"Pepita Jiménez" y los críticos británicos (1882-1892): The Soul of Spain

Despite the impact of Juan Valera's Pepita Jiménez on literature since its publication in 1874, it was not universally appreciated by critics in the nineteenth century. The exegesis of the novel diverged, viewing in it a possible mysticism or what could plausibly be considered a mystical satire. While bearing in mind such common criticisms in the context of Spain, this article focuses on the novel's reception by British critics between 1882 and 1892 who saw in the novel the quintessence of mystical-religious form and content, with a praise-worthy moral framework. These opinions differed from the critical views espoused by the Spanish neo-Catholic press. The critical judgments of Wentworth Webster, Edmund Gosse, Arthur Symons, and especially Coventry Patmore, among others, as well as the endorsements by William Howells and James Russell Lowell in the United States, would catapult Anglo-American interest in and recognition of the novel, to such an extent that its defects were buried for the sake of its defense of morality and religion. It would thus be judged as one of the best works of fiction published in Europe since the middle of the nineteenth century, thereby predicting the work's inclusion in the Spanish literary canon (JMGP).