As mentioned in the Introduction, this chapter intends to explore reasons why one of the pervading feelings experienced when finishing a novel by Arturo Pérez-Reverte is that of disappointment or disillusionment. It would be easy to say that such a feeling suggests a badly written novel, one that plays facile tricks on a gullible reader. However, there may be much more at stake than that. The continuing high sales of Revertian novels indicate that, gullibility aside, readers enjoy the experience of being thwarted. At some level, it seems, they are satisfied that they fail to predict the outcome. Part of that satisfaction may be due to the role that literature plays in reflecting reality. Twenty-first century reality is fraught with disappointments; idealism is perceived as a youthful state that inevitably will be left behind with the passing of the years; potentially happy endings turn out to be temporary, while statistics are constantly revealing that most people's personal stories end in disappointment, be it from broken relationships, broken cease-fires, or broken political promises. The list is endless for those who choose to focus on such things. In a Spanish context, history has recorded plenty of statistics proving a continual pattern of political struggle, with hopes of new beginnings being quickly dashed, illusions shattered.

The notion of disillusionment, or desengaño, needs development. María Moliner defines the term as ‘ la impresión que recibe alguien cuando la realidad desmiente la esperanza o confianza que tenía puestas en una persona o una cosa’ [the sensation experienced when reality belies the hopes or trust invested in someone or something]. Moliner differentiates between desengaño and desilusión since the former, ‘al poner fin a una creencia mal fundada, no implica forzosamente un estado depresivo para el futuro’ [destroying an ill-founded belief does not necessarily imply a depressive outlook for the future]. According to Roget's Thesaurus, synonyms for disillusionment are ‘disenchantment’, ‘disappointment’, ‘lack of expectation’, ‘delusion’, ‘cynicism’. In the Spanish context, however, the word has not always contained entirely negative connotations, at least not on a literary level. An examination of Spanish Golden-Age literature, for instance, reveals a concern for the casting-off of illusion, dis-illusionment, being seen as a prerequisite to being able to face truth.