Description
Book SynopsisWriting Teresa: The Saint from Ávila at the fin-de-siglo examines the Teresa de Jesús “boom” of roughly 1880–1930 and offers an in-depth study of five major Spanish participants in the turn-of-the-twentieth-century explosion of literary treatments of St. Teresa. This historical period’s interest in the Saint from Ávila relates to popularization and nationalization of aspects of Catholicism, technological advances, a modernist fascination with saintly heroes, the search for new Spanish identities, and the evolving role of women writers and intellectuals. Teresa was mysticism in its historical context, energy in a time of doubt, the possibility of reconciling science and spirituality, a new vision for writing, and a maternal figure linked to the religion of the past for those who had lost the faith of their childhood.
Table of ContentsAcknowledgments Introduction. An Hour with Teresa: The Saint and Her Interpreters Science, Mysticism, Spiritualism, and the Feminine Catholicism in Nineteenth-Century Spain: Teresa as Popular Holy Mother Nationalizing Teresa: The Third Centennial, and Political Divisions Creating National Culture: The Role of Scholars Fin-de-siglo Exploration of Spanish Identity: The Saintly Hero in Literature Teresa in Turn-of-the-Century Spain: Male and Female Perspectives Stories of Teresa in Clarín, Pardo Bazán, Unamuno, Azorín, and Blanca de los Ríos An Hour with Teresa (1880-1930) Chapter One. Clarín’s Teresa: the faith of the mother Teresa: national pathology or national project? Clarín as critic: On Marcelino Menéndez Pelayo and Benito Pérez Galdós La Regenta: Female Affliction and Male Desire Mothers, Nuns, and supercherías Saintly Pairs: Salvation for Clarín and the Nation Chapter Two. Emilia Pardo Bazán and Teresa de Jesús, in public and private Franciscanism, Mysticism and the Heroic Woman Writer A Model for Women: Teresa on the National Stage Sainthood and Superiority: La Quimera and Dulce Dueño Postscript: Teresa and the Return to Community Chapter Three. Unamuno and the Agony of Teresa En torno al casticismo: Teresa’s Interior Castles Vida de Don Quijote y Sancho: Divine Quijotess Del sentimiento trágico de la vida: The Agonies of Teresa as Super-Self La tía Tula: Teresa and Her Family Unamuno, Poet: A Lyrics of Teresa Additional Agony, and Dreams of Liberty Chapter Four. Heroism and Humility: Azorín Writes Teresa The Early Years, and the Unbearable Whiteness of the Eternal Feminine The Past is not Present: Teresa’s Inaccessibility and the Author’s Doubts Bringing the Classics to Life Authority and Intervention: Rescuing Teresa Fictions and Fantasies of Teresa’s Savior and Disciple “La humildad es la verdad”: Final Lessons from Teresa Chapter Five. Blanca de los Ríos: Teresa as Mother of Tradition The Women of Tirso: Teresa in Gabriel Téllez Teresa as Hero: Linguistic Maternity and the Woman’s Pen Addressing Women: Teresa in Blanca de los Ríos’s Present A Teresa for the Future Conclusion. Public and Private Teresas Works Cited
