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The Spanish Golden Age novelist Miguel de Cervantes has long cast a shadow over the writers who have followed in his wake. This book explores the great novelist's influence on contemporary Spanish writers. The links between the Golden Age tradition and contemporary writing are examined by leading academics in the field of the Spanish contemporary novel.
The collection focuses on aspects of literary technique and metafiction, particularly the role of the narrator, the mixing of fictional and real characters, and self-reflection and literary criticism within the novel. These are all techniques that have recognisable Cervantine traits. Other parallels with Cervantes's writing are explored such as the portrayal of a hero with quixotic characteristics and the imitation of specific episodes from Cervantes's works.
List of contents
Contents: Edwin Williamson: Preface - David K. Herzberger: The shadow of Don Quijote in the narrative of Antonio Muñoz Molina - Mariela Insúa Cereceda: Heroísmo y fracaso: las novelas de Luis Landero y Don Quijote - Isabelle du Pasquier: De Cervantes a Gopegui: las huellas de una deambulación mental - Anne L. Walsh: Echoes of Cervantes in contemporary Spanish fiction: A case study with a specific reference to La reina del sur by Arturo Pérez-Reverte - Idoya Puig: Verisimilitude, self-reflection and humanity: Cervantine features in Javier Cercas's novels - Carmen Herrero: Metaficción y arquetipo heroico en la narrativa de Juan Manuel de Prada - Heike Scharm: Following Cervantes's footsteps: Vila-Matas's assassination attempt on the novel - Alison Ribeiro de Menezes: The dark shore that illuminates: Cervantine narrative poetics and the case of La orilla oscura by José María Merino - Alexis Grohmann: 'Con las espadas altas y desnudas': Cervantes, time and the freedom of the novel in Javier Marías's Tu rostro mañana - José Jiménez Lozano: Mi complicidad cervantina.
About the author
The Editor: Idoya Puig has taught at Manchester Metropolitan University since 1994. She wrote her Ph.D. on Cervantes and the
Novelas ejemplares at Westfield College, University of London. She has published a number of articles on Cervantes and the portrayal of human relationships in some of his works.
Report
"'Tradition and Modernity' is an engaging set of essays for those with an interest in the contemporary Peninsular novel and/or the legacy of Cervantes. All the contributions enhance our knowledge of the authors treated, and are timely reminders of the importance of literary heritage in the twenty-first century." (Stuart Davis, Bulletin of Spanish Studies)
