Valle-Inclán And The Irony To Talk About The Reconquest In Sonata De Estea

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Valle-Inclán and the irony to talk about the reconquest in Sonata de Estea

Sonata de Estío is one of the Sonatas written by Ramón del Valle-Inclán in which he recounts the memoirs of Marqués de Brandomín and who are narrated by himself character. To refer to the irony used by Valle-Inclán in this work, it is important to frame ourselves in the historical moment in which the novel is published, as well as the context in which the main character develops. Also, it is important to clarify the idea of ​​irony, and other elements that can complement him as the allegory and background, which I will talk about in this essay.

The work was published in 1903; A few years before the loss of Cuba, Puerto Rico and the Philippines as Spanish colonies. Spain was going through difficult times and according to Valero, the idea of ​​a new national identity "became especially evident from the loss of the last colonies in 1898". This identity included an idea of ​​fraternity between Spain and America and was reinforced by writers of the time of both parts of the world; Valle-Inclán as one of them.

In Sonta de Estío the author places the protagonist at that painful moment of the beginning of the century in Spain and uses irony to talk about a fractured past and full of fantasies to which Castañeda refers as a Spanish imperial myth. He points out that "it is possible to find in the text of Valle-Inclán an effort to demystify that construction through the irony that permeates the story". Since it went through difficult times, there was a need to return to the past; to those times where the empire dominated; And it is precisely this idea that Valle-Inclán tries to criticize in his work.

Returning to the three elements described at the beginning of the essay, some authors talk about them and consider them important in this work by Valle-Inclán. The first is irony, which as we already mentioned, is used to question the myth of the past. The second is the allegory that is constituted according to Rosalny, "by the remission of an unattainable past, […] the allegory always designates the distance in relation to its" origin ". In this case, its origin is the conquest. And finally, the background that according to Faverón-Patriau (CTD in Castañeda and García 200) is “the allegory that contains in its structure the frustration of its organic and monological impulse, the allegory that cracks with the irruption of the contradiction”. These three elements play an important role in the protagonist’s narration, Marqués Brandomín.

As a view of the past in the narration of Brandomín we can make a relationship between him and the conquerors of the 16th century because he himself claims to be a descendant of them at the beginning of the work “one of my ancestors, Gonzalo Sandoval, had founded the land in those lands the land Kingdom of New Galicia ". On the other hand, the Chole girl represented America, the image of the outraged indigenous woman but also represents the Malinche, just as the Marquis represents Hernán Cortés, important characters for the history of the conquest of Mexico. The love to which the marquis refers to the principle of the work, Lilí, who was unfaithful could actually be the true America, the one that separated from his king. Both women, Chole and Lilí then become America, a symbolizing the one who betrayed their man (perhaps to stay in the hands of Native Natives, or by the influence of the US empire) and the other to which he returns to his arms, which in turn does not cease to be inonic since it was not like that it happened.

Actually, Brandomín has the idea that nothing is lost and believes that the empire is still throbbing, in a sense, seeks to flee from reality. As Spires points out, "Nothing indicates that the narrator is Aware of the Irony of His remarks of him". On the other hand, Brandomín tries to make connections between the myth of imperial and Mexico and sees this same as an extension of their own country. Since he is loyal to the crown and is a great castisist, he feels admired for what the choleh girl represents. Torrecilla says that attraction:

It represents its fascination with a passionate and primitive, violent, noble and religious environment, of lords and servants; an environment characterized by all those qualities on which the traditional European society was based and that they have already disappeared, definitely replaced by more practical and rational values.

The Marquis, far from feeling oblivious to that different and exotic environment, feels hope to recover what is lost by finding some traces of similarities such as the convent, for example.

Harris reaffirms this idea and points out that "His conversation at The Conventing The Loss of the Chruch’ S Power Confirms His Conservative Politics ". In his idea of ​​imperial Spain, the Church had so much power and dominated along with the monarchy; Casí element losses in Mexico where well -marked antirelligiosity is perceived.

On the other hand, the fact that the Chole girl also has Spanish blood can be seen as another allegorical symbol. She being Creole, and Princess Maya, she has superiority over the Indians and blacks that serve her. In this sense, she becomes the inheritance of those conquerors. That is, although in the present of the work, there are no longer conquerors in Mexico, she continues to remind her servants of her who are still slaves. One of the parties that affirm this idea, is the moment in which she made the black be thrown into the sea to kill a shark. “The Chole girl, with that patrician disdain that the opulent Creole feels for the blacks, his beautiful head of Indian queen, and in such tone, that the words seemed to fall asleep loaded with tedium on the edge of the lips, muttered: he murmured: -Will you here?… Let the four Centens!…. Undoubtedly, the chole at that time, symbolizes the hierarchy that once represented Spain about the indigenous and now represents on her servants with mixed blood.

