SOURCE: "'La que entrega la mirada, lo entrega todo': The Sexual Economy of the Gaze in Pardo Bazan's 'La Mirada'," in Romance Languages Annual, Vol. 4, 1992, pp. 620-26.

In the following essay, Tolliver discusses the sexual meaning of the lover's gaze in Pardo Bazán's short story "La Mirada."

In Pardo Bazán's 1908 story, "La mirada," a character identified only as a "señorito" makes the following pronouncement: "la que entrega la mirada, lo entrega todo." This comment encapsulates the complex dynamic of the gaze between men and women, for it clearly associates sexuality with the gaze, and both of these with notions of trade, surrender, power and control. "La mirada" explores this dynamic both on the level of story and in the structure of the narrative discourse.

"La mirada" employs a male autodiegetic narrator. From his room at the inn in the town of "M . . .", where he frequently...