Periodic Reporting for period 1 - VIOLENDINGS (Violence and Happy Endings in the Spanish Golden Age Narrative)
Période du rapport: 2022-09-01 au 2024-08-31
The presence of violence in the Spanish Golden Age theater has been widely studied. Honor dramas offer a variety of bloody scenes that have been at the center of the debate about violence -and violence against women- in the Spanish literature of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. However, there is also a strong presence of violence in the narrative of the Spanish Golden Age, which has been less studied. Interestingly, violence, and especially gender-based violence, appears not only in narrative genres that can be understood as ‘realistic’, but also in narrative genres that present an ‘idealized’ version of the world, such as the pastoral and courtly novels. Even in the idyllic pastoral Arcadias -not to mention the courtly scenarios- there are scenes of violence, and women are often the victims of authoritarian fathers and brothers, jealous husbands, and vengeful lovers who cannot accept rejection and rape or kill them.
Among the few studies that have dealt with the presence of violence in pastoral and courtly novels, the solutions to violence have not been systematically analyzed. This project proposed, on the one hand, the creation of a dataset that categorized the scenes of violence (and their solutions) in the pastoral novels written in Spanish between the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries and in the courtly novels included in these works. On the other hand, based on this dataset, the project offered a diachronic analysis of the inclusion of violence in these interwoven literary genres. The project proposed the categories of 'deactivation', 'reversal' and 'legitimation' to analyze the solutions offered to scenes of violence, and a classification for the distancing devises employed to narrate violence. Based on the categorization and analysis of solutions and distancing devices, the project developed the concept of an ‘economy of violence’, understood as a narrative regulation of violence that allows plots to be resolved with a happy ending, and studied the evolution of the representation of violence in these literary genres.
Beyond the literary approach, the project proposed a multidisciplinary understanding of these strategies bringing together literature, historical sociology and gender studies. Taking into account the social structures of the Golden Age Spain and the concrete context of the production and consumption of these genres, the project addressed the following questions: Against which specific groups is violence in these literary genres most often directed? Who enacts it? In what contexts? Are there different narrative ‘solutions’ provided to resolve violence according to the gender of the victim and the gender of the perpetrator? The project aimed to contribute to a broad analysis of the interplay between the dictates of the Spanish patriarchal society in the 16th and 17th centuries and the structure of the ‘idealistic’ narrative genres of the period.
The project had two main R&I objectives. O1: To develop the concept of ‘economy of violence’ from a literary perspective. This objective was achieved by establishing a categorization of the strategies developed to resolve violent scenes and the distancing devices employed in its representation, which was the basis for analyzing the functioning of the narrative regulation of violence. In addition to contributing to the understanding of the ‘idealistic’ narrative genres of the Spanish Golden Age, O1 provided a novel theoretical framework for the analysis of happy ending structures of other literary traditions. O2: Search for the roots of these narrative structures in the social structures of their contexts. O2 was achieved by comparing the social ideals of the Golden Age Spain with the solutions offered to resolve violence, especially gender-based violence, in these plots. O2 addressed a European and global priority, the fifth UN Sustainable Development Goal: gender equality. As similar happy ending plots are reproduced in contemporary popular culture, the study of their roots in the early modern period and the understanding of the social structures that produced them is expected to generate a critical awareness of what our society is used to consuming as ‘happy endings’ and, in particular, as ‘ideal solutions’ to gender-based violence.
Among the few studies that have dealt with the presence of violence in pastoral and courtly novels, the solutions to violence have not been systematically analyzed. This project proposed, on the one hand, the creation of a dataset that categorized the scenes of violence (and their solutions) in the pastoral novels written in Spanish between the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries and in the courtly novels included in these works. On the other hand, based on this dataset, the project offered a diachronic analysis of the inclusion of violence in these interwoven literary genres. The project proposed the categories of 'deactivation', 'reversal' and 'legitimation' to analyze the solutions offered to scenes of violence, and a classification for the distancing devises employed to narrate violence. Based on the categorization and analysis of solutions and distancing devices, the project developed the concept of an ‘economy of violence’, understood as a narrative regulation of violence that allows plots to be resolved with a happy ending, and studied the evolution of the representation of violence in these literary genres.
