The Subject in Question presents the first systematic study of "Spanish
modernism" in an attempt to end Spain's literary isolation from the
mainstream of early contemporary European literature. Traditionally,
Spanish literature has been approached by the "literary generational
model," an ultra-nationalist perspective that separates Spanish writing
from its larger European modernist context. C. Christopher Soufas argues
against further adherence to the generational groupings, establishing
instead solid criteria for embracing the period category of modernism as
a more appropriate model. Offering a refreshing and original approach,
Soufas studies various key works from late nineteenth- and early
twentieth-century Spain to demonstrate their important modernist
characteristics. He considers the evolution of modernism in all the
major genres beginning with novels by such authors as Pío Baroja, Miguel
de Unamuno, Ramón María del Valle-Inclán, Ramón Gómez de la Serna, and
Rosa Chacel; the poetry of Jorge Guillén, Vicente Aleixandre, Luis
Cernuda, and Rafael Alberti; and the theater of Federico García Lorca.
Soufas maintains that the basis for associating Spanish literature with
modernism centers on modernist attitudes toward subjectivity-that is,
the modernist critique of the autonomous thinking subject. He argues
that Spain had been engaging in a critique of the subjective model for
centuries, long before European modernists did. Therefore, modernism
marks a point of convergence and rapprochement between Spain and Europe,
and Spain makes a significant contribution to that international
movement. "This work is very significant, in that it establishes the
ground for a basic rethinking of how Spanish literature is to be viewed
not only from a purely national and chronological perspective, but also
from an international and comparatist point of view."-Margaret Persin,
Rutgers University C. Christopher Soufas, professor of Spanish at Tulane
University, is author of Conflict of Light and Wind and Audience and
Authority in the Modernist Theater of Federico García Lorca. "This
cogent study challenges the reader to approach Spanish letters from a
different and broader perspective, one that begets a fuller awareness of
the complexity and richness of contemporary Spanish literature. This
groundbreaking work will have enormous import in the appreciation of
Spain's considerable role in 20th-century European literature. Summing
up: Essential. Upper-division undergraduates through faculty." - F.
Colecchia, Choice "The Subject in Question makes a valuable and
knowledgeable contribution to the ongoing debate about Spain's inclusion
in the European cultural mainstream in the early twentieth century,
through the exploration of new models of subjectivity in Spanish
Modernism, and the wide-ranging revision of early twentieth-century
Spanish literature." - Katherine Murphy, Bulletin of Spanish Studies
