The Hemingway Paradigm Is... Hispanomanía (100th entry!)

So every 25 entries or so I take a moment to pause from generating new content for the blog and reflect on why I started it, that is, to do my part to help rupture the "Hemingway paradigm". This is my 100th entry (yay!), so I thought I would focus on a subject a Valencia twitter acquaintance of mine once posed to me, what is it with foreigners (especially Anglophones) and their particular obsession vision of Spain. It's an obsession that a Spanish-British author, Tom Burns Marañón, brilliantly named "Hispanomanía".

Obviously Ernest Hemingway, our blog patron saint, was one notable example of it: an American who came to Spain with a particular kind of Romantic vision of the country, its "authenticity", its "charm". In my 50th entry I traced it back to older roots, with Richard Ford. At some point I also hope to write an entry on "Not Washington Irving's Granada", since his book Tales from the Alhambra is a laugh for all of its vivid, fanciful stereotypes of Spaniards... doubly funny for how many of those stereotypes seem to persevere today. (Just check out my 75th entry on the "impertinente curiouso", for some present-day examples.) If you want to explore the full gamut of literary examples of this Hispanomanía, I recommend you visit the "Books on Spain" blog, Kirsty Hooper's scholarly study of the subject.

Or you can simply run a Google Image search on "Spanish culture":

Grrrr!!! Why does the paella here have red peppers!!!

For comparison (sorry, vanity couldn't resist), try running a Google Image search on "Not Hemingway's Spain":

The main difference seems to be more subdued colors and less bull shit imagery.

One of the things this Valencian twitter friend said to me, which I'm inclined to agree with, is that Burns Marañon's description of Hispanomanía tends to focus too narrowly on the North-South interior axis (Pamplona-Madrid-Andalucía), but ignores the equally important, more contemporary East coast axis (Barcelona-Alicante-Málaga... an axis that somehow skips over Valencia!). Today, it is not just Hemingway/Lorca thrill-seekers who come to Spain, looking for that exotic, mysterious Romantic past, but also the beach bums and hedonists wanting their fun-in-the-sun and that "laid back" culture they associate with the Spanish Mediterranean way of life.

I'm still convinced that one of the best visual documentations of what is "profoundly Spanish",
albeit in a Romanticized, nostalgic vein, was the early 20th-century painting expedition
by (Valencian) painter Joaquín Sorolla, sponsored by the Hispanic Society of America.

Some of Sorolla's most beloved works, at least with Valencian locals,
are his pictures of people (particularly kids) on the seaside beach.

Sorolla's contemporary, the American painter John Singer Sargent, captured perhaps
the best rendition of Hispanophiles' quintessential image of Romantic Spain, the flamenco dancer.

At one point I sat down and started to brainstorm a list of what exactly would Hispanomanía look like in Hemingway's time versus what it would look like today:

Then:  

Bulls, red bandanas, castanets, flamenco dancing, gypsies, frill dresses, dark eyes, dark hair, thick lisp, blood, roast pig, Iberian ham, bullfights, matadors, Pamplona, "Olé", siesta, fiesta, hot-tempered, machista, sherry, red wine, picaresque, the Spanish Civil War, Don Quixote, Cervantes, Madrid, Sevilla, Andalucía, Granada, Ronda, castles, warm weather, sunny, arid landscapes, conquistadors, windmills, the Spanish Inquisition, Catholicism, cathedrals, 1492, civil strife…

Now: 

Beaches, warm weather, Málaga, Ibiza, the "Costas", sangría, nightclubs, economic crisis, corruption, PIGS, soccer, Barcelona, Gaudí, Dalí, Almodóvar, Lorca, Camino de Santiago, the Mediterranean diet, paella, gazpacho, cava, tortilla de patatas, the running of the bulls, Hemingway, la Tomatina, Hispanidad, Semana Santa, study abroad, TEFL, Feria de Abril, German tourists, British tourists…

Some things haven't changed, and would make the list both then and now. Though I think what was once seen to be deeply rooted and deeply "Spanish" (Catholicism, "las dos Españas") has been transformed, with the rise of the consumer(ist) society, and is now consumed (by foreigners and locals alike) in a lighter, more fanciful form (Semana Santa festivals, "el clásico" football rivalries).