Beyond the literary approach, the project proposed a multidisciplinary understanding of these strategies bringing together literature, historical sociology and gender studies. Taking into account the social structures of the Golden Age Spain and the concrete context of the production and consumption of these genres, the project addressed the following questions: Against which specific groups is violence in these literary genres most often directed? Who enacts it? In what contexts? Are there different narrative ‘solutions’ provided to resolve violence according to the gender of the victim and the gender of the perpetrator? The project aimed to contribute to a broad analysis of the interplay between the dictates of the Spanish patriarchal society in the 16th and 17th centuries and the structure of the ‘idealistic’ narrative genres of the period.
The project had two main R&I objectives. O1: To develop the concept of ‘economy of violence’ from a literary perspective. This objective was achieved by establishing a categorization of the strategies developed to resolve violent scenes and the distancing devices employed in its representation, which was the basis for analyzing the functioning of the narrative regulation of violence. In addition to contributing to the understanding of the ‘idealistic’ narrative genres of the Spanish Golden Age, O1 provided a novel theoretical framework for the analysis of happy ending structures of other literary traditions. O2: Search for the roots of these narrative structures in the social structures of their contexts. O2 was achieved by comparing the social ideals of the Golden Age Spain with the solutions offered to resolve violence, especially gender-based violence, in these plots. O2 addressed a European and global priority, the fifth UN Sustainable Development Goal: gender equality. As similar happy ending plots are reproduced in contemporary popular culture, the study of their roots in the early modern period and the understanding of the social structures that produced them is expected to generate a critical awareness of what our society is used to consuming as ‘happy endings’ and, in particular, as ‘ideal solutions’ to gender-based violence.
• Creation of a dataset categorizing the scenes of violence in the pastoral novels written in Spanish and published in Europe between the 16th and 17th centuries, as well as the courtly novels included in these works.
23 novels written between the 16th and 17th centuries constitute the corpus of the Spanish pastoral novel, and within these novels there is an unexplored corpus of courtly novels mostly narrated by secondary characters. Most of these pastoral novels have not been edited since their first publication, but they have been digitalized and are available on the Biblioteca Digital Hispánica of the National Library of Spain. This corpus was read, analyzed, and the scenes of violence were localized and categorized. The result was a dataser with 347 violent scenes (rows), categorized in the following columns: 1) Id. of the work, 2)Id. of the row, 3) year of the first edition of the work, 4) author, 5) title of the novel, 6) violent scene, 7) page, 8) link of the html version of the text, when available on the Biblioteca Virtual Miguel de Cervantes website, 9) identity of the perpetrator, 10) gender of the perpetrator, 11) social position of the perpetrator, 12) weapon, 13) motive of the aggression, 14) identity of the victim, 15) gender of the victim, 16) social position of the victim, 17) relation between the perpetrator and the victim, 18) solution, 19) page of the solution, 20) link to the solution, when available, 21) type of solution, 22) ‘distancing devices’ employed in the representation of the scene, 23) Corresponding Stith Thompson’s motifs. The result was a dataset of 7889 cells.
I wrote a presentation of the dataset with an explanation of the criteria and the proposed categories of types of solutions and distancing devices. The purpose of this presentation was to make this dataset available and reusable for further research on Spanish pastoral and courtly novels. The dataset and the presentation have been uploaded in open formats in DATAVERSE and Zenodo. In addition, in order to increase its impact, I published an interactive version on the the Biblioteca Virtual Miguel de Cervantes.
• Writing the monograph Libros de no poco sobresalto: la economía de la violencia en la novela pastoril.
The dataset was used as a fundamental tool to carry out a diachronic study of the representation of violence in these literary genres. Based on these data, I wrote the book Libros de no poco sobresalto: la economía de la violencia en la novela pastoril, where I develop the concept of ‘narrative economy of violence’ applied to Spanish pastoral novels and the corpus of inserted courtly novels. The book has four chapters: the first analyzes the representation of violence in the novels written between 1559 and 1573 (before the publication of Cervantes’ La Galatea), the second analyzes violence in Cervantes’ La Galatea (1585), the third analyzes violence the in works published between 1586 and 1609 (those published during Cervantes’ lifetime), and the fourth analyzes violence in the works published between 1620 and 1633. The monograph has been accepted for OA publication in Iberoamericana Vervuert.