Another idea proposed by Torrecilla is the representation of the dad and husband of the Choleh girl and Brandomín love antagonist as the new national regime of Mexico. The work:

It presents the image of a decadentist marquis who intends with skepticism to recreate a heroic past, and that when a loving antagonist arises in the person of the incestuous father decides to ride without presenting battle and recognizing the right of possession that assists the "Mexican fierce".

The interesting thing is to see again some irony in La Sonata because of the fact that the Chole girl returns to Brandomín’s arms at the end of the work. Which means that somehow there is a big difference between past reality and fictitious. For all the above we can see an attempt by the narrator to try to change the story, again living it but changing the end in which instead of America separates from Spain and becomes independent, he returns to his arms and form an annex of That Spain. The fact that Brandomín never comments on how deep True owner.

As for the background of the work, Castañeda and García claim that:

The deepest background that marks Sonata de Estío and reverses its apparent positive final is the effect of the demystified operation of the ironic Brandomín narrator, who is responsible for establishing a link and a break between the trip to Mexico of his youthful self and the arrival of Hernán Cortés to the territory three centuries earlier, as well as between the small -scale conquest of a woman and the conquest as an imperial company (205).

According to what has been said, despite the fact that the narrator tries to create a happy ending, opposite to the one that the story presents, that end brings some irony because he calls into question that fantasy of heroism that characterizes Brandomín. The Chole girl actually arrives in her arms not because he has fought for her but simply as the work of destiny. In this sense, there is also a break between the imperial myth and reality.

Harris points out that “the Chole’s Body is the place where the colonial desire coincides with romantic desire. The narrator reveals her metaphorical role of her with romantic desire ". It is here where love and conquest are divided, since the Chole girl has been, love and the meritorious land now desired. At the end of the work with the encounter between them, it appears as I already mentioned, somewhat of irony due to the fact that in romantic terms, it may be that Brandomín has reached that fantasy of possessing the woman, but not the earth. In a way, the fact that the Marquis has taken possession of the Chole. However, since there was no such possession, but a voluntary delivery by her, that also breaks the myth. It is worth mentioning that the conquered lands have always been seen as women and America was chole.

To conclude, another key point that cannot be put aside and that can also have an ironic reading, is the way in which the Marquis reacts to the fantasy that the butler has about the bandits is the time in which the Butler tells his idea of ​​making Don Carlos V emperor. "Since I got to this land I have a thought. Sepalo Vuecencia: I want to make Don Carlos V Emperor ". Brandomín made fun of that thought since the butler wanted to return the "Indies" to Spain something that is impossible for Brandomin. This can be the only part in which the Marquis approaches the reality of the beginning of the century and when making fun, he breaks with that myth that the Americas could recover after two centuries.

Irony is something that Valle-Inclán uses throughout the work to criticize that ideal and that latent fantasy in Spain of the early twentieth century where there were many people who still believed in those heroic conquerors, in that imperial Spain and in that desire for reconquest due to a painful present. Irony is then that framework and common denominator of the work within which we find other tools that give it life such as allegory and counterattack. These fill it with strength to demystify that imperialist discourse. Even when Valle-Inclán had conservative dyes, he himself struggled against those ideas to return to the past and this work is an attempt to bury that imperial myth and to make way to a brotherhood among all Spanish-speaking countries; about which he no longer had domain, but only history, language, and other shared aspects.

Cited works

  • Castañeda, Luis, H. “The Spanish imperial myth in Valle-Inclán: an allegorical reading of the‘ Sonata de Estío ’. Hispanophilic, no. 171, 2014, pp. 201-216.
  • Castañeda, Luis H., and Laura Lesta Garcia. ‘The background romances of Valle-Inclán: idealization and demystification of the past in the Las Sonatas quartet.’Cincinnati Romance Review no. 38, 2014, pp.199-215.
  • Harris, Amanda Nocea. "Imperial and postcolonial Desires:" Sonata de Estío "and The Malinche Paradigm."Discourse, Vol. 26, no. 1/2, pp. 235–257.
  • RAGA ROSALENY, Vicente. ‘Allegory and irony: Paul de Man and postmodern irony.’Thémata. Philosophy Magazine No. 39,2007, pp. 491-497.
  • Spires, Robert C. “Postcolonial Discourse in“ Sonata de Esgue ”Annals of Contemporary Spanish Literature, Vol. 26, no. 3, 2001, pp. 743–757.
  • Torrecilla, Jesus. "Exoticism and nationalism in the Sonata de Estío.”Hispanic Review, Vol. 66, no. 1, 1998, pp. 35–56.
  • Valero Juan, Eva. ‘The Hispanic-American fraternity to debate: the cultural dialogue of 98.’Kamchatka, no.9, 2017, pp. 25-45.

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