Flamenco as a sign of Spanish national identity in travel memoirs by Miloš Crnjanski

Abstract

Following the postulates of imagology studies, the paper re-evaluates the relationship of Miloš Crnjanski as a writer of travel literature towards those aspects of culture which he recognizes as signs of authentic or "real" Spain in his travel memoirs "In the land of toreadors and sunshine". Flamenco is highlighted as one of the common tropes of travel literature, Andalusian music and dancing, which entranced foreign travellers. Thus the formation of stereotypes about Spain, formed in the 19th century is considered, as well as their endurance or disappearance in the new socio-historical context, seeing as they directed the views of travellers in the first decades of the 20th century. The paper then re-evaluates the cultural, social, political and ideological circumstances in which flamenco became one of the signifiers of Spanish identity in Crnjanski's travel memoirs. One of the conclusions one must come to is that this image of the identity of Spain is built through complex interactions of the image a people has of itself and that which others construct about it.