Tótem y tabú paródicos de la Corte de Felipe IV en Crónica del rey pasmado de Gonzalo Torrente Ballester

Abstract

Parodic Abstract Crónica del rey pasmado tells the obstacles that Philip IV has to see naked his wife. The reason is that the religious and political authorities fear that this action will lead to the loss of the fleet that comes from America and to the military defeat in Flanders. This novel presents members of a court dominated by a primitive thought, according to which they expect God to protect them as if he were a totem, provided that the sexual taboo is not violated. Gonzalo Torrente Ballester presents a historical framework to make a very funny critique of an irrational cultural logic in Spain. This work takes a psychocritical approach to the parody made in Crónica del rey pasmado as a particular case of demythification and to its relation with irony.