https://theses.gla.ac.uk/ Theses Digitisation: https://www.gla.ac.uk/myglasgow/research/enlighten/theses/digitisation/ This is a digitised version of the original print thesis. Copyright and moral rights for this work are retained by the author A copy can be downloaded for personal non-commercial research or study, without prior permission or charge This work cannot be reproduced or quoted extensively from without first obtaining permission in writing from the author The content must not be changed in any way or sold commercially in any format or medium without the formal permission of the author When referring to this work, full bibliographic details including the author, title, awarding institution and date of the thesis must be given Enlighten: Theses https://theses.gla.ac.uk/ [email protected] Perspectives on the Self in the Novels of Camilo Castelo Branco (1850-1870) by David Gibson Frier Thesis for the Degree of Ph.D. Prepared at The University of Glasgow in The Department of Hispanic Studies. September 1988. © David G. Frier, 1988 ProQuest Number: 10970823 All rights reserved INFORMATION TO ALL USERS The quality of this reproduction is dependent upon the quality of the copy submitted. In the unlikely event that the author did not send a com plete manuscript and there are missing pages, these will be noted. Also, if material had to be removed, a note will indicate the deletion. uest ProQuest 10970823 Published by ProQuest LLC(2018). Copyright of the Dissertation is held by the Author. All rights reserved. This work is protected against unauthorized copying under Title 17, United States C ode Microform Edition © ProQuest LLC. ProQuest LLC. 789 East Eisenhower Parkway P.O. Box 1346 Ann Arbor, Ml 48106- 1346 To my parents 2 Acknowledgements It would be impossible to compile an exhaustive list of all the people to whom I am indebted for this work. In Portugal, I received assistance from Joao Bigotte Chorao, Alexandre Cabral, Jose Cardoso, the staff of the Funda^ao Cupertino de Miranda and the Casa Camiliana de Sao Miguel de Ceide in Vila Nova de Famalicao, and the staff of the Municipal Libraries of Oporto and Sintra, and of the National Library in Lisbon. I must also thank the Instituto de Cultura e Lingua Portuguesa for supplying me with various valuable books, and for helping to finance a visit to Portugal in 1984. I am indebted to all the staff and various students, past and present, of the Department of Hispanic Studies at the University of Glasgow, but most especially to Mike Harland, who has performed the dual role of supervisor and computer consultant, Professor Nicholas Round, whose interest in my welfare has consistently been above and beyond the call of duty, and Daniel Pires, now employed at the Universidade da Asia Oriental in Macau. Amongst others to whom I am indebted at the University of Glasgow are Mr. David Andrews and Dr. R H. Stephenson, of the Department of German, Dr. M. K. C. MacMahon and Dr. Jeremy Smith of the Department of English Language, the staff of the University Library, and the University’s Computing Service. I also owe a debt of thanks to Professor Derek Harris of University College Galway, Pat Odber at the University of Birmingham, Penny Newman at the University of Leeds, Carlos Jorge Pereira (formerly at the University of Leeds), Maria Joana Pimentel do Rosario at the University of Edinburgh, and the staff of.the British Library in London. I must also thank all of my friends for their continual encouragement over the last six 3 years, but, In particular, Mary Flood for reading laige sections of this work and for contributing valuable ideas for Chapter Four, Jim McKelvie for arranging for printing, and Paola Benedetti for proof-reading. Finally, I am greatly indebted to my father, who has ensured my financial security during the difficult times, and to my mother, who has continually offered me encour­ agement, advice and comment, and who has read the whole thesis, with attention to content, form, and expression. Without the assistance of all of these people, and the Major Scottish Studentship awarded to me by the Scottish Education Department, it would have been impossible for me to complete this work. I apologise if, by an oversight, I have neglected to give special mention to anyone to whom it is due. The faults in this work are all mine; my thanks are extended to all. Glasgow, August 1988. 4 Table of Contents Acknowledgements. 3 Table of Contents. 5 Summary. 7 Preface. 11 * Notes on the Preface. 23 Introduction. 26 A. Biography. 26 B. Camilo: The Man. 33 C. Camilo: Between Realism and Romanticism. 43 D. Camilo the Noble. 49 Notes on the Introduction. 63 Chapter One: Mothers and Lovers. 71 A. The Mother-Figure. 71 B. Virgins and Prostitutes. 102 C. Camilo and Real-Life Women. 114 D. Two Special Cases: Onde Esta a Felicidade? and O R etrato de Ricardina. 