I've never heard an Hispanophile go on and on about the Aragón "jota" dance
the way they do about flamenco.

I remember seeing this Sorolla depiction of Valencian life, in the Hispanic Society of America exhibit,
and thinking: "even in paintings the light in Valencia just look brighter than everywhere else".

Perhaps in my 125th or 150th entry I'll list the things about Spain that never seem to make the shortlist but should...

advanced telecommunications engineering, Spain's "brain drain", the Erasmus generation, alternative energy technologies (i.e. wind energy), Moneo, the new Spanish cuisine (Adrià, Arzak...), its nature, nature, nature, high-speed trains, Fallas, Mudéjar ceramics, Valencia, Sorolla, Calatrava, Kukuxumusu, the Democratic transition, the Pyrenees, skiing, immigration, tennis, basketball, almonds, Álex de la Iglesia, graphic arts innovators... etc.

The future image of Hispanomanía?

The Hemingway Paradigm Is… Dark eyes, dark hair, thick lisp

There is an opening scene taking place in Sevilla in Mission Impossible 2 (2000) that is hilarious for its many inaccuracies about Spain, Sevilla, and its local festivals. For example, for some reason the Semana Santa procession has falleras and fire, festival traditions of Valencia's non-religious Fallas not Sevilla's very-Catholic Semana Santa. The flamenco scene that follows in the movie is perhaps a bit better (flamenco _is_ actually from the Sevilla region), but it reproduces a common myth about Spain that is, though more subtle, much more pervasive and intractable… that all Spaniards have dark eyes and dark (thick and straight) hair.

Italian silent film star Rudolph Valentino as bullfighter
in Blood and Sand (1922), the original "Latin lover" and
embodiment of the stereotype for dark eyes, dark hair

The image of Spaniards as dark eyes, dark hair, and speaking with a thick lisp is quite old. As early as 1846 the English writer Richard Ford was encouraging others to find "a more worthy subject [in Spain] than the old story of dangers of bull-fights, bandits, and black eyes [my emphasis added]." And it must be tied to Andalucía's predominance in images of Spain abroad. In Hemingway's time, the embodiment of this stereotype was Rudolph Valentino, perhaps the original Latin lover, who though Italian by birth was casted in a whole assortment of nationalities in Hollywood films in the 1920s, among them as the bullfighter Juan Gallardo in Blood and Sand (1922). A tacky tourist industry for very staged, Valentino-style flamenco shows sprouted up in Andalucía in the twenties leading Hemingway to spurn the region and to prefer the more "authentic" bullfighting experiences of Madrid, Navarra, and the Basque Country. Even today, I think Spanish actresses who physically fit this mold are more likely to be "exported" to film industries abroad (take Penelope Cruz or Paz Vega, for example).

Hollywood's present-day Latin lover, Spanish
(Andalusian no less) actor Antonio Banderas

And while I can say _much more_ about it than I will here, Americans _greatly_ exaggerate a lisp in Castilian Spanish. The hard "th" sound (called the "ceceo") used to pronounce the "c" and "z" is officially _never_ used to pronounce "s". Andalucía is the only region in Spain where some people do so, no doubt further evidence of the region's central place in the imagination of Americans. (Though there are also areas in Andalucía where Spanish pronunciation more closely resembles Latin American Spanish, and the "c" and "z" all become an indistinguishable "s" sound.)


But returning to physical stereotypes, the reality in Spain is quite different. There are _vast_ regional differences and variations in hair type and eye color. Fair skin, blue and green eyes, light brown, blond, and even red hair is common in many regions. For example, in Alicante many people have distinctively green eyes and in the northern regions, such as the Basque Country and Asturias, it is common to find Spaniards who would be hard to distinguish from our common stereotypes of northern Europeans. This is not to mention the light brown and wavy hair that is characteristic throughout the Mediterranean regions.

Andalusian actress Paz Vega, who probably best represents
the classic dark eyes, dark straight hair Andalusian look

Madrid-born Pilar López de la Ayala, representing a similar dark eye,
dark hair Castilian look when playing Juana la Loca (2001).

