La urbanización decimonónica de Madrid

Mariano Jose de Larra (1809-1837) was the most critical literary voice of the first third of the Spanish nineteenth century. Whether directed against censorship, the police and the Inquisition, or mypoic social attitudes and passing fads, his writings always showcased his unique, ironic and biting temperament. Moreover, many of his essays reflected the consequences of the ongoing urbanization of Madrid. The essays titled Jardines publicos (1834), La fonda nueva (1833), Las casas nuevas (1833), La vida de Madrid (1834) and El dia de Difuntos de 1836. Figaro en el cementerio (1836) are republished here as a way of prompting discussion of Larra as an urban critic. Ramon de Mesonero Romanos (1803-1882) best expressed the characteristically triumphant and triumphalist attitude of modernity, understood as a bourgois product. The essays and excerpts of more extensive works republished here -Los jardines del Retiro (1840), La casa de Cervantes (1833), El alquiler de un cuarto (1837), Paseo por las calles (1835), and Rapida ojeada sobre el estado de la capital y los medios de mejorarla (1835)- testify to the author's sympathy for Madrid. As a planner, Mesonero bemoaned the destruction of Madrid's monuments, encouraged a touristic vision of its advantages (apologizing for its defects) and saw to improvements that greatly changed Madrid. A critical introduction in Spanish (penned by Benjamin Fraser) engages the fundamental premise of Urban Cultural Studies in language accessible to a wide range of readers.