Article Instance

HTTP 200 OK
Allow: GET
Content-Type: application/json
Vary: Accept

{
    "pk": 61694,
    "title": "Narrating the Naturalist Novel: Matilde Cherner’s Approach in María Magdalena (1880) ",
    "subtitle": null,
    "abstract": "<p>This article examines the narrative strategies employed in <em>María Magdalena: estudio social</em> (1880) by Matilde Cherner. I argue that Cherner’s work is a foundational and revolutionary contribution to Spanish Naturalism primarily for its narratological experimentation within the novela lupanaria (brothel novel) tradition. Though the novel follows some conventions of Naturalist fiction, it simultaneously resists and expands the boundaries of these conventions through innovative narrative techniques, layered narration, and an implicit critique of gender roles and patriarchal society in the novel’s structure itself. Rather than merely depicting the inevitability of social determinism, María Magdalena interrogates it by foregrounding a female voice—albeit mediated through male narrators—and exploring the limitations imposed on women within a rigid moral and social order. Through this complex interplay of narrative voices, pseudonymity and framing devices, Cherner challenges the objective approach of Naturalist literature, introducing ambiguity and subjectivity into a genre traditionally dominated by male scientific authority. In doing so, Cherner’s novel can be considered as pioneering in its own style within Spanish Naturalism. </p>",
    "language": "eng",
    "license": {
        "name": "Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial  4.0",
        "short_name": "CC BY-NC 4.0",
        "text": "Attribution — You must give appropriate credit, provide a link to the license, and indicate if changes were made. You may do so in any reasonable manner, but not in any way that suggests the licensor endorses you or your use.\n\nNonCommercial — You may not use the material for commercial purposes.\n\nNo additional restrictions — You may not apply legal terms or technological measures that legally restrict others from doing anything the license permits.",
        "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0"
    },
    "keywords": [
        {
            "word": "naturalism"
        },
        {
            "word": "novela lupanaria"
        },
        {
            "word": "Matilde Cherne"
        },
        {
            "word": "María Magdalena"
        },
        {
            "word": "narrative techniques"
        },
        {
            "word": "19th-century Spanish literature"
        },
        {
            "word": "Rafael Luna"
        }
    ],
    "section": "Articles",
    "is_remote": true,
    "remote_url": "https://escholarship.org/uc/item/1wf1j4nc",
    "frozenauthors": [
        {
            "first_name": "Javier",
            "middle_name": "",
            "last_name": "Cataño-García",
            "name_suffix": "",
            "institution": "",
            "department": ""
        }
    ],
    "date_submitted": "2026-01-24T04:48:27.325000+02:00",
    "date_accepted": "2026-02-23T20:16:48.954883+02:00",
    "date_published": "2026-02-23T16:18:00+02:00",
    "render_galley": {
        "label": "PDF",
        "type": "pdf",
        "path": "https://journalpub.escholarship.org/lucero/article/61694/galley/47596/download/"
    },
    "galleys": [
        {
            "label": "PDF",
            "type": "pdf",
            "path": "https://journalpub.escholarship.org/lucero/article/61694/galley/47596/download/"
        }
    ]
}