The Novel of the Bullanga: Eugenio de Tapia’s Los cortesanos y la revolución (1838–39) and Pedro Mata’s El poeta y el banquero (1842)

Abstract

The period between 1833 and 1840 was a moment of political upheaval in Spain. Not only did these years witness the transition from an absolute monarchy to a liberal parliamentary system, but Spanish liberals also began to divide into several factions, leading to uprisings and several changes in government. At the same time, the nation had to fend off the military advances of the anti-liberal Carlists in the North. This article compares and contrasts two novels from the period that chronicle this turbulence: Los cortesanos y la revolución (1838–39) by Eugenio de Tapia and El poeta y el banquero (1842) by Pedro Mata. It examines how these works represent and comment on the upheaval of the period through their plot, structure, and character systems. What elements of this political transition are included or omitted in the two novels? How do they analyse these historical changes? Finally, what relationship do they establish between revolution and romanticism, the dominant aesthetic of the period?