Hilary Mantel’s Re-appropriation of Whig HistoriographyA Reading of The Wolf Hall Trilogy in the Context of Brexit

  1. José I. Prieto Arranz 1
  1. 1 Universitat de les Illes Balears
    info

    Universitat de les Illes Balears

    Palma, España

    ROR https://ror.org/03e10x626

Revista:
Miscelánea: A journal of english and american studies

ISSN: 1137-6368

Año de publicación: 2022

Número: 65

Páginas: 149-169

Tipo: Artículo

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Otras publicaciones en: Miscelánea: A journal of english and american studies

Resumen

Este artículo analiza la aclamada trilogía de novelas sobre Tomás Cromwell (Wolf Hall, 2009; Bring Up the Bodies, 2012; The Mirror & the Light, 2020) en el contexto del Brexit. Aunque Mantel ha rechazado cualquier analogía entre la Reforma y el Brexit, este trabajo parte de la hipótesis de que pasado y presente interactúan en la ficción histórica, género que ha contribuido tanto a alimentar como a cuestionar los mitos sobre los que se construyen las naciones. Más concretamente, el artículo se centra en el protagonista de la trilogía, Thomas Cromwell, para argumentar que es presentado como el arquitecto de lo que la historiografía Whig ha identificado como los pilares de la identidad nacional inglesa (y, por ende, británica), frecuentemente evocados en el contexto discursivo del Brexit. Sin embargo, aunque el retrato que la narración hace de Cromwell indudablemente fomenta la simpatía del lector hacia el personaje, un análisis más profundo de la caracterización y técnicas narrativas de Mantel —y, más específicamente, el estatus de Cromwell como un ser humano imperfecto presentado a través de los ojos del que se acaba revelando como un narrador no fiable— sugiere que el retrato que Mantel hace de Cromwell no es una simple defensa del concepto Whig de ‘inglesidad’, sino que cuestiona sutilmente los mitos sobre los que este se ha construido.

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