Peter Schlemiel a la española: Miguel de Unamuno's 'La sombra sin cuerpo'.

This article considers the notion of the shadow and its traditional meanings across the centuries in areas such as folklore, literature, and psychology, focusing on its importance in Gothic texts and certain characters found there, including the vampire and the Doppelgänger. It goes on to consider the motif of the shadow that separates from the body that casts it and what that can signify in different contexts, leading to a study of Miguel de Unamuno's essay 'La sombra sin cuerpo'. Here it is argued that three different but interlinked elements can be discerned in his treatment of the theme: a transnational Gothic aspect drawn from Adalbert von Chamisso's novella, Peter Schlemiel; a Hispanic one, which relates the shadow to honour; and a typically Unamunian one whereby it articulates some of his perennial questions about the human condition and existential (in)dependence relative to the creator. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]