Early results of this analysis have been published in academic journals (Bulletin of the Cervantes Society of America, eHumanista and Colección Batihoja). In addition, these early results have been shared with the academic community in the most important international conferences on Spanish literature of the Golden Age, held between 2022 and 2024: XX AITENSO International Conference (Toulouse, September 14-17, 2022) Global Cervantes (Princeton, June 7-9, 2023), XXI AIH International Conference (Neuchatel, July 10-15, 2023), XIII AISO International Conference (Oviedo, July 17-21, 2023).
Other relevant academic activities:
• Coordination of the panel “Desmontando el mito (crítico) de la Arcadia” (XIII AISO International Conference, Oviedo, July 17-21, 2023)
Since the Spanish pastoral novel is a literary genre that has not received much attention, I proposed and coordinated a panel on this literary genre in the XIII AISO International Conference. Prof. Flavia Gherardi (Universitá di Napoli), Prof. Paola Encarnación Sandoval (El Colegio de México) and Prof. Ignacio García Aguilar (Universidad de Córdoba) joined me in this panel to discuss what lies behind these seemingly idealistic structures.
• Coordination and organization of the International Conference Violencia de género narrativo en el Siglo de Oro español (Milan, November 22-24, 2023).
Prof Maria Rosso and I proposed and organized the International Conference Violencia de género narrativo en el Siglo de Oro español. We invited specialists to analyze and discuss the representation of gender-based violence in the narrative of the Spanish Golden Age. 19 specialists from 11 universities of 5 countries from Europe, South and North America presented their communications in this conference.
• Coordination and edition of a monographic issue of the academic journal eHumanista 58 (University of California)
Prof. Maria Rosso and I edited the monographic issue of the OA academic journal of the University of California, eHumanista (58), entitled Violencia de género narrativo en el Siglo de Oro español. We selected 7 articles on violence in the Spanish pastoral novel and 7 articles on violence in the Spanish courtly novel, and we wrote the introduction of the monograph with an overview of the studies on violence in these literary genres.
23 novels written between the 16th and 17th centuries constitute the corpus of the Spanish pastoral novel, and within these novels there is an unexplored corpus of courtly novels mostly narrated by secondary characters. Most of these pastoral novels have not been edited since their first publication, but they have been digitalized and are available on the Biblioteca Digital Hispánica of the National Library of Spain. This corpus was read, analyzed, and the scenes of violence were localized and categorized. The result was a dataser with 347 violent scenes (rows), categorized in the following columns: 1) Id. of the work, 2)Id. of the row, 3) year of the first edition of the work, 4) author, 5) title of the novel, 6) violent scene, 7) page, 8) link of the html version of the text, when available on the Biblioteca Virtual Miguel de Cervantes website, 9) identity of the perpetrator, 10) gender of the perpetrator, 11) social position of the perpetrator, 12) weapon, 13) motive of the aggression, 14) identity of the victim, 15) gender of the victim, 16) social position of the victim, 17) relation between the perpetrator and the victim, 18) solution, 19) page of the solution, 20) link to the solution, when available, 21) type of solution, 22) ‘distancing devices’ employed in the representation of the scene, 23) Corresponding Stith Thompson’s motifs. The result was a dataset of 7889 cells.
I wrote a presentation of the dataset with an explanation of the criteria and the proposed categories of types of solutions and distancing devices. The purpose of this presentation was to make this dataset available and reusable for further research on Spanish pastoral and courtly novels. The dataset and the presentation have been uploaded in open formats in DATAVERSE and Zenodo. In addition, in order to increase its impact, I published an interactive version on the the Biblioteca Virtual Miguel de Cervantes.
• Writing the monograph Libros de no poco sobresalto: la economía de la violencia en la novela pastoril.
The dataset was used as a fundamental tool to carry out a diachronic study of the representation of violence in these literary genres. Based on these data, I wrote the book Libros de no poco sobresalto: la economía de la violencia en la novela pastoril, where I develop the concept of ‘narrative economy of violence’ applied to Spanish pastoral novels and the corpus of inserted courtly novels. The book has four chapters: the first analyzes the representation of violence in the novels written between 1559 and 1573 (before the publication of Cervantes’ La Galatea), the second analyzes violence in Cervantes’ La Galatea (1585), the third analyzes violence the in works published between 1586 and 1609 (those published during Cervantes’ lifetime), and the fourth analyzes violence in the works published between 1620 and 1633. The monograph has been accepted for OA publication in Iberoamericana Vervuert.
