Galicia, or the Spurious Child: Illegitimate Origins in the Modern Novel

The present article uses Suso de Toro’s Sete palabras as a starting point for analyzing the protagonism of illegitimate children in the Galician novel since the Rexurdimen- to. Considered in a historical context and as a literary trope, the illegitimate child can be read as an expression of anxiety around a national identity rested upon a notion of purity, be it linguistic, ethnic or territorial. These unclear origins, rather than preclude the possibility of identity formation and history —individual or collective— can serve as a source for alternative histories and identities.