Spanish Narrative Evolution: Civil War to Present
Spanish Narrative: From the Civil War to Today
1. Spanish Literature from the 1940s to Today
After the Spanish Civil War, storytellers began their work. A new literary tradition had to be created, breaking from the line breaks and avant-garde experimentation of the 1930s. Censorship was omnipresent in the post-war circumstances and in the novels of the 1950s. By the 1960s, the *content* ceased to be the key, and authors began to worry more about the *form* of narration. Since the 1970s, one cannot speak of common narrative features due to the number of models and the multiplicity of issues.
2. The Novel and Society in the Post-War 1940s
The consequences of the war affected all areas. The novels followed the lines characterized by Baroja. These years saw the presence of reality as a literary theme. The subject matter is steeped in loneliness, inadequacy, frustration, and death. Several types of novels were cultivated: the nationalist novel, the fantastic novel, the humorous novel, and traditional realism. Among the most representative titles is The Family of Pascual Duarte. The publication of this work had a major impact on the triumphalist environment imposed by the winners in the narrative.
3. The Novel of the 1950s: Social Realism
With *The Hive*, Cela once again led the way for the novel in the following years. The characters are moved exclusively by hunger and sex. Through dialogue and the representation of short episodes, events are shown in the most objective manner possible through the conduct of the characters. But if anything represents these years, it is a group of writers called the “Generation of Half a Century.” This is social realism. The theoretical stance of these authors was exposed in two key books of the era: *The Reader’s Prayer* and *Novel Problems*. The main thematic areas are:
- Rural life
- The world of work
- Urban migration to the city
- The bourgeoisie
- The Civil War
4. The Renewal of Narrative: The Novel of the 1960s
In these years, signs of weariness began to show in the social realist novel. The main innovations are:
- Narrative perspective: There is a tendency towards the demise of the author. The second person is frequently used.
- Novels are characterized by a loss of importance of the story.
- Temporal break from linearity: Subjective time is mixed with objective time. There is a chronological disorder.
- Interior monologue or stream of consciousness.
- Structuring procedures: The external structure is a sequence, and the internal structure is counterpoint.
- The characters seek their own identity.
- Descriptions.
- Discursive elements.
- Linguistic richness.
- Importance of visuality.
5. The Novel of the 1970s and Beyond
- The Historical Novel: Influenced by the publication of The Name of the Rose. The Spanish novel recreates historical events, mixing fictional characters and events.
- The Mystery Novel: It combines the tendency to tell an interesting story with social aspects of denunciation. Following the threads, a plot is told. Works like The Truth About the Savolta Case.
- The Novel of Memory: Writers like Proust, Eduardo Mendicutti, and Antonio Muñoz Molina.