From the Thesis Novel to the Crisis Novel: Pedro Antonio de Alarcón’s El escándalo (1875) and Homosexuality

Abstract

El escándalo (1875), by Pedro Antonio de Alarcón, tells the story of a disowned young aristocrat’s trajectory from a life of dissolution—marked especially by the intense relationship with his friend Diego, bordering on the homosexual—to the recovery of his title, fortune, and reputation through marriage to the young Gabriela, all under the guidance of the Jesuit P. Manrique. Although the novel has long been seen as a conservative religious fiction, this essay suggests a reading centered around the moral and juridical connotations of the notion of scandal in nineteenth-century Spain. Viewed through this lens, the text can be considered a reflection on emerging mandatory heterosexuality, in a society transitioning from the notion of sodomy to an essentialized homosexual identity. Thus, the text becomes a rare document of reactions provoked by this cultural history in Spain.