Spanish Post-War Literature: Key Authors and Masterpieces
Spanish Post-War Literature: Authors and Their Works
Luis Martín Santos
Luis Martín Santos (1924-1964) was a pivotal figure in Spanish literature.
A Time of Silence
His seminal work, A Time of Silence (1962), is a landmark novel. The plot centers on a young doctor and researcher named Peter, who is supplied with mice in the grim slums. Peter becomes involved in the death of a young woman and is arrested. When released from prison, his girlfriend is killed by Cartridge, the loving daughter of ‘the Dolls’. The environment depicts moral misery, blandness, and degradation. The novel is notable for its complex narrative structure and its mix of linguistic registers.
Juan Marsé
Juan Marsé (1933-2020) was a prominent Spanish novelist known for his satirical and imaginative works.
Last Evenings with Teresa
His novel, Last Evenings with Teresa (1966), is a progressive work that satirizes the pretensions of the bourgeoisie. Marsé’s plots demonstrate inexhaustible imagination and an ability to combine new narrative techniques with the traditional novel form.
Other Notable Authors of the Period
- Juan Benet (You’ll Return to Región)
- Juan Goytisolo (Games of Hands)
- Luis Goytisolo (The Anger of Achilles)
Camilo José Cela
Camilo José Cela (1916-2002) was born in La Coruña and died in Madrid. A supporter of the pro-Franco side in the Civil War, he served as an officer. After the success of The Family of Pascual Duarte, he devoted himself to writing and was admitted to the Royal Spanish Academy in 1957.
Literary Works
His extensive work encompasses essays, reports, travel books, and fundamentally, novels. Cela experimented with various narrative techniques throughout his career.
The Family of Pascual Duarte
Published in 1942, this novel introduced a stark, often shocking realism. The plot follows Pascual Duarte, a criminal who recounts his life before his execution. He presents himself as a victim of his miserable family and social origins, which he claims determined his character and actions. The work shares similarities with the picaresque novel, featuring a first-person autobiography and a letter-preface.
The Hive
Published in 1951, The Hive is widely considered Cela’s masterpiece. It portrays numerous characters from diverse social backgrounds and worldviews, all directly or indirectly related, living in Madrid in 1942. The collective story of the city itself becomes the true protagonist. The narrative is divided into six chapters and an epilogue, integrated by ‘cutscenes’ that cover two winter days. Characters are primarily defined by their actions and, above all, their words.
San Camilo, 1936
In the late 1960s, Cela embraced the experimental novel form. This work offers an anguished interior monologue set in the days leading up to the Civil War. It revisits themes characteristic of Cela’s sensationalist style, such as violence, mayhem, and sex.
Miguel Delibes
Miguel Delibes (1920-2010) was born in Valladolid and died on March 12, 2010. He was a member of the Royal Spanish Academy since 1974.
Notable Works
The Shadow of the Cypress is Long
Awarded the Premio Nadal in 1947, this realist novel is considered one of the first examples of existential narrative in Spain. It portrays a mediocre provincial reality constrained by rigid morals.
The Rats
Set in a rural area and narrated through the eyes of children, this novel showcases Delibes’s fondness for humble characters who embody pure moral values, often lost in the bourgeois urban world. The rural setting and the innocence of childhood are associated with the idea of a lost paradise.
Five Hours with Mario
This novel represents an experimental phase in his career. It is an extended monologue, or a dialogue without an interlocutor, in which the protagonist, Carmen, reflects on her married life, directing many reproaches at her recently deceased husband, Mario, whose body she is watching. Carmen, the protagonist, represents a rigidly conservative ideology, obsessed with formalities. Mario, as revealed through his widow’s words, held a liberal humanist stance, more aligned with Delibes’s own views. The novel thus portrays two contrasting perspectives on Spanish reality of that era.
The Holy Innocents
Published in 1981, this novel masterfully fuses bitter critical realism with experimental narrative techniques. It denounces the exploitation and ignorance suffered by the servants of cynical farmhouse landowners, who are immersed in their own double standards. The novel reveals the deep cynicism and violence of an oppressive system that shows no glimmer of compassion for the downtrodden, exemplified by Paco ‘el Bajo’ and Regula’s family.