Empire, Nation, and the "Indiano" in Galdó's "Tormento" and "La loca de la casa."

This essay analyzes the "indiano" character in "Tormento" and "La loca de la casa" by Benito Pérez Galdós. Utilizing in part the concepts of the stereotype, hybridity, and mimicry as theorized by Homi Bhabha, I argue that the "indiano" exposes gaps and fissures in colonial discourse present in these texts, functioning to betray anxiety about Spain's national identity and waning imperial status. Ultimately, normative constructions of metropolitan masculinity are rejected in favor of the "indiano's" embodiment of hybrid subjectivity, one with the potential to "regenerate" Spain. In "Tormento," the "indiano" is a positive figure but impossible to reconcile with the nation, while in "La loca de la casa," the indiano is presented as a viable path through which national regeneration may take place [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]