Torquemada en la hoguera is the shortest of the Novelas contemporáneas, and readily lends itself to a comprehensive analysis of its ironic intertextualities. The novella is a dense complex of ironic allusions which function from the level of a single word, to that of the act of reading. The elaboration of these ironies is achieved primarily through the presentation and subsequent subversion of recognized codes of meaning: cultural and literary motifs, themes, symbols, and conventions. Despite its brevity, the diversity and complexity of the codes which traverse Torquemada en la hoguera make an exhaustive study of the novella nearly impossible. This chapter simply attempts to outline some of the principal ironic features at work, in order to suggest how they effect its portraits, settings, and narration, and thus contribute to the total ironic texture. A more or less syntagmatic analysis of the novella will parallel the process through which its complex of ironies offers itself for reading.

The evocation of historical and symbolic connotations begins with the title. The name Torquemada cannot be read without recalling the notorious Inquisitor. The image of the hoguera alludes to the autos da fe, reinforces the motif of the Inquisition, and also alludes to the symbolic hell of the protagonist's life.