ABSTRACT
This chapter proposes a reading of the embedded text in terms of the debate within hagiographic scholarship over the interpretation of virgin martyr legends as pornographic accounts of sexual violence which offer the reader an opportunity for sadistic and voyeuristic pleasure. According to legend, Catherine Jagoe lived and was martyred in fourth-century Alexandria, although there is no textual evidence for her story until the ninth century. Accounts of Catherine's life always specify that she was extremely well educated and intelligent, 'un prodigio de sabiduría' according to the 1877 Año Cristiano. In Dulce dueño, the legend of Catherine of Alexandria is presented in a version written by one of the characters, the priest Carranza. He reads this aloud to an audience made up of the novel's protagonist, Lina, and Polilla, a liberal anticlerical scholar. Carranza's treatment of the supernatural elements of his tale further reflects his aspirations to form part of an early-twentieth-century intellectual elite.