The new look of Spain? Spanish actress Elsa Pataky,
of part Romanian heritage and with bleach-blond hair.

And what nature hasn't diversified, international fashions and migration have. Were I to reedit that scene in Mission Impossible 2, I would be sure to bleach blonde most everyone's hair. The popularity of bleaching or dying one's hair in Spain is such that you might think everyone in the country was blonde or burgundy. Moreover, Spain has _a lot_ of immigration, almost even with U.S. in terms of per capita, and much of that immigration, from Romania and certain countries in South America and Africa, hardly fits the Castilian or Andalusian dark eyes, dark hair stereotype.

So chalk this one up to yet another Romantic misconception about Spain we seem unable to shake.

Note to Americans: Is Spain _Really_ Catholic?

"Nobody expects the Spanish Inquisition!" But even fewer foreigners seem to expect a secular Spain. When my wife and I were living in the United States, it was annoying, even kind of painful, the number of times people would ask her if she or her family was Catholic, or would just assume it. (They are not.) Perhaps one of the biggest (false) cultural stereotypes about Spain is that people here are _deeply_ religious and _very_ Catholic. The real story is a bit more complicated.

El Greco's Christ Carrying the Cross, ca. 1580s

First some facts and figures. With the recent (August 2011) visit of the Pope to Madrid for the Catholic World Youth Day (a.k.a. "Jornada Mundial de la Juventud" (JMJ)), statistics about Spain's declining Catholicism are readily at hand. Only 10% of Spain's youth (between the ages of 15 and 29) consider themselves "practicing Catholics," which doesn't necessarily mean going to church regularly. 50% are non-practicing Catholics, which from my personal experience means they rarely if ever go to church, maybe for Christmas or Easter mass, every now and then. I have a lot of friends whose Catholicism seems to be completely limited to baby baptisms and church weddings, a more social faith than religious one. And that leaves 3 out of 10 young Spaniards, or almost a third, who consider themselves "non-believers" or atheists. So among the young, Catholicism is a pretty marginal experience in Spain.

This is not to say that Spain is not a "Catholic country." For starters, there are cathedrals and basilicas _everywhere_, and they form a central part of the iconic imagery of Spanish tourism (not to mention the Hemingway paradigm). Much of the cultural heritage of the country is religious in nature, from famous paintings by El Greco or Velázquez to the Sagrada Familia Cathedral by one very religious Gaudí. When Hemingway visited here in the 1920s and 1930s, perhaps he had cause for believing it to be a _very_ Catholic culture. Having recently seen photos of early 20th-century Spain, in all the photos of different Spanish towns and cities, the only ancient buildings that were well-maintained were cathedrals. So I can see why Hemingway would characterize the country as devoutly Catholic… then.

Gaudí's La Sagrada Familia Cathedral in Barcelona

This is not true today. Local governments have taken to restoring historic castles, bridges, and other heritage sites, such that now historic centers don't emit a particular religious feel. And cathedrals in town centers are as likely to have tourists in them as practitioners. Today, culturally and politically, contemporary Spain is not so particularly Catholic. Constitutionally, the government is committed to a separation of church and state, though in practice Catholicism has had some history of favored status. Catholic politics seep to the surface regularly here, such as arguments over abortion (which is legal here) or over gay marriage (which is also legal here).

In this respect, asking if Spain is Catholic is like asking if the U.S. is Christian. Saying yes doesn't do justice to the very significant non-Christian part of its society, but saying no ignores the clearly Christian component to its history and politics. Much of what to outsiders would seem like deeply rooted Catholic tendencies to locals is probably better understood as unconscious vestiges or lingering habits of an earlier Catholic culture. Like the widespread (almost ubiquitous) use of biblical names like "María" and "José," or unconscious routine language like "adiós" (meaning "goodbye," but literally "to God") and saying "Jesús" when someone sneezes (just like we say "bless you").

The bottom line is that you should not assume the next Spaniard you meet is Catholic. Chances are that, especially if they're young, they are not.

A famous recurring sketch from the British TV comedy series Monty Python.

