Post-War Spanish Novel: Narrative Techniques & Analysis
Narrative Techniques in the Post-War Spanish Novel
Miguel Delibes and Five Hours with Mario
Current Narrative Techniques:
- Social Novel: Focus on social inequalities and political issues.
- Subjective Novel: Emphasis on character psychology, with other elements secondary.
Traditional vs. Current Storytelling
Limited vs. Omniscient Narrator
First-person narrator. Free indirect style: the omniscient third-person narrator conveys the thoughts of characters in the third person.
Interior Monologue: Stream of consciousness, first-person narration.
Reader: Passive role, understanding what is presented. Construction is complex, requiring the reader to decode the work.
Plot: Classical approach with a beginning, knot, and end. Non-linear, open-ended, like a puzzle.
Characters: Presented fully at the beginning. Character development is gradual, revealed slowly.
Time: Chronological, following a linear sequence. Non-chronological, with temporal concentration and dispersion.
Space: Open, real, geographical, concrete. Inner space dominates, focusing on thoughts and feelings.
Principle: Clear beginning. In medias res, the story can start at the beginning, middle, or end.
Final: Closed, with a clear resolution. Usually open-ended.
Narrative Point of View
Single Narrator: Often first-person (autobiographical) or third-person.
- Classical or absolute omniscient: Knows everything.
- Limited omniscient: Narrator is limited to one character’s perspective.
- Behavioral or behaviorist: Narrator only describes actions and dialogue.
Multi-Narrator: Mixes first and third-person perspectives, sometimes using interior monologue.
Narrative Styles
Explores characters’ inner thoughts using different speech styles:
- Direct style: Character dialogue.
- Free direct style: Dialogue embedded within third-person narration.
- Indirect style: Dialogue reported in third person.
- Free indirect style: Narrator conveys character’s thoughts in third person, often with questions.
Internal Monologue:
Soliloquy: First-person character speaks aloud to themselves.
Time in Narrative
- Temporal concentration
- Temporal dispersion
- Flashbacks (analepsis)
- Flashforwards (prolepsis)
Novels using many different types are called a kaleidoscope.
Intertextuality
Author cites fragments from other literary works, recognized by skilled readers.
Post-War Literature (1939 Onward)
Before the Spanish Civil War, the Generation of ’98 wrote philosophical realist novels. Pío Baroja was a key author. After the war, many authors were dead or exiled. Baroja remained in Spain, bridging the gap between older and younger authors.
Stages: 1939-1951, 1951-1962, 1962-1975, from 1975.
The First Stage (1939-1951)
The most difficult literary period due to strict censorship. Authors avoided direct discussion of the Civil War, focusing on existential themes like time. Key authors include Camilo José Cela (The Family of Pascual Duarte) and Miguel Delibes (The Shadow of the Cypress is Long).