Reproducing Hispanidad: Purity and Paisaje in Juan Goytisolo's Don Julián

A literary analysis of Juan Goytisolo's novel Don Julián (1970) examining the relationship between Spanish culture and geography in the production of Spanish identity. The introduction discusses the medieval romance for which the novel is titled, explores the notion of hispanidad pura as a homogenous, essential Spanish identity present in national literature and history, and considers the effects the complicated narrative style has on the text. Section one analyzes the literary tradition of "el paisaje" and how Spanish writers have connected essential qualities of the landscape to the people. Section two analyzes Spain's cultural obsession with pure blood lines and lineage. This essay attempts to make sense of an intentionally contradictory, disorienting novel in order to demonstrate how Goytisolo responds to inheriting an inauthentic national identity.