Nación y región en la prosa de Pérez de Ayala

Abstract

In Ramón Pérez de Ayala’s prose, the representation of Spain and Asturias is prevalent. Throughout the first decades of the 20th century, different sociopolitical events and literary and intellectual developments inform this representation. More than mere geographical references, in Ayala’s writings nation and region constitute veritable sites of debate about the features and the moral and cultural state of the country. The monistic image of Spain with Castile as the centerpiece defended by Miguel de Unamuno and the political establishment, as well as the image emphasizing the specificity of the regions preferred by Joan Maragall, are the two opposite positions within this debate. Ayala incorporates and questions both ends, and the many intermediate permutations, generally relying on a neo-Romantic language permeated by nationalistic metaphors such as soul and blood.