‘La España Moderna’ and ‘Regeneración’: A Cultural Review in Restoration Spain, 1889–1914 by Rhian Davies (review)

Abstract

MLRy 98.4, 2003 1015 Chapter 2 considers how Spanish novelists used 'scientific spokespersons' to incorporate scientific ideas into their texts, making science enter novels in the form of characters. The man of science is frequently not the man of clear reason, and pedants and pseudo-scientistsfrom a variety of texts by Galdos and Pardo Bazan are included. The main emphasis in this chapter, however, is on Frigilis in La Regenta, read as a positive rather than a negative figure, although one whose science?at least in its ef? fects?is decoration and adornment, his effortsending only in changes of appearance. Up to this point the reader will have felt him- or herself in relatively familiar territory,although the background detail about some of the scientific ideas alluded to in these novels is given grounding in works of science proper in Spain, rather than remaining solely within the literary field. In Chapters 3 and 4, however, we enter a new territory,with a discussion of writings little known in the canon. Chap? ter 3 considers short stories by the Nobel Prize-winning histologist Ramon y Cajal (signed Doctor Bacteria), and La fe by Palacio Valdes, while in Chapter 4 there is an examination of writings that popularized science, using Ramon y Cajal's works of scientific popularization and Pardo Bazan's essay 'La ciencia amena'. Cajal turns out to be a natural popularizer, and, like various of his scientific contemporaries, ready to turn to literature to further the cause of science and spread the word. This activity is vital in turn-of-the-century Spain, and Cajal writing Los tonicos de la voluntad performs a double action of sounding an alarm about lack of science in Spain while communicating in a lively manner his own enthusiasm for scientific pursuits. Chapter 5 concentrates upon the generation of '98, with special reference to Unamuno , Amor y pedagogia, Baroja, El drbol de la ciencia, and Amor y ciencia, a play by Galdos of 1905. Rather than consider the numerous essays ofeach ofthese (where Unamuno 's writings on cientificismomight have been of interest in the light of the earlier writings on Darwinism and 'Darwinisticism'), Pratt approaches the topic here via the aesthetics of tragedy and sublimity. Finally, in the discussion of Ortega and his views on the place ofscience in modern culture, we return almost fullcircle. Ortega is argued to be unfailingly modern in his interest in science, and in his ability to write on it, but also unfailingly critical and cautious in thinking of the place of science in culture. Two notes characterize Signs of Science. One is an awareness of the levels and complexities of enthusiasm for science in Spanish, despite the much-famed backwardness that was the despair of the generation of '98, coupled with a sensitivity to other enthusiasms in Spain, notably the spiritual 'alternatives' to science. The other is the commitment of the author to his topic. Science and spirituality are dealt with even-handedly, with much objective comment (and necessarily some simplification, given the wide scope of the topic and the limits of length). If the author in the end draws back from sweeping conclusions, he has none the less opened up areas of inter? est and enquiry. Hispanic culture has clearly engaged in dialogue with science, albeit with many flawed representations of its themes and practitioners, and understanding all the inflections of this dialogue is central to our view of modern Spain. Clare College, Cambridge Alison Sinclair 'La Espana Moderna' and 'Regeneracion': A Cultural Review in Restoration Spain, i88g-igi4. By Rhian Davies. (Canada Blanch Monographs, 5) Manchester: Manchester Spanish and Portuguese Studies. 2000. xii + 212 pp. ?14.95. ISBN 0-953-99680-8. Do not pass by this study ofLa Espana Moderna believing it to be forspecialists only. Rhian Davies's book is an exemplary in-depth study ofa major review, but its signifi? cance derives frommore than that specific focus. The acquaintance with reviews ofthe 1016 Reviews early twentieth century that many Hispanists have is frequently confined to briefconsultation . Here they will findreason forgoing to look atjournals and reviews as pheno? mena in their own right,and not simply as vehicles forthe output of canonical...