Modernity’s Metonyms

By Geraldine Lawless

Modernity's Metonyms considers the representation of temporal frameworks in stories by two nineteenth-century Spanish authors: the canonical Leopoldo Alas and Antonio Ros de Olano, an author who is receiving increasing attention from scholars of nineteenth-century Spanish literature. These narratives are considered in terms of their treatment of three metonymic themes: the railway, food and suicide. The reiteration of specific associations is explored across a range of disciplines, from literature, philosophy, and historiography to natural history. French, German, American, British, as well as Spanish writers are brought into the discussion in order to develop the understanding of nineteenth-century Spanish literary modernity. Exploration of the associations prompted by these three themes leads to the suggestion that literary modernity can be considered as the expression of the perception that linear time, bringing together the past, the present and the future, was fragmenting into countless simultaneous moments.

1 Acknowledgments 2 Introduction 3 1. "Le Grande Courant De La Civilisation Moderne": The Railway Metonym 4 2. "Der Mensch Ist, Was Er Isst": The Food Metonym 5 3. Back from the Future: The Suicide Metonym 6 Conclusion