La huella de lo esotérico en la novela La sirena negra de Emilia Pardo Bazán

Abstract

Amongst the esoteric doctrines both, spiritism and theosophia, are the most firmly settled in the late 19th century Spanish society. Their influence on literary production of those days is reflected by press wide diffusion as well as frequent use of supernatural subjects by writers. In La sirena negra, Emilia Pardo Bazán incorporates for stylistic purposes a great number of esoteric aesthetics features: spectra, auras, premonitory dreams, spirit transmigration and perception of life in inanimate objects. The protagonist, that shows some Satanist character types, is seduced by a desire of self-annihilation that reminds of Buddhist Nirvana. This fact does not indicate that the author shares these doctrines; on the contrary her deep Christian orientation in her late novels has been unanimously emphasized by critics.