Early results of this analysis have been published in academic journals (Bulletin of the Cervantes Society of America, eHumanista and Colección Batihoja). In addition, these early results have been shared with the academic community in the most important international conferences on Spanish literature of the Golden Age, held between 2022 and 2024: XX AITENSO International Conference (Toulouse, September 14-17, 2022) Global Cervantes (Princeton, June 7-9, 2023), XXI AIH International Conference (Neuchatel, July 10-15, 2023), XIII AISO International Conference (Oviedo, July 17-21, 2023).
Other relevant academic activities:
• Coordination of the panel “Desmontando el mito (crítico) de la Arcadia” (XIII AISO International Conference, Oviedo, July 17-21, 2023)
Since the Spanish pastoral novel is a literary genre that has not received much attention, I proposed and coordinated a panel on this literary genre in the XIII AISO International Conference. Prof. Flavia Gherardi (Universitá di Napoli), Prof. Paola Encarnación Sandoval (El Colegio de México) and Prof. Ignacio García Aguilar (Universidad de Córdoba) joined me in this panel to discuss what lies behind these seemingly idealistic structures.
• Coordination and organization of the International Conference Violencia de género narrativo en el Siglo de Oro español (Milan, November 22-24, 2023).
Prof Maria Rosso and I proposed and organized the International Conference Violencia de género narrativo en el Siglo de Oro español. We invited specialists to analyze and discuss the representation of gender-based violence in the narrative of the Spanish Golden Age. 19 specialists from 11 universities of 5 countries from Europe, South and North America presented their communications in this conference.
• Coordination and edition of a monographic issue of the academic journal eHumanista 58 (University of California)
Prof. Maria Rosso and I edited the monographic issue of the OA academic journal of the University of California, eHumanista (58), entitled Violencia de género narrativo en el Siglo de Oro español. We selected 7 articles on violence in the Spanish pastoral novel and 7 articles on violence in the Spanish courtly novel, and we wrote the introduction of the monograph with an overview of the studies on violence in these literary genres.
• The dataset
Since a systematic study of violent scenes in the pastoral novels of the Spanish Golden Age and in the courtly novels included in these works has not yet been carried out, the dataset with the categorization of all violent scenes in the complete corpus of this literary tradition is the first result beyond the state of the art.
This categorization allowed me to create dynamic tables to cross data and analyze the functioning of violence selecting elements such as the gender of victims and perpetrators to accurately track and illustrate patterns and changes in the incorporation of violence in the evolution of these genres. The generation of this data was fundamental to achieve the main R&I objectives of the project, to provide an analysis and interpretation of the incorporation of violence in these happy ending narrative genres considering their context of production. It was the basis for the writing of the monograph on the regulation of violence in happy ending narrative of the Spanish Golden Age.
The expected impact of the dataset goes beyond its use in my analysis. As described in the project’s Data Management Plan, the dataset complies with FAIR principles, is OA in DATAVERSE and is intended to be ‘reusable’ for future research on violence in this literary tradition. I focused my analysis on the narrative regulation of violence, the representation of gender-based violence, and the intersections between pastoral and courtly novels. However, other elements were categorized, such as the type of weapon, or the Stith Thompson’s corresponding motifs for each action, which may be the focus of other research interests.
* The open collection.
An open interactive collection of violent scenes of the corpora of the project, with interactive Sankey diagrams which allow to trace the economy of violence in the analyzed works, was created on the Biblioteca Virtual Miguel de Cervantes.
• The monograph (and early results presented in articles)
In the monograph, I proposed and developed the concept of a ‘narrative economy of violence’ to study the strategies devised to resolve violent scenes into happy endings. I proposed the categories of 1) ‘deactivation’, which refers to violent scenes that end as failed plans, 2) ‘reversal’, which refers to violent scenes that can be reversed (e.g. by magic), and 3) ‘legitimation’, which refers to cases in which the violent action is presented, for example, as a deserved punishment. In addition, I proposed a model for analyzing the ‘distancing devices’ used in the narration of violent scenes, and I studied their changes in the evolution of these genres.
