Intertextuality, manipulation and propaganda : reworking the Arthurian legend in contemporary Spanish literature

Whereas the historicity of King Arthur has roundly been contested in academic circles, as Higham (2002) says, the idea of a fifth or sixth-century British king called Arthur and the Golden Age of peace and prosperity that accompanied his reign has endured in Western culture for over a thousand years. When studying any Arthurian text, medieval or modern, it is essential to try and understand the nature and purpose of that text as well as the political and cultural context at the time of textual production and consumption. This is because as the Arthurian story has been transformed and adapted by authors it has consistently been used as an agent of political and cultural propaganda to deliver a particular message that is relevant for the contemporary age in which the reworked text is written. In this way, the new text is given a fresh emphasis, ideological purpose and the power to persuade or manipulate contemporary readers to change the present. This thesis examines this manipulative potential of the legend in two contemporary Spanish novels El rapto del Santo Grial (1984) by Paloma Díaz-Mas and Artorius (2006) by César Vidal. The thesis contends that the intentional, creative and strategic use of intertextuality by these authors, characterised by parody, irony and allegory, acts to manipulate the reader into a desired reading of their texts, thus allowing them a platform to deliver their ideological views and personal concerns about contemporary Spanish society at the times the novels were written.