Casanova and Bradomin

Author(s): Gerard Cox Flynn

Source: Hispanic Review, Vol. 30, No. 2 (Apr., 1962), pp. 133-141
Published by: University of Pennsylvania Press
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/472088
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 CASANOVA AND BRADOMIN

IN the Sonata de primavera Bradomin explicitly mentions Casa-

nova, the Marquis de Seingalt, on two occasions (P, 10, 60),' on
the latter of which he calls him his spiritual father. Furthermore,
the episode of the Capuchin priest is taken directly from Chapter
XVIII of Casanova's Memoirs. Since the erotic life of Bradomin
roughly resembles that of the man he calls his spiritual father, and
since he borrows from him an important episode of his book, it
would appear that Bradomin, like Casanova, is superficial. But as
I see it, this conclusion is based on a post hoc argument and on
taking at his word a man who deliberately affects the bagatela; I
will even venture to say that there are few characters in literature
who have less in common with Casanova than Bradomin: Casanova
is generally superficial and in some ways not a bad chap, whereas
Bradomin is profoundly evil.
The first point of difference between Casanova and Bradomin
is money, which the former almost worships and the latter eitheT
contemns or ignores. Casanova delights in mentioning " three
francs and a half,' "seven paoli,'" "ten sous," "large sums of
money," " forty two sequins, " " every sol," "a guide's fee,"
"fifteen carlins," "two thousand ounces," "sixty ducats," "all
our money," "clothes, jewels, and ready money," "four or five
hundred piastres," "copper money," "empty purse," "pocket
money," "fifty thousand crowns," "two hundred guineas," "a
thousand louis d'or," "a hundred louis each," "short of money,"
"ten thousand florins," and many other expressions of like kind
(Modern Library). Money to him is even more important than
sex, because without it the carnal life he loves to lead is made im-
possible.
Bradomin, on the other hand, has so little regard for money
1 The letters in parentheses refer to the sonatas, P Primavera, E Estio, 0
Otono, I Invierno, and the numbers to the pages in the edition of Austral.
There are other parallels between the Memoirs of Seingalt and Bradomin, e.g.,
La Ciudad Mistica de Sor Maria Jesu's de Agreda, which is mentioned on p. 60
of Primavera and in Ch. XII of Casanova; but Bradomin founds a bagatela
on it, whereas Casanova writes a serious criticism.
133
134 Gerard Cox Flynt HR, XXX (1962)

that he mentions it only a score of times in the four sonatas, and

in the Sonata de otoio I do not detect one mention of it. In
Primavera the few references to money have to do with the episode
of the sorceress, in which Bradomin scornfully throws ten sequins
to a superstitious old woman whom he neither trusts nor fears.
In Estio there are more references to money than in all the other
sonatas put together, but it is important to note that even here
money is never an end in itself to Bradomin, or even a means to
an end, unless that end be literary; e.g., when the Ninia Chole
tosses four centenes to a negro who has been chewed up by the
sharks, the end is obviously a theme of anti-sentimentalism, and
when a pederast bets a hundred onzas against three kisses of the
Ninia Chole, an action that is supposed to excite the jealousy of
Bradomin, the end is obviously the bagatela: "Yo no aspiro a
ensefar, sino a divertir. Toda mi doctrina esta en una sola frase:
i Viva la bagatela! Para mi, haber aprendido a sonreir es la mayor
conquista de la Humanidad" (I, 170). In Invierno the few refer-
ences to money concern the gambling of the Carlist clergy, which
is a shaft aimed at the traditionalist party in Spain. Bradomin is
simply not interested in money.
The second difference between Casanova and Bradomin is their
attitude towards food. Casanova delights in telling his reader
about the magnificent food he has eaten: "Don Sancho invited us
all to supper with him the following night, and gave us a magnifi-
cent repast .... We had white truffles, shell-fish of many kinds, the
best fish from the Adriatic, still champagne, peralta, xeres, and
pedro ximenes" (Ch. V.). And on one occasion, after talking of
food, he gives a good definition of his life: "The road seemed short:
champagne, punch, and pleasure had made us all forgetful of
distance" (Ch. XIX). Pleasure: Casanova is a hedonist.
The Marquis of Bradomin, on the other hand, is even less at-
tentive to food than he is to money. In the Sonata de primavera
he neither eats nor drinks and mentions a meal only once (P, 71),
to show that his servant, Musarelo, overdrank at a dinner with
Polonio, the man who seeks to kill him. In Estio I have counted
the most references to food (E, 86, 108, 111, 114, 115, 116, 126,
127, 144, 158); ten, three of which refer to the same colacitn and
two to the same vino. These references to food, however, are
usually indifferent, and when they show judgment they show a
 Casanova and Bradomin 135

