Description
The transatlantic novel deals with the exotic projection of the Other produced by the Occidental (Western) imagination. In the transatlantic novel, the Occidental traveler must construct two images: one, the savageness of the Other, and two, his glorified self. This study examines the atypical nature of two transatlantic novels. The present thesis argues that Valle-Inclán's Sonata de estío and Tirano Banderas are both unorthodox transatlantic novels as they show a significant deviation from all Occidentalist discourses (Colonialist, Imperialist, and Nationalist). To explore this argument, the study was divided into three sections. First, the introduction presents and explains two theoretical tropes, Orientalism and Occidentalism, and it also suggests that the reader see Sonata de estío through a pseudo-Occidentalist lens and Tirano Banderas through an anti-Occidentalist lens. This section also treats the literary criticism surrounding the supposed Occidentalism linked to Valle-Inclán. Subsequently, a significant portion of the thesis is dedicated to the exploration of the pseudo-Occidentalism in Sonata de estío. The literary analysis culminates with the examination of the blatant anti-Occidentalism in Tirano Banderas.
