Географските местоположения в сонатите на Рамон Мария дел Валие-Инклан

The paper examines The Pleasant Memoirs of the Marquis de Bradomín: Four Sonatas (1902-5), a series of short novels, each named after a season (Spring, Summer, Autumn and Winter Sonatas) by the Spanish modernist writer Ramón María del Valle-Inclán, focusing on the geographic locations of the stories: Italy, Mexico, Galicia and Navarra. First of all, the structure of the series associates each location with a season and an age of the protagonist: Italy with spring and youth, Mexico with summer and plenitude, Galicia with autumn and maturity, and Navarra with winter and old age. Furthermore, the locations acquire a specific meaning within the plot: Italy is the homeland of Casanova and Aretino, teachers of the protagonist in love and writing; Mexico puts forward the question of the Conquista and presents it as inadequate and anachronistic to contemporary relationships; Spain has a glorious past which is, however, irretrievably lost; Spain’s present does not offer a sensible political solution to the crisis the country is suffering and in this situation aesthetics is the only consolation for the protagonist.