kind of social comment or observation rather than the personal

taste of a hedonist: "algunos indios devoraban la miserable raci6n
de tamales"; "traian una gran bandeja de plata cargada de re-
frescos y confituras"; "Reia el vino en las copas, y la guitarra
espaiiola, sultana de la fiesta, lloraba. .. ." One thing more-the
reader sees Bradomin consume something only once: "alzamos los
vasos, y a un tiempo les dimos fin." 2
In Otoio there are a few references to food-vianda, yantar,
caldo (which Concha drinks), and the Marquis says once: "Nos
pusimos a comer en silencio" (0, 19). But we do not see him eat
on this occasion; we only see him taste wine, twice, from that part
of Concha's cup where she had put her lips. This is an eroticism,
not an emphasis on food. On another occasion Bradomin says:
"No quise comer . . . apure el vino." (0, 10). I think that
Bradomin's occasional drinking of wine in the sonatas and his ap-
parent scorn of food are significant, because halfway through
Otoio Bradomin's uncle, when he wants a good drink of wine,
exclaims: "-i Marques de Bradomin, se acab6 la sangre de Cristo
en el Palacio de Brandeso!" (0, 47); and in Estio Fray Lope says:
"Van a probar el vino con que celebra la misa Su Ilustrisima. " (E,
126). It seems probable that Bradomin's preference for wine, for
which he shows no liking, is sacrilegious. In any case, he is not
a hedonist.3
2 I do not construe "me servia el plato'" (E, 115) as a scene in which the
reader sees Bradomin taking food. Four of the remaining references are to
colacion, one to vidtico para la jornada. Knowing Bradomin as I do, I am
sure the word vidtico has a double meaning, one of them sacramental.
3 Since I do not wish to read too much into the text I am putting this
thought in a footnote. Indifference towards food is one of the first signs of
a spiritual man, e.g., San Juan de la Cruz, San Pedro de Alcantara-in fact,
all the saints. Perhaps it is also a sign of people who are evil in spirit (see
"The Adversary: Bradomin," HR, XXIX [1961], 120-123). Cf. J. M.
Cabodevilla, Seiora Neustra, BAC, Madrid, 1957, p. 134f. (errors of transcrip-
tion have been corrected): "Porque el pecado original no fue de gula sino de
soberbia. Santo Tomas lo asegura terminantemente. No se reducia a comer
una fruta que era agradable a la vista y suave al tacto .... No. Mas interior
todo, mas perverso, menos excusable. Soberbia, ser como Dios. Aparece
bellamente en el coloquio entre Dante y Adan [Par. XXVI, 115ff.], donde el
primero de los hombres trata de explicar su pecado:
Or, figliuol mio, non il gustar del legno
fu per se la cagion di tanto esilio,
ma solamente il trapassar del segno.
136 Gerard Cox Flynn HR, XXX (1962)

