A Cultural History of Madrid: Modernism and the Urban Spectacle Book

This book presents an urban and cultural history of Madrid from 1900 to the early 1930s. In this time Madrid?s population doubled to almost one million, with less than half being indigenous to the city itself. Parsons explores the interface between elite, mass and popular culture in Madrid while considering the construction of a modern madrileño identity that developed alongside urban and social modernization. Parsons draws on literary, theatrical, cinematic and photographic texts, including the work of such figures as Benito Pérez Galdós, and Salvador Dalí. In addition, the author examines the development of new urban-based art forms and entertainments such as the zarzuela, music halls and cinema, and considers their interaction with more traditional cultural identities and activities. In arguing that traditional aspects of culture were incorporated into the everyday life of urban modernity, Parsons shows how the boundaries between "high" and "low" culture became increasingly blurred as a new identity influenced by modern consumerism emerged. She investigates the interaction of the geographical landscape of the city with its expression in both the popular imagination and in aesthetic representations, detailing the new freedoms, desires and perspectives of the Madrid modernista.Read More