History, fictionalization, death and melancholy in "Llamadme Alejandra" by Espido Freire

Abstract

This article analyses the novel Llamadme Alejandra (Azorín Prize 2017) by Espido Freire (Bilbao, 1974). The author fictionalise the life of the last tsarina, Alexandra Feodorovna Romanova (1872-1918) and her family. As in almost of the Espido Freire’s work, she gives voice to a melancholic and contradictory women submerged in the anguish and the imminent death. In this study firstly we will analyse the narrative (re)construction of the tsarina as a protagonist narrator and a historical character, as well as the (femenine) education and its implication in the power games. Secondly, we develop the contributions of the lastest Espidian travel through death and melancholy. To this end we use historical and specially philosophical and literary sources.