Historias del Kronen: Portrait of a Late 20th Century Spanish Psychopath
Subject Area
Spanish Peninsular Studies
Abstract
The award winning novel Historias del Kronen (1994) by José Ángel Mañas catapulted the young Spanish author into fame, and shortly thereafter became recognized as a canonical text in what would become known as Spain’s newest literary school, “La generación X”, also referred to as, “La generación de Mañas” or even, “La generación del Kronen”. Much like Spain’s most famous literary character, Don Quixote, who reads so many books on knights and chivalry that he consciously “loses his mind” in order to live as the characters in the books that he and Spanish society of the time were obsessed with – los libros de caballería (books of chivalry), Mañas’ main character in Historias del Kronen, Carlos, is obsessed with books and films portraying psychopaths. As the story progresses, Carlos begins to act out his psychopathic fantasies, each act becoming more dangerous and more callous than the next until he finally provokes the ultimate antisocial act – murder. This paper will demonstrate how Carlos justifies his grotesque antisocial behavior by praising the fictional psychopathic characters of literature and film with which he and contemporary society are obsessed. Like Don Quixote, Carlos’ inspiration comes from the literary arts, but unlike Don Quixote, Carlos’ goals are anything but pro-social.
Brief Bio Note
Timothy J. Ashton is Associate Professor of Spanish at the University of South Carolina Aiken. He specializes in Iberian Literature and Culture Studies, namely contemporary Spanish literature and film, La generación X, and Spanish soccer literature and film. He is the author of Soccer in Spain: Politics, Literature, and Film, published in 2013 by Scarecrow Press of the Roman and Littlefield Publishing Company.
Keywords
Historias del Kronen, Generación X, Generación de Mañas, Generación del Kronen, Psychopath Literature
Location
Room 218
Presentation Year
2017
Start Date
3-24-2017 9:15 AM
Embargo
11-2-2016
Recommended Citation
Ashton, Timothy J., "Historias del Kronen: Portrait of a Late 20th Century Spanish Psychopath" (2017). South East Coastal Conference on Languages & Literatures (SECCLL). 49.
https://digitalcommons.georgiasouthern.edu/seccll/2017/2017/49
Historias del Kronen: Portrait of a Late 20th Century Spanish Psychopath
Room 218
The award winning novel Historias del Kronen (1994) by José Ángel Mañas catapulted the young Spanish author into fame, and shortly thereafter became recognized as a canonical text in what would become known as Spain’s newest literary school, “La generación X”, also referred to as, “La generación de Mañas” or even, “La generación del Kronen”. Much like Spain’s most famous literary character, Don Quixote, who reads so many books on knights and chivalry that he consciously “loses his mind” in order to live as the characters in the books that he and Spanish society of the time were obsessed with – los libros de caballería (books of chivalry), Mañas’ main character in Historias del Kronen, Carlos, is obsessed with books and films portraying psychopaths. As the story progresses, Carlos begins to act out his psychopathic fantasies, each act becoming more dangerous and more callous than the next until he finally provokes the ultimate antisocial act – murder. This paper will demonstrate how Carlos justifies his grotesque antisocial behavior by praising the fictional psychopathic characters of literature and film with which he and contemporary society are obsessed. Like Don Quixote, Carlos’ inspiration comes from the literary arts, but unlike Don Quixote, Carlos’ goals are anything but pro-social.
