The religious question in 'La Regenta' by Leopoldo Alas: Artistic creation at the service of philosophical inquiry.

摘要

Leopoldo Alas dedicated his life's work to the critical examination of the principal philosophical questions of his time. In particular, the religious question--defined here as the struggle between the proponents of philosophical liberalism and the defenders of ultramontaine Catholicism--was his primary concern. In this study all aspects of his professional life are examined in the light of the religious question in order to show the continuity of his thought and the philosophical trajectory which, combined with his increasing literary mastery, made possible the creation of La Regenta.;In the first chapter of this study I examine the historical antecedents directly related to the religious question and discuss the social and intellectual milieu which Alas encountered when he arrived in Madrid in 1871. The second and third chapters discuss Alas's personal spiritual trajectory and the influence of his mentor Francisco Giner de los Rios in all areas of his intellectual and spiritual development. The fourth chapter is devoted to the examination of Alas's early writings, his Preludios, his doctoral thesis El derecho y la moralidad, and the Solos de "Clarin" in particular, as they illustrate his views on the religious question and the development of his literary style.;The final chapter is a study of La Regenta as a fusion of artistic creativity and philosophical inquiry. I concentrate my analysis on the two principal characters, Ana and Fermin, and on the development of their central conflicts. Leopoldo Alas's thesis on the religious question is seen to be indirectly communicated through the characters and through the environment surrounding them. It thus becomes an integral part of this fictional world and serves, in fact, as a structuring device of the novel.