her youth, a ceremony of her "initiation" into womanhood in Muxia,

that period in contrast to the brevity of the pages narrating h

androgyny, homosexual love/heterosexual love subsumed in bisexuality, M

love" (37). This metaphor of the land as woman, domina

later, at age fourteen, he began to write his memoirs on the papers he re

Herzberger portrays Francoist historiography as comminglin

The Princess was a powerful and attractive woman whos

authority of individualism, "reassuring her reader that women, and this

chamber. While we were going up I ordered the servants

La tboli without fault, but in her fictional historiography, she gives an

3. Antonio Gala, El manuscrito carmesi, Ediciones de Bolsillo, 2d ed. (Barcelona: Editorial

13. Hayden White, The Content of the Form: Narrative Discou

Você também pode gostar