In Invierno Bradomin is given some chocolate but does not

drink it (I, 99, 102), is told by the king that he is to eat with
him (I, 105), sees the king take a cup of coffee (I, 133), hears a
lay sister mention "unas sopicas de ajo" (I, 149), and when he
is sick is given "caldos con vino generoso" (I, 161). In the
sonatas caldo is not food but a medicine: Concha takes some in
Otoio, and apparently the Russian pederast, who reappears in
Invierno, takes some too (I, 149).
The third point of difference between Casanova and Bradomin
is clothes, which the former adores and the latter, as the reader
may suspect now, treats indifferently, or scorns, as he does food
and money; clothes should be construed here not only as wearing
apparel but as anything that concerns outward appearance.
Casanova likes to speak of himself in this way: "My costume
was gorgeous; my rings, snuff-boxes, chains, my watch set with
diamonds, my diamond and ruby cross, which I wore on a wide
crimson ribbon, gave me an appearance of importance" (Ch.
XVII). And on one occasion he refers to "my beautiful hair"
(Ch. VI). Lastly, the most ecstatic passage of the Memoirs is
that scene (Ch. XVIII) in which Casanova buys exquisite clothing
for a masked ball, cuts it into shreds with a dagger, locks a tailor
in his rooms to patch it up, dresses his friends up in it, and takes
them to the ball where they are an outstanding ragamuffin suc-
cess; they are, he says, "an ensemble of the most sumptuous
misery" (a phrase that probably best describes his book).
Bradomin, on the other hand, makes fun of his appearance.
He says that he is "feo, catolico y sentimental," but the fact is
he is not feo; he is attractive to women, anti-Catholic, and anti-
sentimental. Here, we are only concerned with his appearance:
"Al verme, las damas que ocupaban el estrado suspiraron. .. .
(P, 23). "Rodeaban a una amiga joven y muy bella, que de
tiempo en tiempo me miraba llena de curiosidad" (P, 48).
Bradomin is an attractive man, but the reader has to dig this fact
out of the sonatas with hours of study.
Bradomin has a moustache, an amethyst ring, and the bizarra
ropilla of his military office (Primavera) ; he has a pipe, mourning
clothes, quevedos (incongruous, laughable attire for an adventurer
It should be noted that Valle-Inclan was indifferent to food and drink: R.
Gomez de la Serna, Don Ram6n del Valle-Incldn, Col. Austral, pp. 29, 115.
 Casanova and Bradomin 137

such as he), and when he was young he was a towhead (Estto);

his hair is white, his moustaches black, and he has a "melena
merovingia como Espronceda, y como Zorrilla" (Otoio); and,
again incongruously, he has a monk's habit, a zouave's habit, and
an amputated arm (Invierno)-all these descriptions, to say the
least, constitute an odd picture that is not always easy to interpret.
But one thing is certain: Bradomin is not interested in an attrac-
tive carnal appearance, although he may play with his appearance
to achieve a literary, and more profoundly, a theological end.4
There are three more points of comparison I should like to make
between Casanova and Bradomin, namely, companions, sacrilege,
and matrimony.
Companions. Casanova was always surrounded by companions.
One of the most vivid impressions the reader carries away from
his Memoirs is that somebody was always wining and dining him,
or he them, or he was always going to a ball with someone, riding
in a coach with someone, gambling with someone, or courting a
woman. Even when he was imprisoned by the Inquisition he
managed to carry on communication with some other human being,
right down to his daring escape, in which his companions were
more a nuisance to him than a help. Casanova may have been
lonely in his younger life, as he was when he was older, but at
least he managed to be so in the company of another human being.
Casanova loved society.
The Marquis of Bradomin does not give this impression of
companionability and is what Americans sometimes call a loner.
The two sonatas that most deeply affect the reader are Pri-
mavera and Otoio, in which the Marquis is most destructive and
his destruction most credible. In the first of these sonatas there
is no society as far as he is concerned, because the society of
Ligura is entirely external to him. He seems to long for the
companionship of Maria Rosario: "Maria Rosario fue el uinico amor
de mi vida" (P, 37). ". . . el primero, el mas grande amor de mi
vida . . ." (I, 132). but he never attains it, although he almost at-
tains it when she offers him a rose (P, 72); and as to Princesa
Gaetani, the Clementine College, Monsignor Antonelli, Polonio
and all the others, he is wilfully incapable of companionship-he
is incapable of love. Furthermore, Xavier's destruction of Maria
41 hope to make Bradomin's theology the subject of a future paper.
138 Gerard Cox Flynn HR, XXX (1962)

