ABSTRACT
This introduction presents an overview of key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book addresses the similarities between the reactions to US modernization in European and Spanish texts of the period. It presents New York City's recurrent role as a symbol of modernization in early twentieth-century Spanish narrative. The modernization of Spanish society seemed to progress independently of the controversies about national identity. The examination of the narrative representation of New York and the United States in Spanish literature has been limited generally to less exhaustive studies. Julio Neira's study provides a reference to Spanish narrative works inspired by New York. This book examines a corpus of early twentieth-century narrative texts about New York, published between 1898 and 1936, with special focus on the 1920s and 1930s.
