Abstract
The underlying surface of the palimpsest in question is not physical. Instead, it is constituted by the events and persons of the Spanish War of Independence from Napoleonic France. Although this period officially extends from 1808 to 1814, the epoch-making Battle of Trafalgar in 1805 initiates the period for many historians as well as for the novelists Benito Pérez Galdós and Arturo Pérez-Reverte. Onto this surface, then, from 1805 to our own days, narratives have been and continue to be created: some in words (lexical representations), some in images (graphic representations), and some in hybrid graphic-lexical, as well as in filmic, versions. Commonly those who come later in the process are very familiar with earlier representations. Over both them and the underlying historical events and persons these later “painters” create their own narratives of all or part of the 1805–14 period. This article centers on the narratives of Galdós and Pérez-Reverte as especially prominent layers of the palimpsest of the war while contextualizing their layers of the palimpsest onto a canvas that includes the contributions of Francisco José de Goya and the Count of Toreno.
Published Version
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