Note to Americans: Nobody really takes a siesta anymore

So every time I have guests visit or I talk with an American exchange student settling into Spanish life, they always go on about how "cute" it is (or annoying) that shops close midday for "siesta," the famous after lunch nap that Spaniards are renowned for. Well, note to all Americans, few Spaniards actually take the afternoon siesta anymore. The shops are closed for lunch, not for naps.

This myth of a ubiquitous siesta culture is long out of date, and probably has legs for how it fits with the stereotypes of warm weather people as lazy or Spaniards as indulgently laid back. One Spanish blogger includes it among a long list of urban legends which circulate about Spaniards abroad. Personally, so far as I can tell, with the possible exception of my father-in-law the only Spaniards I know who take a siesta ("tomar la siesta") only do so when they are on vacation, or on the weekends, or if they are retired. But otherwise, hardworking Spaniards don't have time for afternoon naps, and they don't take them.

van Gogh's Siesta, 1890

Of course, maybe they should. I can't figure out how Spaniards get enough sleep. They wake up at 7AM, on average, but don't go to bed until midnight or 1AM or even later during the work week. Indeed, studies here in Spain increasingly suggest that the average Spaniard is underslept, even averaging an hour less than most Europeans. Meanwhile more and more sleep studies abroad are showing that a brief afternoon siesta is exactly what us modern sleep-deprived people need to improve alertness, be smarter, and gain all kinds of other positive health benefits.

Alas, even if Spaniards ought to take a siesta, like most other members of modern, workaholic societies they do not.

Note to Americans: PIGS is a four-letter word

Spain has been in the U.S. News _a lot_ this last year. And when it's not the usual buzz about tourism, it has been news about Spain's failing economy, the next domino in what could be the so-called collapse of the European economy. I don't think American newspapers bat around the acronym "PIGS" or "PIIGS" as much as British ones do, but I want to take this moment to say that this peculiar acronym says a whole lot more about those who use it than those it describes.

A "ninot" (papier-mâché figurine) from the 2002 Na Jordana Falla
in Valencia, depicting the International Monetary Fund as a fat pig

PIGS, which stands for Portugal, Italy, Greece, and Spain (sometimes also Ireland) is a term that is used when talking about these countries and their systemic problems with political corruption, chronic high levels of unemployment, and all around economic backwardness. But, please, enough with it! I ask you, what does it say about economists that they can lump together countries and cultures (not to mention economies) as different as Spain, Italy, Portugal, and Greece's (and Ireland!?!) under one simple moniker. Oh, and is it meant to be cute that they call them "pigs"?

Next time you see it, remember, there is an ugly undercurrent of north-south stereotypes in Europe. Hemingway fell for it, too, in his day, though he loved Spain for it… a society still not modernized, prone to lawlessness and spontaneous bouts of anarchism or self-destruction. I imagine economists thinking, "Oh those southern Europeans, they can be so intense and passionate" (read emotional and irrational). I don't buy it. PIGS, after all, is a four-letter word.

Local Vocab: "Los Guiris"

A comedy club that caters to the large guiri
communities in Madrid and Barcelona.

It is helpful to learn some of the slang used by Spaniards, and probably the best word to start with is "guiri." If you are reading this, chances are that you are one. Guiri is the word that Spaniards use to refer to foreigners on vacation in Spain (including all you exchange students). It used to specifically be for Brits, northern Europeans, or the French, which is to say for the kinds of foreign tourists that flood Spain each summer. Americans were (and still are occasionally) referred to as "yanquis" and the French as "franchuten." But today guiri has become the catchall term that Spaniards use for everyone on vacation in Spain who is from North America or Europe. The adjective functions much the way "gringo" does for how Mexicans refer to Americans.

Typical cartoon humor about "Fooling the guiris."

(Note: Guiri is _never_ used to describe Africans, South Americans, or Asians, and it is never used to describe visiting businessmen.)

While it's true that people here probably only ever use the word to refer to you when you are doing something annoying or slightly out of place, you shouldn't take it too personally. In general, it is a whimsical way to refer to foreigners. They know that you're just having fun and don't know your way around. So it is not an insult. Just a way that they let off some steam when they have to deal with non-locals clogging up their day-to-day routine.