What Have You Done Philately? Stamps and the Death of the Liberal Dream in Carmen de Burgos’ Don Manolito (1916)

Increasingly obsolete, stamps have been a prime site for the dissemination of national symbols. The portrayal of stamps in literary texts can thus generate fresh perspectives on the dynamics of banal nationalism. This essay analyzes one such depiction in the short novel Don Manolito (1916) by the Spanish writer and journalist Carmen de Burgos. Long overlooked, Don Manolito highlights not only the part played by stamps in sustaining our notions of nationhood but also the role of women in the construction of the liberal state. The short novel was written at a time when the progressive Burgos felt that the political landscape had stagnated in Spain, in stark contrast to the reinvigorated republic that had been declared in neighboring Portugal.