Heritage ambivalences: the aesthetics of fictionalised pasts in Roca Barea's Imperiofobia

Abstract

[EN] Roca Barea's Imperiofobia y Leyenda Negra (Empirephobia and Black Legend) has been a bestseller in Spain since it was published in 2016. However, this historical essay has also provoked intense controversy regarding the veracity of data presented and the ambivalence, or even incoherence, of its arguments. This article analyses Imperiofobia from a different point of view: as a heritage product with a strong narrative dimension. A heritage product can enable an individual story to be inserted into a collective mythological narrative, as in the case of this book. Imperiofobia encourages the reader to become involved in an epic war against the enemies of empires, as well as against the enemies of Spain (mainly the eurozone¿s most powerful countries and progressive or left-wing intellectuals). This involvement dimension is essential to understand how, in general, ambivalent and even incoherent narratives about the past can be functional in socio-political dynamics.