Las Máscaras Del Héroe: Radiografía De Un Anti-Héroe

Abstract

Las máscaras del héroe depicts Spanish society from the Second Republic to the start of the Civil War, a period when Spain was torn by poverty and immorality. This intertextual historical novel portrays figures such as Pedro Luis de Gálvez, the last of the bohemians and a failed writer. We encounter Gálvez through the first-person narration of Navales, who hates him deeply and presents him as a despicable, egotistical man. Navales himself proves to be an immoral person who tortures and kills for fun. Following the work of Wayne Booth and other critics, the article shows that Navales is an unreliable narrator and that Gálvez is an antihero.

Keywords:

• antihero
• historical novel
• intertextual
• Las máscaras del héroe
• Spanish society
• unreliable narrator