Spain in the Nineteenth Century: New Essays on Experiences of Culture and Society

The nineteenth-century Hispanic world had been shattered to its core by wars, civil wars and revolutions at the same time as it confronted a new period of European and North-American expansion and development. This book considers the major, dynamic ways in which people sought to adapt and change, or even simply to continue as they were. The essays in this collection present fundamentally important, under-studied topics in nineteenth-century Hispanic Studies and illustrate how Spaniards conceived of and undertook major activities that shaped their lives. Adaptability, paradox and/or logical inconsistency, in varying combinations and emphases, often come to the fore, not just because the essays reveal contradictions in a socio-economic system, but because they are expressions of a human quest for opportunity and survival in a complex and changing world. The book includes contributions from leading scholars from the United States, United Kingdom and Spain. They are not confined to any single area of practice, nor do they share a home in social history, biography or literary criticism, though all of these subjects are included here. The volume will be of significant interest to all those who study modern Spain, and to scholars and students of nineteenth-century cultural studies.