Imperial Emotions

Javier Krauel is Assistant Professor of Spanish at University of Colorado Boulder.

• Introduction: Emotions, Empire, and the Tradition of the National Essay1. Redressing the Silencing of Empire2. Imperialism and Nationalism3. The Spanish Empire’s Embattled Legacies4. Imperial Legacies and National Reform5. The Emotions of Empire and the Essay on National CharacterChapter One: Imperial Myths and the National Imagination1. Columbus in 18922. Nationalist Uses of the Imperial Past3. Freethinkers and Empire4. The Failure of the Federalist CritiqueChapter Two: An Incomplete Work of Imperial Mourning: Miguel de Unamuno’s En tornoal casticismo1. Addressing the Post-Imperial Condition2. Empire and casticismo3. Mourning Imperial ValuesChapter Three: Fin de Siècle Imperial Melancholia: Ángel Ganivet’s Idearium español1. Theorizing Imperial Ambivalence2. Independence, Expansion, Modernity3. The Paradox of Empire and MelancholiaChapter Four: The Anatomy of Imperial Indignation: Ramiro de Maeztu’s Hacia otraEspaña1. Anger and Indignation2. Nietzsche’s Critical History3. The Conquest of the meseta as a Second (Imperial) NatureChapter Five: The Politics of Imperial Pride and Shame: Enric Prat de la Riba’s Lanacionalitat catalana1. Catalanist Mood circa 19062. The Subdued Emotions of Cognition and Controversy3. Imperialism and the Creation of National Pride4. Witnessing the Spanish Empire’s ShameConclusion: Toward an Ethics of Imperial EmotionsBibliographyIndex

'Imperial Emotions: Cultural Responses to Myths of Empire in Fin-de Siècle Spain is a dazzlingly brilliant book, which weaves together theories of the emotions, archival research, and intricate textual analysis to paint a convincing picture of the multiple and complex intellectual reactions to the loss of empire after the debacle of the Spanish-American War. While Krauel does not downplay the importance to Spanish thinkers of Spain's 1898 loss of its remaining colonies, he dispenses with the stale shibboleths about the so-called "Generation of '98." Krauel's is the most original and thoughtful book on turn-of-the-twentieth-century Spanish writers since Inman Fox's widely cited La invención de España: nacionalismo liberal e identidad nacional published in 1997. Imperial Emotions will be read, and it will have a significant impact on the field.'Roberta Johnson