‘Sen pátrea nin lareira’: los espacios nacionales y domésticos en la novela transatlántica ¡A Besta! de Xan de Masma

What is it about?

The construction of Galicia as a nation and homeland in the novel '¡A Besta!' by Xan de Masma. Galicia as a home/homeland is represented in the book from two points of view, that of women who stay and men who migrate. While the latter romanticize "home" while away, for the woman in the novel, "home" is experienced as a site of economic hardship and sexual violence. It is the migrant narrator and protagonists who will design and construct a new home, that becomes a symbol for a modern, bourgeois nation. As such the novel becomes an example of Galician "literary nationalism" or of the ways in which the nation could only be realized in the literary sphere, rather than the political one.

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Why is it important?

This is important for better understanding the role of the novel in the nation building process. It also draws attention to a lesser studied novel. From a contemporary perspective, this article, and the novel analyzed in it, can allow us to think of present day issues such as evictions and sexual assault in Galicia, within the historical context of the 19th century.