Anxieties of Interiority and Dissection in Early Modern Spain by Enrique Fernández (review)

In Anxieties of Interiority and Dissection in Early Modern Spain, Enrique Fernández analyzes descriptions of interiority in the works of Fray Luis de Granada, Francisco de Quevedo, Miguel de Cervantes, and María de Zayas. He uses the language of dissection to uncover the association between anxiety and the internal spaces of the body, such as the heart, head, and other organs, as well as human psychology. The author characterizes these works as "dissective narratives" because they probe the interiors of sacrificial figures and expose the cultural anxiety surrounding internal spaces that are in some way uncontrollable (3).

Chapter 1 of the study discusses how perceptions of interiority changed as a result of improved knowledge of human anatomy, especially following the publication of a fully illustrated version of Andreas Vesalius' De humani corporis fabrica in 1534. These images, as well as explanations from contemporary medical texts, demonstrate that the practice of dissection was similar in purpose to the works Fernández analyzes because both reveal the complex and potentially dangerous nature of the human interior. The author also explains that this practice was met with fear and distrust in Spain due to the pervasiveness of religious orthodoxy in an absolutist state. Consequently, the texts considered in this study are not accounts of enlightened self-discovery through introspection, but rather descriptions of sacrificial victims whose interiority is dangerously exposed.

In Chapters 2 and 3, the author analyzes works by Granada and Quevedo, respectively, as examples of dissective narratives that demonstrate the complexity of interiority through anatomical references. He attributes Granada's works to an interest in a more private form of religion introduced by the devotio moderna but which conformed to Catholic doctrine. Granada's publications reflect the belief that the interior of the human body reveals God's work in creation and depict the dissected victim as a compliant martyr whose self-sacrifice makes known the presence of God. However, Granada's positive depiction of interiority differs from Quevedo's representation of the human interior as a source of the illnesses that plague the body politic. Quevedo's satirical works expose the interiority of grotesque figures, which function allegorically to represent individuals who threatened the divinely inspired social order. This contrast between Quevedo's representation of society as a fragmented body and Granada's view of the body as a microcosm of creation emphasizes that efforts to expose embodied interiority – whether of the individual Christian or the body politic – produced anxiety about its potentially dangerous contents.

In Chapter 4, the author expands this discussion to psychological interiority by examining Cervantes' El coloquio de los perros and El licenciado Vidriera and Zayas' Desengaños. These works, unlike those by Granada and Quevedo considered in previous chapters, do not include allusions to anatomical dissection. Nevertheless, they can be considered dissective narratives because they expose the risks inherent in cultivating private, autonomous spaces. For example, the character Cañizares in El coloquio de los perros demonstrates the peril of separating oneself from society in a misguided attempt at autonomy because Cañizares' self-imposed isolation allows her to modify her own nature through witchcraft. The author connects Cañizares' deceptive behavior to negative aspects of machines such as clocks, which he also explores in relation to anxiety about autonomy and interiority in El licenciado Vidriera, because Tomás Rodaja's excessive pursuit of knowledge contributes to his dehumanization. However, the analysis of the Desengaños focuses on female anatomy as it relates to an interior anxiety caused by honor and violence in Zayas' texts. To emphasize the various anxieties of interiority present in the works of Cervantes and Zayas, Fernández contrasts them with contemporary publications by Baltasar Gracián. While Gracián also employed anatomical references in his works, they are not considered dissective narratives because the anxiety of interiority has been replaced by an anxiety of performance.

This epilogue helps to clarify the author...