The results beyond the state of the art presented in this monograph are mainly two. One is the analysis of the representation of violence and its changes in this literary tradition, which has not been done before. On the other hand, the conceptual proposal to analyze the regulation of violence from a narratological perspective. These categories proved useful in understanding the different types of strategies for resolving violence in this tradition and are expected to be a valid framework for analyzing violence from a narratological perspective in other literary traditions as well.
The presentation of the dataset, explaining the categories and criteria of this classification, has been translated into English in order to increase its potential impact among scholars specialized in other literary traditions.
• The monographic issue
The monographic issue of eHumanista is an important contribution to the analysis of gender-based violence in these literary genres, where this problem has been little studied. This collective volume broadens the horizon of the project with other proposals of analysis, approaches and methodologies to study this topic and this literary tradition. Moreover, it is the first monographic volume that collects studies on violence in the ‘idealistic narrative genres’ of Spanish Golden Age literature, and it is expected to become a reference work on this topic. This volume is an OA publication and has been uploaded to Zenodo.
Since a systematic study of violent scenes in the pastoral novels of the Spanish Golden Age and in the courtly novels included in these works has not yet been carried out, the dataset with the categorization of all violent scenes in the complete corpus of this literary tradition is the first result beyond the state of the art.
This categorization allowed me to create dynamic tables to cross data and analyze the functioning of violence selecting elements such as the gender of victims and perpetrators to accurately track and illustrate patterns and changes in the incorporation of violence in the evolution of these genres. The generation of this data was fundamental to achieve the main R&I objectives of the project, to provide an analysis and interpretation of the incorporation of violence in these happy ending narrative genres considering their context of production. It was the basis for the writing of the monograph on the regulation of violence in happy ending narrative of the Spanish Golden Age.
The expected impact of the dataset goes beyond its use in my analysis. As described in the project’s Data Management Plan, the dataset complies with FAIR principles, is OA in DATAVERSE and is intended to be ‘reusable’ for future research on violence in this literary tradition. I focused my analysis on the narrative regulation of violence, the representation of gender-based violence, and the intersections between pastoral and courtly novels. However, other elements were categorized, such as the type of weapon, or the Stith Thompson’s corresponding motifs for each action, which may be the focus of other research interests.
* The open collection.
An open interactive collection of violent scenes of the corpora of the project, with interactive Sankey diagrams which allow to trace the economy of violence in the analyzed works, was created on the Biblioteca Virtual Miguel de Cervantes.
• The monograph (and early results presented in articles)
In the monograph, I proposed and developed the concept of a ‘narrative economy of violence’ to study the strategies devised to resolve violent scenes into happy endings. I proposed the categories of 1) ‘deactivation’, which refers to violent scenes that end as failed plans, 2) ‘reversal’, which refers to violent scenes that can be reversed (e.g. by magic), and 3) ‘legitimation’, which refers to cases in which the violent action is presented, for example, as a deserved punishment. In addition, I proposed a model for analyzing the ‘distancing devices’ used in the narration of violent scenes, and I studied their changes in the evolution of these genres.
The results beyond the state of the art presented in this monograph are mainly two. One is the analysis of the representation of violence and its changes in this literary tradition, which has not been done before. On the other hand, the conceptual proposal to analyze the regulation of violence from a narratological perspective. These categories proved useful in understanding the different types of strategies for resolving violence in this tradition and are expected to be a valid framework for analyzing violence from a narratological perspective in other literary traditions as well.
The presentation of the dataset, explaining the categories and criteria of this classification, has been translated into English in order to increase its potential impact among scholars specialized in other literary traditions.
• The monographic issue
The monographic issue of eHumanista is an important contribution to the analysis of gender-based violence in these literary genres, where this problem has been little studied. This collective volume broadens the horizon of the project with other proposals of analysis, approaches and methodologies to study this topic and this literary tradition. Moreover, it is the first monographic volume that collects studies on violence in the ‘idealistic narrative genres’ of Spanish Golden Age literature, and it is expected to become a reference work on this topic. This volume is an OA publication and has been uploaded to Zenodo.