UTOPIAN NARRATIVE IN EIGHTEENTH-CENTURY SPAIN:

GENERIC FRAMEWORKS AND SOCIAL REFORMISM

by

Carla Almanza-Gálvez

A thesis submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy

The University of Sheffield Faculty of Arts and Humanities School of Languages and Cultures

May 2016

Acknowledgements

The research undertaken for the present thesis was primarily supported by the generous award of a three-year University of Sheffield Faculty Scholarship, for which I can now formally express my gratitude. I would like to thank my two supervisors, Dr Geraldine Lawless and Dr Rhian Davies, for their guidance and critical input at every stage of the writing of this thesis. I am most grateful to Geraldine for many fruitful early discussions about the overall shaping and presentation of each chapter. Rhian has been steadfast in offering invaluable practical advice and motivation at all stages in the doctoral process. Sincere thanks are also due to Dr David McCallam, who enthusiastically co-supervised my work during the revision phase, providing illuminating feedback. I am equally grateful for his insightful comments during my Research Support Group sessions. I am especially indebted to Professor Philip Deacon for having been a devoted mentor throughout my doctoral experience and for having shared his extensive knowledge of eighteenth-century Spanish culture with me. His genuine interest in every aspect of my research and his erudite criticism were a constant inspiration for my work. Finally, my heartfelt appreciation goes to my parents and sister for their unfailing encouragement and unconditional support.

Abstract

The present thesis focuses on the most important Spanish utopian writings of the 'long' eighteenth century, setting them in historical context within the tradition formally inaugurated by Thomas More's Utopia (1516). The works studied comprise the undated, anonymous Descripción de la Sinapia, península en la tierra austral, Gutierre Vaca de Guzmán's Suplemento de los viajes de Enrique Wanton al país de las monas, the anonymous 'Monarquía de los Ayparchontes' in the periodical El Censor, Andrés Merino's Monarquía columbina and Pablo de Olavide's 'Cartas de Mariano a Antonio' in El Evangelio en triunfo. The five texts have hitherto received varying degrees of academic attention, but less analysis than merited of their place within an ongoing, transatlantic, cultural tradition. Part I sets out historically the main ideological, literary and social characteristics of the genre: the theoretical conceptualisations of utopian writing as initiated by More, the foundations of the utopian tradition in the sixteenth- and seventeenth-century Hispanic world, and links between the utopian format and socially reformist texts in eighteenth-century Spain. Part II examines in detail the five chosen texts, exploring their differentiating features with respect to the prevailing utopian tradition and demonstrating their distinctiveness in relation to Spanish economic, political, religious and social structures, while probing their idealising strands on a spectrum stretching from reformism to utopian experimentalism. The analyses ultimately reveal great variety in the social focus of the texts and an eclectic approach to the salient features of the utopian generic tradition, as well as the widely contrasting links to Enlightenment ideals and thought.

Contents

Acknowledgements ii

Abstract iii

Introduction 1

I. Setting the Scene 1. The Conceptualisation of Utopian Discourse 15 2. Sixteenth- and Seventeenth-Century Utopianism in the Hispanic World 34 3. Utopian Writing in the Context of Eighteenth-Century Spanish Reformism 49

II. Utopias: Ideal and Satirical 4. Sinapia and the Legacy of Utopia 70 5. Social Satire and Utopia in the Suplemento de los viajes de Enrique Wanton al país de las monas 105 6. Utopianism in the 'Monarquía de los Ayparchontes' and Rel