136 Notes on Chapter One. 147 Chapter Two: Solipsism. 159 A. Theoretical Considerations. 159 B. Extem alisation. 170 C. The Growth of the Ironic Perspective. 178 Notes on Chapter Two. 183 5 Chapter Three: The Solipsistic Novel. 186 A. Time and Nostalgia. 186 B. The Author's Relationship to his Fiction. 209 C. The Author's Vision of his Narrative. 221 D. The Author in Confrontation with the Reader. 245 E. Camilo, "Profissional das Letras". 259 Notes on Chapter Three. 269 Chapter Four: The Fragmented Vision of Religion. 286 A. The Problem of Religious Belief. 286 B. The Christian Solipsist: a Confrontation with God’s Creation. 291 C. Existential Guilt. 310 D. The "Almas Eleitas”. 342 E. The Crucified Self. 368 F. The God of Least Resistance. 374 Notes on Chapter Four. 379 Conclusion. 392 A. The Divided Self. 392 B. The Two Routes of Escape: Self-Affirmation and Self-Denial. 399 Notes on the Conclusion. 407 Bibliography. 409 Appendix A: The Novels of Camilo Castelo Branco. 441 Appendix B: Other Works of Camilo Castelo Branco. 446 Notes on the Appendices. 453 6 Summary The aim of this study is to Illustrate a thematic Inter-dependence between Camilo’s life and work, and to establish, upon this basis, the theory that his professional devotion to literature (an idea which is already long established) is based upon an almost total inability to distinguish between real life and the exceptionally vivid world of his own imagination. Accordingly, the Introduction charts the main events of the author’s life. These are then supplemented by a brief analysis of the author’s character: this reveals a man over-sensitive to offence, self-centred, and obsessed by inadequacy, both his own and that of the world in which he lived. This leads, amongst other things, to a quite unfounded preoccupation with his own nobility typical of his insecurity and urgent need to prove his own worth. In Chapter One, attention is turned to the author’s relationships with the mother whom he lost at an early age. Precisely because of this uncertainty surrounding her, she becomes a dominant figure, stimulating at different times nostalgia, bitterness, and fear. Always, however, her image is present: the need for a protection sought in vain in childhood survives into adult life in an infantile dependence on mother-figures co­ existing with outbursts of fuiy at a protectiveness which only impedes the development of the individual. This predicament affects Camilo’s ability to relate maturely to women in general. In particular, he displays a fear of the sexual act itself, and tends to view the opposite sex as representing either base sexuality or idealised virtue. In the fiction, although occasional attempts are made to synthesise these two visions, the ideal sought is usually one of love untainted by sexual passion and therefore, apparently, based on virtue. In reality, however, this is merely an attempt to avoid the challenges of adult relationships. In Chapter Two, this simplistic mentality is fitted into the more general context of temperamental solipsism. This differs from its philosophical counterpart in that it is not a mere matter of theory, but a genuine doubt as to the reliability of sensory perception, and, with that, of the object of perception itself. This leads to an all-pervading irony which leaves no certainties, even within the self; the attempt to escape from within the self, therefore, leads only back inwards to a heightened self-doubt. Chapter Three illustrates the functioning of the solipsistic novel itself. The escape into fiction is intended by the novelist as an attempt to overcome his self-doubts and awareness of approaching death. In the process of placing his visions into a “reality” like that of the real world, however, he binds them to laws similar to those of real life. The result of this is that the escape is futile: the passing of time, feared as a threat to the only reality which the solip^fet can know (that of the self), becomes not less, but more insistent. In externalising his inner world, the author attaches it to the only external reality known to him; hence Camilo’s categorisation as a regionalist writer, although the North which is seen in the novels is, in reality, a world of the imagination superimposed upon a reassuringly familiar physical context. This is only one aspect of a more general tendency in Camilo: to create confidence in the narrative, for himself as much as for his reader, by an almost sensory attachment to it. In forging this bond, however, the author re-creates for himself the same doubts as are felt in dealing with external reality: the use of framing narratives and the apparent denial of authorial omniscience express an awareness of the uncertainties involved in making any kind of assertion about the world.