Irrational Maps: The Gothic misterios of Madrid and Barcelona Público

Abstract

Abstract
Irrational Maps: The Gothic misterios of Madrid and Barcelona
By Cristina Delano
The dissertation analyzes the misterio's use of the Gothic mode in an expression of the
anxieties endemic to urban life and modernity. The Spanish misterios were first inspired
by Eugène Sue's Les Mystères de Paris, and are representative of an era when Spanish
readers were avid consumers of European literature. The misterios portray urban spaces
as sinister and often uncanny by revealing the depravity and intrigue beneath the façade
of the rational modern city. In the dissertation I analyze four misterios: Los misterios de
Madrid by Juan Martínez Villergas (1844-1845), Los misterios de Barcelona by José
Nicasio Milà de Roca (1844), Los misterios de Madrid by Antonio Muñoz Molina (1992)
and Los misterios de Barcelona by Antonio- Prometeo Moya (2006). In my discussion of
the nineteenth-century misterios, I argue that the novels employ the Gothic to explore
issues of political legitimacy and the transition from the antiguo régimen to a modern
nation-state. The misterio genre returns at the end of the twentieth century and early
twenty-first century, and while these novels self-consciously and often comically adopt
the tropes of the nineteenth-century misterios, they also reveal the anxieties brought
about by Spain's place in the globalized world as well as the lingering legacy of
Francoism.
The Gothic is a discourse that expresses unease about the consequences of modernity. I
propose that the Gothic mode provides a forum for the Spanish misterio writers to
explore the traumas of history while also navigating the trepidation felt towards progress.

Table of Contents

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Introduction 1

Irrational Maps: The Gothic misterios of

Madrid and Barcelona

Chapter One 36

Carlist Specters and moderado Monsters in

Juan Martínez Villergas's Los misterios de Madrid

(1844-1845)

Chapter Two 79

The Threat of Revolution: Colonial Others and

Family Romance in José Nicasio Milà de Roca's

Los misterios de Barcelona (1844)

Chapter Three 119

Corruption and Conjuration in Antonio Muñoz Molina's

Los misterios de Madrid (1992)

Chapter Four 157

Ghosts of the Past and Gothic Families in

Antonio-Prometeo Moya's Los misterios de Barcelona (2006)

Conclusion 205

Bibliography 209

About this Dissertation

Rights statement

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School	Laney Graduate School
Department	Spanish
Degree	PhD
Submission	Dissertation
Language	English
Research Field	Literature, Romance
Palavra-chave	serial novels Spanish Gothic
Committee Chair / Thesis Advisor	Gold, Hazel, Emory University
Committee Members	Feldman, Hernan, Emory University Mouat, Ricardo, Emory University White, Deborah Elise, Emory University

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