Writing Wrongdoing in Spain, 1800-1936: Realities, Representations, Reactions(Monografías A)

Tracks the emergence and vicissitudes of attitudes to wrongdoing in Spain from the 19th century through the decades before the Civil War. The international contributors to this volume explore the rich diversity of cultures and representations of wrongdoing in Spain through the 19th century and the decades up to the Civil War. Their line of enquiry is predicated on the belief that cultural constructions of wrongdoing are far from simple reflections of historical or social realities, and that they reveal not a line of historical development, but rather variation and movement. Voices and discourses arise in response to the social phenomena associated with wrongdoing. They set out to persuade, to shock, to entice, and in so doing provide complex windows on to social aspiration and desire. The book's three sections (Realities, Representations, and Reactions) offer distinct points of focus, and move between areas where control is paramount and on the agenda from above and those where the subtleties of emotional response take pride of place. Alison Sinclair was Professor of Modern Spanish Literature and Intellectual History at the University of Cambridge until retirement in 2014. Samuel Llano is a Lecturer in Spanish Cultural Studies at the Universityof Manchester.

Table of Contents:
Acknowledgements Introduction - Alison Sinclair and Samuel Llano The Lawyers' Reality: Wrongdoing in Spain in the Era of Codification - Matt Dyson and Aniceto Masferrer Murder in the Batey: Spanish Justice in the Atlantic Colony (1890-92) - Wadda C. Ríos-Font Crime, psychology, and 'being a medium' in Spain in the Early Twentieth Century - Belén Jiménez Alonso Brain States, Sanity, and Wrongdoing: The Neurophilosophy of Pedro Mata - Andrew Ginger Between the Lunatic Asylum and the Street: Illness, Crime and Dissidence in El caso clínico by Antonio de Hoyos y Vinent - Isabel Clúa Ginés Against Seemliness: Excess and Its Limitations in Popular Literature - Alison Sinclair Dubious identity: the Fontanellas Case (1861-1865) - Raquel Sánchez Mad, Bad or Typically Spanish? Don Benito: Chronotope of a Crime and Its Significance - Patricia McDermott Fantasies of Passing: The Bandit as Cultural Motif in Late 1920s and Early 1930s Spain - Jo Labanyi Sacrificial Performances: Confronting discourses on Prostitution in Dulce Dueño - Nuria Godón Street Music, Honour and Degeneration: The Case of Organilleros - Samuel Llano Fear in the City: Social Change and Moral Panic in Madrid in the Early Twentieth Century - Rubén Pallol Journeys to the Catacombs: Forbidden People and Spaces in Modern Madrid (1900-1936) - Fernando Vicente Albarrán Against the Death Penalty: a Campaign for Clemency in 1914 - Óscar Bascuñán Añover Index

About the Author :
ALISON SINCLAIR is Emeritus Professor in Modern Spanish Literature and Intellectual History, University of Cambridge, UK. ALISON SINCLAIR is Emeritus Professor in Modern Spanish Literature and Intellectual History, University of Cambridge, UK.

Review :
A suggestive and brilliant take on the broad relations between literature, society and law.