The representation of foreign characters in Fernán Caballero's novels: Stereotype, ideology and narrative structure

Abstract

This article aims at analyzing the importance and significance of foreign characters in Fernán Caballero’s novels, both from a narrative point of view (their relevance as characters and actors in the plot) and from an ideological perspective (their role and representativity in the traditionalist though of the writer). We will focus on three of the long works by the author: La Gaviota (1849), La familia de Alvareda (1849) and Clemencia (1852), and we will try to show how this inclusion of foreign characters, and their characterization by national origin, varies greatly from one work to another, covering a wide range of narrative and aesthetic possibilities.