ABSTRACT
The calculated ambiguity of the novel Insolación (Sunstroke), published by Emilia Pardo Bazán in 1889, has provoked suggestive reinterpretations in the last decades. It is no wonder, given that this novel engages with debates that are crucial to the history of nineteenth-century literature: naturalism vs. psychologism, Spanishness vs. Europeanism, and transgression of gender rules vs. conformity with social impositions over women (such as the acceptance of marriage as the principle destiny of women). Its complex narrative structure, “scandalous” subject matter, abundant intertextuality, ironic tone, and astute winks to key questions of the moment, make it both a textual challenge and a rich source for exploring intersections of class, gender, and race in the Spanish novel. All these issues are further complicated by being embedded in the broader context of the construction of national identity. Jennifer Smith, in her study of cultural capital and social class in Insolación, summarizes several of the themes that have attracted critics to this novel: “naturalist determinism, narrative technique, gender inequality, space, and to a lesser degree, race and nationality” (1). It is precisely these less-analysed questions of “race” and nation,1 combined with the inextricable question of gender, that this essay addresses through my reading of Insolación as a reinterpretation of the national-sexual myth of Carmen.
