Spanish Modernism in Context: Failed Heroism and Cross-Cultural Encounters in Pío Baroja and Joseph Conrad

Abstract

Over the last two decades, the recuperation of Spanish authors in the development of Modernist fiction in a pan-European context has gained increasing momentum among scholars. Extending the scope of these critical studies, my article presents a comparative analysis of cross-cultural encounters and ironic journeys of development in Joseph Conrad’s Lord Jim (1900) and Pío Baroja’s César o nada (1910). The study addresses three key strands: the question of direct influence; the thwarted search for self-definition set against the competing perceptions of multiple fictional observers; and finally the failed heroism of each protagonist which, I propose, symbolically references a scepticism towards European narratives of progress. The comparison of two authors (one Spanish; one Polish émigré) identifies resonant parallels between their fictional works and seeks to reframe Baroja and Conrad as literary counterparts across national borders in turn-of-the-century Spain and Britain.