A Stranger in My Own Land: Sofía Casanova, a Spanish Writer in the European Fin de Siècle (review)

Abstract

hooper, KiRSTY. A Stranger in My Own Land: Sofia Casanova, a Spanish Writer in European Fin de Siecle. Nashville, TN: Vanderbilt UP, 2008. 235 pp.Female writers and female have always been topics of interest for critics and scholars alike. It appears, however, that Spanish female writers and their works, especially those of fin de siglo period, have not captured enough interest and attention. Kirsty Hooper's A Stranger in My Own Land stands on its own merit by offering an intellectually stimulating study of one of those less-studied authors: Sofia Casanova. In her book, Hooper sets out to examine place of Galician- born writer's authorship within both Spanish and Galician tradition at turn of nineteenth century, as well as biographical, social, political, and cultural contexts of her early narrative. In doing this, Hooper attempts to show the dispar- ity between evidence of active participation in fin de siglo social, cultural and political debates by women such as Casanova and their absence from historical record (8).In her famous speech La mujer espanola en el extranjero, given at Ateneo de Madrid in 1910, Casanova complained that Spanish women had been erased from European intellectual map cual Atlantida que devoro el mar (1). Up until now, Casanova's complaint has become a self-prophecy, since there have been no scholarly studies about her works. With this book, however, Hooper makes sure that Casanova's radical and poignant representations of gender, social class, race, national identity, and contemporary politics find their way to His- panists and Galleguistas alike. Although her book offers what some would consider close readings of literary texts, Hooper's distinctive and clever readings of Casano- va's early fictional writings are contextualized within personal, social, and political climate of their production. The truth is, as Hooper points out, it is very difficult for those who are interested in lesser-known female authors like Casanova, Concha Espina, and Blanca de los Rios, or even more mainstream writers such as Emilia Pardo Bazan and Carmen de Burgos, to find adequate models of criticism and interpretation, since they have been developed in response to a limited range of narrative modes and narrative voices from which women writers are, by default, excluded (172).The introductory chapter, taking quote from Casanova's speech as its title, situates author in her sociohistorical context as it also analyzes conditions of female writers in Spain and Galicia at fin de siglo. In other words, Hooper attempts to find a place for Casanova both within Spanish and Galician letras at end of nineteenth century with objective to challenge familiar narrative with alternative ways to seeing, reading and understanding fin de siglo, a goal that can be achieved only through serious and searching analysis of writings of women who contributed so critically to this crucial period in formation of modern Iberian identities (22). However, Hooper's text also allows readers to see relevance of this type of study for present; her purpose is not necessarily to reconstruct fragmented history of women's writing (11) in Spain or Galicia, but to demonstrate that accurate bio-bibliographical and textual details (12) allow scholars to properly evaluate great literary and narrative histories taking into consideration contemporary female writers.In chapter 2, Hooper explores Casanova's novel El doctor Wolski (1894) within traditional readings of female literature (considered as an autobiographical text about a female character and her marriage to a Polish doctor), but she also makes an argument, following Gillian Rose's critical approach, about role of paradoxical space. According to Hooper, Rose's concept is as intrinsic to novel's plot as it is emblematic of Casanova as a writer, since Casanova moves between her desire for public recognition of authorship and what Hooper calls the need to maintain 'feminine' respectability (26). …