Two Giants of Spanish Literature
Camilo José Cela
Camilo José Cela authored a dense, uneven, and varied literary collection, including novels, short stories, and travel books. His work is characterized by a constant search for new forms of narrative expression and a passion for lived experience.
His first novel, La familia de Pascual Duarte, established him as a prominent author. Critics described the work as “alarmist” due to its bitter and gruesome depiction of violence. After two very different works, Cela published his masterpiece, The Hive, in 1951. This novel marked a shift towards social realism, offering a complex and pessimistic view of post-war Spain. The Hive stands as one of the best novels in Spanish literature, notable for its short narrative sequences, collective protagonist, multitude of intertwined characters, chronological disorder, brilliant language, irony, and cruelty.
Cela continued to experiment with narrative techniques. Mrs. Caldwell Talks to Her Son (1953) explores the madness of a woman writing to her dead son. San Camilo 1936 (1969) is a long interior monologue, while Office of Darkness 5 consists of varied paragraphs without punctuation. His later novels also demonstrate his innovative spirit. Mazurka for Two Dead (1983) is set in rural Galicia and features superb prose. Christ Versus Arizona (1988) takes place in a violent and sexually charged American western town. Boxwood (1999), a long-gestating work, transports us to Galicia’s Costa de la Muerte.
Cela’s short stories, such as those in Such Clouds That Pass, The Nice Policeman, and Coffee Crime of Artists and Other Stories, showcase his ironic, cruel, and tender observations of diverse situations and characters. He also excelled at travel writing, recreating environments, places, and characters with a special language and rhythm, as seen in Travel to the Alcarria and From Miño to Bidasoa.
Miguel Delibes
Miguel Delibes is an artist committed to human dignity and nature. His extensive body of work, written in clear and concise prose, has remained unaffected by literary trends. He consistently receives critical acclaim and enjoys a wide readership. His writing often features rural landscapes, particularly those of his native Spain, and the world of provincial towns.
In 1947, he won the Nadal Prize for The Long Shadow of the Cypress, a novel with existentialist tones. He followed this with The Road, a realistic work combining his favorite themes of the countryside and children. The autobiographical narrative of Lorenzo in Diary of a Hunter also explores these themes. In On the Sheet, Delibes portrays the life and memories of Eloy, a retiree nearing the end of his life, as he converses with his maid, Desi.
Rats returns to the rural world with a stark and tragic story of two marginalized characters. In 1966, Delibes published Five Hours with Mario, a richly expressive novel employing a new narrative technique: a widow’s long monologue over her husband’s body. This work offers a social and moral dissection of the provincial middle class. The Dethroned Prince explores childhood in an urban setting, while The Wars of Our Ancestors returns to rural life with a dialogue-driven narrative.
The Holy Innocents is one of Delibes’ greatest creations, a well-crafted rural novel highlighting the marginalization and abuse of the poor. The Heretic delves into history, exploring themes of tolerance and religious freedom through the story of a reformer in 16th-century Spain. Delibes masterfully depicts environments and characters with sober, careful, and expressive language, capturing colloquial and rural speech with exceptional skill.