"Ugarte studies the convergence of some of the best-known writers and cultural leaders of Spain's fin de siècle, and their 'writing' of the space known as Madrid. From various perspectives— and beginning with the great 19th-century interpreters of Madrid (Larra, Mesonero Romanos, Galdós)—Ugarte analyzes how writers at the beginning of the 20th-century viewed the capital and how they translated that vision into literature. For Pío Baroja, Madrid was a place of science; for Carmen de Burgos, a place of feminist liberation. Ramón Gómez de la Serna read Madrid as a flea market of mediocrity; for Ramón Maria del Valle-Inclàn, it was a deformed parody of its own past (an esperento).And for Azorín, the capital evoked nostalgic remembrance of times past. This review's oversimplification belies the complexity of Ugarte's arguments and the frequently original interpretations he puts forth. He detects patterns in their representation of urban space, and offers new ways at looking at some of the literature created in and around 'Madrid 1900.'" Reviewed by Daniel Weiss, Virginia Quarterly Review (Copyright 2006 Virginia Quarterly Review)

Includes bibliographical references (p. [189]-197) and index.