Imagined Truths: Realism in Modern Spanish Literature and Culture(Toronto Iberic)

Imagined Truths provides a twenty-first-century analysis of stylistic and philosophical manifestations of nineteenth- and twentieth-century Spanish literary realism. Bringing together the work of the foremost specialists in the field of contemporary Spanish letters, this collection offers new approaches to literary and cultural criticism and reveals how Spanish realism, far from imitative of other European movements, engaged in complex and modern concepts of representation and mimesis. Imagined Truths acknowledges the critical importance of women writers and contemporary approaches to questions of gender. The essays address the impact of economics on our perceptions of reality and our constructions of everyday life, and they argue for the importance of emotions in the social construction of individual identity. Most importantly, the essays acknowledge the post-imperial turn in literary studies. Addressing a broad range of authors, works, and topics, including the continued relevance of Cervantes's Don Quijote and the way Spanish realism moved beyond narrative to inhabit the spaces of both theatre and film, Imagined Truths comprises a series of meditations on new ways of understanding the unique place of realism in Spanish cultural history. Offering insights for specialists in a wide range of disciplines literature, cultural studies, gender studies, history, philosophy this collection is equally important for readers just becoming acquainted with realist narrative as a central component of Spanish literary history.

Table of Contents:
Acknowledgments Introduction Mary L. Coffey, Pomona College and Margot Versteeg, University of Kansas Part One. Nineteeth-Century Spanish Realism: Root and Branch 1. Arabella’s Veil: Translating Realism in Don Quijote con faldas (1808) Catherine Jaffe, Texas State University, San Marcos 2. Between Costumbrista Sketch and Short Story: Armando Palacio Valdés’s Aguas fuertes Enrique Rubio Cremades, Universidad de Alicante 3. Money, Capital, Monstrosity: Metaphorical Matrices of Realism in Antonio Flores’s Ayer, hoy y mañana Rebecca Haidt, The Ohio State University Part Two. Modernity and the Parameters of Nineteenth-Century Spanish Realism 4. The Physician in the Narratives of Galdós and Clarín Peter Bly, Queen’s University 5. Travelling by Streetcar through Madrid with Galdós and Pardo Bazán Maryellen Bieder, Indiana University, Bloomington 6. Urban Hyperrealism: Galdós’s Dickensian Descriptions of Madrid Linda M. Willem, Butler University 7. Observed versus Imaginative Communities: Creative Realism in Galdós’s Misericordi Susan M. McKenna, University of Delaware Part Three. Stretching the Limits of Spanish Realism 8. Colonialism, Collages, and Thick Description: Pardo Bazán and the Rhetoric of Detail Joyce Tolliver, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign 9. Embodied Minds: Critical Erotic Decisions in La Regenta Randolph D. Pope, University of Virginia 10. María Zambrano on Women, Realism, and Freedom Roberta Johnson, University of Kansas Part Four. The Challenges of Genre: Spanish Realism beyond the Novel 11. Writing (Un)clear Code: The Letters and Fiction of Emilia Pardo Bazán and Benito Pérez Galdós Cristina Patiño Eirín, Universidad de Santiago de Compostela 12. "Volvía Galdós triunfante": Fortunata y Jacinta on Stage (1930) David T. Gies, University of Virginia 13. When Reality Is Too Harsh to Bear: Role-Play in Juan Marsé’s "Historia de detectives" Stephanie Sieburth, Duke University Contributors Index

About the Author :
Mary Coffey is an associate professor of Spanish and dean at Pomona College. Margot Versteeg the interim director of the Humanities Program and associate chair of the Department of Spanish and Portuguese at the University of Kansas.

Review :
" Imagined Truths is a major contribution to the field, especially given the emergent interest in nineteenth-century Spanish realism budding in other literary fields. Its contributions are diverse and its scope wide-ranging. Mary Coffey and Margot Versteeg collectively represent some of the most influential scholars of Spanish realism." --Julia H. Chang, Department of Romance Studies, Cornell University