Spanish Novel: Evolution and Key Authors (1940-Present)
The Spanish Novel: From Post-War to Present
The Novel of Exile
Key Themes: Memory of Spain, causes and consequences of the Civil War, references to places and environments of exile.
Important Post-War Novelists:
- Ramon J. Sender: Chronicle of Dawn, recreating his childhood and youth.
- Rosa Chacel: Memoirs of Leticia Valle, concerned with the aesthetics of realism.
- Max Aub: His most important work is The Magic Labyrinth.
- Francisco Ayala: Short stories dealing with corruption and the power of dictatorships.
1940s: Existential Novel
The war is seen from the point of view of the victors. Sentimental novels are also typical. Two key novels:
- The Family of Pascual Duarte by Camilo Jose Cela.
- Nada by Carmen Laforet.
1950s: Social Realism
The discovery of foreign novelists coincides with the appearance of new Spanish writers who conceive of the novel as a way to denounce social injustice. Critical realism is represented by the mid-century generation, including Caballero Bonald and Carmen Martin Gaite. Realism and objectivity are imposed: the author tells a story and stays in the background. Spanish society becomes the narrative theme, and the individual protagonist gives way to the collective.
Key examples:
- The Hive shows Madrid struggling to survive in a poor world.
- El Jarama depicts a group of young people going to the river, representing the routine of society at the time.
The Novel Between 1975 and 1990
With the end of the Franco dictatorship, the period of transition to democracy begins. Authors returning from exile are concerned about the craft of storytelling. The plot has an important role, as in the novels of Luis Mateo Díez and Julio Llamazares. Many women, like Cristina Fernandez Cubas, made significant contributions to the genre.
The Spanish Novel Now
Since the 1990s, authors have seen their work studied and recognized. This is the case of Javier Marias and Antonio Muñoz Molina, among others. Younger novelists, like Lucia Echevarria, deal with the problems of the generation of democracy: drugs, cults, and alcohol. Other authors, like Manuel Rivas, delve into the world of memory. Novelists such as Bernardo Atxaga published the majority of their works in the 1990s. For example, Jose Millas and Javier Cercas had concerns and styles that are quite distinct.
1960s: Experimental Narrative
Novelists sought new, more complex forms and paid attention to literary language. Two factors contributed to this change:
- The influence of great foreign novelists like Marcel Proust and Franz Kafka.
- The discovery of the Latin American novel, such as Julio Cortazar’s Hopscotch or One Hundred Years of Solitude by García Márquez.
Authors of the New Narrative:
The decade opens with Time of Silence by Luis Martin Santos, which incorporates the innovations of European and American narrative. A demanding lexicon and a variety of novel techniques and procedures make the novel understood differently. The protagonist is a scientist devoted to research, which allows the reader to see many different environments in Madrid. Miguel Delibes and Camilo Jose Cela also joined this renovation, as did Juan Goytisolo and other novelists, including Juan Benet and Juan Marsé. The experimental novel closes with The Truth About the Savolta Case by Eduardo Mendoza, which shows a tendency to return to traditional narrative forms.
Techniques of the New Narrative:
Authors found new ways to renew the novel, such as changing the role of the narrator. Techniques included:
- Internal Monologue: The production of the thoughts of the characters.
- Changing Point of View: Shifting from the first person to the third person, or even telling the story in the second person.
- Ironic Narrator Interventions.
- Chapters are replaced by sequences separated by blank spaces.