You are cordially invited to
DEP. SPANISH AND LATIN AMERICAN STUDIES (UCL)
RESEARCH SEMINAR SERIES
SPRING 2014
Wednesday 15 January 2014
SELCS Common Room, FC307, 5pm
Professor Abigail Lee Six
(Royal Holloway, University of London)
Trust and Lust in Nuria C. Botey’s ‘Viviendo con el tío
Roy’ (2010): A Classic Dilemma in Vampire Garb
Among the many reasons suggested for the enduring popularity of Gothic fiction is that
it enables its readers to confront their anxieties in an unthreatening way by articulating
them at the seemingly safe distance of a fantasy premise. I am going to propose a
reading of ‘Viviendo con el tío Roy’ which deploys the same kind of logic, interpreting
the text as an exploration of that gender-based fault-line that still today routinely
pressures women into a certain type of risk-taking in relationships. This is shot through
with a disturbing Islamophobic element that is inextricably bound up with the tale’s
seemingly cautionary message and which appears to be part of a cultural backlash
against multiculturalism, Islamophobia being a phenomenon as transnational as
vampire fiction itself, but with particular historical resonance in Spain.
The seminar will be followed by a wine reception. All welcome!