Dystopias of Infamy: Insult and Collective Identity in Early Modern Spain (Campos Ibéricos: Bucknell Studies in Iberian Literatures and Cultures)

Insults, scorn, and verbal abuse—frequently deployed to affirm the social identity of the insulter—are destined to fail when that language is appropriated and embraced by the maligned group. In such circumstances, slander may instead empower and reinforce the collective identity of those perceived to be a threat to an idealized society. In this innovative study, Irigoyen-Garcia examines how the discourse and practices of insult and infamy shaped the cultural imagination, anxieties, and fantasies of early modern Spain. Drawing on sixteenth- and seventeenth-century literary works, archival research, religious and political literature, and iconographic documents, __Dystopias of Infamy__ traces how the production of insults haunts the imaginary of power, provoking latent anxieties about individual and collective resistance to subjectification. Of particular note is Cervantes’s tendency to parody regulatory fantasies about infamy throughout his work, lampooning repressive law for its paradoxical potential to instigate the very defiance it fears. "Insults, scorn, and verbal abuse--frequently deployed to affirm the social identity of the insulter--are destined to fail when that language is appropriated and embraced by the maligned group. In such circumstances, slander may instead empower and reinforce the collective identity of those perceived to be a threat to an idealized society. In this innovative study, Irigoyen-Garcia examines how the discourse and practices of insult and infamy shaped the cultural imagination, anxieties, and fantasies of early modern Spain. Drawing on sixteenth- and seventeenth-century literary works, archival research, religious and political literature, and iconographic documents, Dystopias of Infamy traces how the production of insults haunts the imaginary of power, provoking latent anxieties about individual and collective resistance to subjectification. Of particular note is Cervantes's tendency to parody regulatory fantasies about infamy throughout his work, lampooning repressive law for its paradoxical potential to instigate the very defiance it fears"-- Provided by publisher Contents 7 Introduction: “Names Full of Vituperations” 11 1. Communities of Affronters 24 2. Self-Deprecation and Fame 49 3. Dystopias of Infamy 70 4. Fancy Sambenitos: The Ethnicization of Infamy 90 5. “They Did Not Bray in Vain”: History, Insult, and Collective Identity 112 Epilogue: Spanish History as Sambenito 129 Acknowledgments 147 Bibliography 179 Index 201 About the Author 208