Rosario is not just a burla, but is one of the most profoundly evil
and moving actions I have seen in literature, rather like that of a
man who is bent on destroying his own likeness.5 Xavier Brado-
min does not even love himself: "Nunca como entonces he sido fiel
a una divisa: Despreciar a los demas y no amarse a si mismo" (E,
150). And so, in Primavera Bradomin is always retiring into
some deserted place (desierto is one of the most common words in
the sonatas), the deserted library where he sleeps, the streets of
Ligura, and the garden, especially the garden, which is filled with
the presence of the toad.
In the Sonata de otono there are three suggestions of com-
panionship on the part of Bradomin: at the beginning, when he
meets the miller and his family; later on, when he meets the page
boy, Florisel; and finally with his uncle, Don Juan Manuel. But
these three bits of companionship are unusual in the sonatas. The
Bradomin that speaks to Don Juan Manuel is at times like the
Bradomin of Los Cruzados de la Causa, an aristocrat who stands
back and acquiesces to the arrogance of his ancestor; besides, Don
Juan Manuel is really but a projection of Bradomin himself since
he lives by the same rules, e.g., the novels of chivalry of Don Juan
Manuel are Bradomin's risuena mentira (0, 49; I, 96). When
Bradomin talks to Florisel he sees in the boy the golden legend, the
page of the princess that once was, the nostalgia that fills the four
sonatas, with the result that the Calderonian (0, 29) Florisel is
also but a projection of Bradomin himself and not true society at
all.6 The third suggestion of society in Otono takes place when
Bradomin meets the miller and his family, who are the common
people of Galicia. They greet him: "El viejo aldeano salud6
cristianamente:-i Ave Maria Purisima! La mujer contest6:-
i Sin pecado concebida !" (0, 9).
Here, I am sure, is a key to the four sonatas. The Marquis does
not often represent people as being good-they are usually
pharisees, hypocrites, liars, thieves, lechers, perverts, murderers,
and coveters-so that when he represents them as being good he
must do so for a special purpose. The people of Galicia are
5 There is a kind of masochism in the sonatas. One wonders if it is only
literary: "Se consult6 con Don Ram6n y este dijo que si, que lo amputasen,
pero sin cloroformizarle . . ." G6mez de la Serna, op. cit., p. 47.
6 Like Florisel, Bradomin is capable of what he himself calls a Calderonian
remark: "Senior, para juglar naci muy alto" (I, 123).
 Casanova and Bradomin 139

superstitious (0, 12) but Bradomin does not mock them as he

mocks the superstitious Polonio and the sorceress of Primavera.
He is genuinely fond of them. The people of Galicia, who are
good, salute him: iAve Maria Purisima!; he likes them and would
be one with them, but he does not answer. I do not think he can
get himself to say iSin pecado concebida!, and I hope to show why
in a future paper. At any rate, Bradomin cannot permanently
enjoy the society of his own.people.
There is some feeling of society in Estio and Invierno, but it
never suggests the warm, personal relationship characterizing com-
panionability. The Marquis is intimate with the Niina Chole,
but when her incestuous father comes to punish her, he does not
stop him lest he infringe on his rights as father and husband (E,
149). This bagatela is typical of the intemperate atmosphere of
Estio. In Invierno the seed of friendship unquestionably exists
between Bradomin and Fray Ambrosio, but the latter cruelly black-
mails him, and Bradomin describes his reaction: "Yo le dije con
tristeza: -lPor que ese dinero no me fue pedido con amistad?"
(I, 114). This sentence rings true to me, like so many other things
in Valle-Inclan. I detect no burla in it. Bradomin does not have
a single friend.
To sum up, Bradomin's potential friends were few, and there
was always some obstacle to their friendship. This obstacle, which
came from within, caused him to destroy even Maria Rosario, who
". .. ufu6el unico amor de mi vida." Bradomln is anti-social.
There is a great deal of pain in the sonatas.
Sacrilege. Casanova never fools with sacrilege. In one epi-
sode of his book he mentions the case of a dying woman who con-
sumed a small picture of her lover rather than the sacred host, and
he adds that he wrote two sonnets about it (Memoirs, 450). But
this mention is a mere statement of fact and nothing at all like the
burla Bradomin would have made out of such an incident.
On the other hand, the scornful echo of sacrilege begins on
the first page of Primavera and never leaves the sonatas: "La silla
de posta caminaba lentamente, y el cascabeleo de las mulas hallaba
un eco burl6n, casi sacrilego, en las calles desiertas donde crecia
la hierba. " The most scornful of the many sacrileges of Bradomin
are those in which he likens his scandalous sexual relations to the
sacrifice of the Mass:
140 Gerard Cox Flynn HR, XXX (1962)

Ella, suspirando, entorn6 los ojos, y celebramos nuestras bodas con

siete copiosos sacrificios que ofrecimos a los dioses como el triunfo de la
vida (E, 119).
Despues fue nuestro numen Pedro Aretino, y como oraciones, pude
recitar en italiano siete sonetos gloria del Renacimiento: Uno distinto para
cada sacrificio (E, 140).
. . no podia ignorar cuanto cuesta acercarse a los altares de Venus
Turbulenta. Desde entonces compadezco a los desgraciados que, engafa-
dos por una mujer, se consumen sin volver a besarla. Para ellos sera
eternamente un misterio la exaltaci6n gloriosa de la carne (E, 163).

