El anticlericalismo como un valor posmoderno en La piel del tambor de Arturo Perez-Reverte

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to examine the anticlerical aspects of Arturo Pérez-Reverte’s La piel del tambor, and how such features correspond to the values of postmodern Spanish literature. We begin our analysis by noting the Church’s connection to modernity and how Pérez-Reverte exposes this bond through his use of a small baroque church, Nuestra Señora de las Lágrimas. Next, we consider the corporate nature of the Church’s esteemed hierarchy, as well as the seedy underbelly of the organization’s more private transactions. The majority of this study explores the enigmatic, and at times contradictory, existence of three members of various clerical orders. The study concludes with an analysis of the problematic ending of the novel, in which the reader is left in a profound state of disillusionment. These elements combine to create a work that is markedly postmodern in its criticism of both the Catholic Church and the Vatican.