Postwar Spanish Novel: Evolution and Key Authors
Postwar Spanish Novel
The postwar novel in Spain underwent significant transformations, reflecting the country’s social and political changes. Initially, the novel was characterized by idealism.
Idealistic Novel
During the early years of the Franco regime, propagandistic novels glorified the war, the regime, and its ideological values. Examples include works by authors like Arnau and José Antonio Jimeno. There was also another form of idealistic conception, *Arrata*, which tried to move past the war without making it the central theme.
Existential Realism
This type of novel attempted to reflect the bitterness of everyday life. Its themes were loneliness, the frustration of hopes, and the constant presence of death. These novels showed unrest transferred to individual existence. Representative novels include:
- The Family of Pascual Duarte (1942) by Camilo José Cela: A landmark novel in Spanish history, told in the first person, about Pascual Duarte, a victim of his miserable family and social origins, which determine his character and his abominable acts. It is characterized by the crudeness of the language.
- Nada by Carmen Laforet: Winner of the first Premio Nadal in 1944.
- The Shadow of the Cypress is Long by Miguel Delibes.
- The Road by Miguel Delibes.
Relevant Authors
Gonzalo Torrente Ballester: Born in Ferrol, he initially devoted himself to the theater with little success. In the 1950s, he began publishing a realistic trilogy set in Galicia. His experimental novel *J.B. Saga* blends elements of imagination, myth, and the reality of the writer’s native Galicia.
Carmen Laforet: A Catalan writer, Laforet gained recognition for *Nada*. Narrated in the first person, it addresses the experience of Andrea and her arrival in Barcelona, where she lives in her grandmother’s house with other family members.
Ramón J. Sender: Born in Huesca, he actively participated on the Republican side. His pre-war novels, such as *Seven Red Sundays*, respond to direct social realism. The theme of Spain appears in his short novel *Requiem for a Spanish Peasant*. He also wrote historical narratives, such as *Nancy’s Thesis*.
The Novel of the 1960s
The 1960s saw a shift in the Spanish novel, marked by the depletion of socialist realism, a renewed interest in fantasy, a focus on language, and the influence of European and American writers. The novel became experimental.
Key Features and Techniques
- Themes: Recurrent themes included adolescents, children, the war, the passage of time, and the construction of memory.
- Perspective: Stories were often told from a single character’s perspective or multiple different perspectives.
- Chronological Disorder: Frequent use of cuts, ellipses, flashbacks, and prolepsis.
- Structure: Fragmentation of sequential or continuous speech.
- Character: A shift towards individual characters, often using a single character’s perspective.
- Narrator: The narrator frequently comments on the facts.
- Free Indirect Style and Interior Monologue: Dialogue became less important, replaced by techniques that allowed readers to immerse themselves in the character’s mind.
Important Authors and Works
Luis Martín Santos: Born in Morocco, his work *Time of Silence* focuses on a young doctor and researcher named Peter, who works with mice in the slums of Madrid. Features of this novel include a mixture of languages and linguistic registers, and meticulous dissection of reality through detailed descriptions.
Juan Marsé: His early works, *Locked Up with One Toy* and *The Other Side of the Moon*, are part of social realism. Later, *Last Evenings with Teresa* satirizes the pretensions of the progressive bourgeoisie. *The Dark History of Cousin Montse* won an award.
Juan Benet: This Madrid writer’s *Return to Región* tells a fragmented story through monologues, serving as a metaphor for Spain.
Juan Goytisolo: Born in Barcelona, he began his career in the 1950s within social realism. Works include *Washed Hands*, *Duel in Paradise*, and *Marks of Identity*, which uses different viewpoints.
Luis Goytisolo: Born in Barcelona, he began in literature with social realism in *The Outskirts*.