Celebramos, sacrificios, ofrecimos, gloria, triunfo de la vida, siete

(there are seven sacraments),7 oraciones, altares, misterio, exalta-
cion gloriosa de la carne, and perhaps consumen: the object of this
sacrilege is the most profound institution of the Spanish people.
This is a different world than that of Jacobo Casanova.
Matrimony. Although a hedonist, Casanova has a peculiar
regard for the sacrament of matrimony:
He asked me one day if I was married, and on my answering no, and
adding that I fancied I should never feel called upon to contract this tie
. . (Modern Library, p. 47).
"But do you think," said I, "that a marriage is made like an omelette?
Fifteen days in Venice is not enough; you must stay there at least six
months.... A sensible man wants to know the character of a woman be-
fore he marries her, for it is neither money nor beauty which makes for
happiness" (Mod. Lib., p. 71).
On this occasion we occupied separate rooms, and as I now looked on
Cristina as belonging to some other man, I contented myself with dis-
creetly embracing her in the presence of her uncle. He left us alone
together for some time, as he had business to attend to, and I endured all
the temptations of Saint Anthony, but I resisted them manfully (p. 79).
7 Seven is the favorite number of Valle-Inclan in the sonatas: siete
huries, siete criollas (Estio); siete altares, siete ferrados de trigo y siete de
centeno, el reloj di6 las siete (Otono); una cama con siete colchones y un
Cristo a la cabecera, guerra de los siete anos, Van siete por el mismo camino
(naipes), Siete van por el mismo camino, les henios tumbado siete del pantal6n
encarnado (Invierno). Many of these seven's could stand by themselves
without any mystical interpretation, but their frequent repetition and the fact
that they often accompany mystical words suggest a sacrilegious image (see,
e.g., I, 103). It is also possible that the number seven, which the Pythago-
reans considered to be the fate dominating human life, has some recondite
philosophical meaning. (La ldmpara maravillosa of Valle-Incldn praises
Pythagorean numerology; p. 24, ed. Austral.)
 Casanova and Bradonin4 141

. . .for I knew, alas! that I was not made for the chains of matri-
mony . . . (p. 128).
I was determined to make her mine legally and for life . . . (p. 130).
This touched me, but the idea of marriage appalled me as usual (p.
184).
The word marriage .... I must admit that that particular word
always toucheda very sensitive chord in my heart (p. 263).
The impression the reader carries away from Casanova's book
is that he always scrupulously avoided adulterous affairs. He
would have an affair with a woman right up to the eve of her
marriage, which he himself was apt to arrange, even setting up a
dowry, but once she was married he seemed to steer clear of her.
Moreover, this attitude of his was not just dictated by prudence or
fear of bodily harm. For Casanova, marriage was a contract, an
indissoluble tie, and when he became involved with a woman to the
point of an impending marriage he always had to break away from
her, compulsively, like a scared rabbit. He did not want to lose
his liberty.
Bradomin, on the other hand, is as scornful of marriage, which
is a sacrament, as he is of the Eucharist: "Sobre sus labios per-
fumados por los rezos, mis labios cantaron los primeros el triunfo
del amor y su gloriosa exaltaci6n. Yo tuve que ensefiarle toda la
lira: verso por verso, los treinta y dos sonetos de Pietro Aretino.
Aquel capullo blanco de nifia desposada, apenas sabia murmurar el
primero. Hay maridos y hay amantes que ni siquiera pueden
servirnos de precursores . . ." (0, 36). A husband is not even a
precursor: this is a far cry from Casanova, whose spiritual child
Bradomin is not. Casanova is a bachelor, whereas Bradomin is
the Adversary.
GERARDCox FLYNN
Rutgers University