Spanish Novel’s Evolution in Democracy
The Spanish Novel’s Evolution in Democracy
The end of the dictatorship, the restoration of the monarchy, and the advent of democracy in Spain ushered in a new literary era starting in the last quarter of the 20th century.
A key characteristic of this period is the shift away from the experimentalism of previous decades. A new generation of writers emerged, returning to classic storytelling, prioritizing plots that captivated readers. This marked a resurgence of the novel’s narrative function, which had diminished due to the focus on experimental techniques in the 1970s.
The contemporary Spanish novel encompasses a diverse range of themes and writers, with literary awards significantly influenced by the publishing world. Several trends can be identified:
Key Trends in the Spanish Novel
a. The Metanovel
This involves a novel within a novel, where the text tells a story while simultaneously exploring its own creation. An example is La Novela de Andrés by José María Merino.
b. Poetic Novels
In these novels, elements of poetry take precedence over narrative aspects. A representative example is Yellow Rain by Julio Llamazares.
c. The Historical Novel
This genre presents an imaginative narrative of the past and its relevance to the present. The City of Marvels by Eduardo Mendoza exemplifies this trend.
d. The Thriller
Crime novels and historical thrillers have gained significant popularity. Notable examples include The Truth About the Savolta Case by Eduardo Mendoza and the Pepe Carvalho series by Manuel Vázquez Montalbán.
This trend also includes key novels by Antonio Muñoz Molina, such as Winter in Lisbon, Beltenebros, and Full Moon. His book Sefarad, described by the author as a “novel of novels,” explores themes of exile and displacement during the 20th century.
Within this genre, Arturo Pérez-Reverte has achieved immense success with novels like The Fencing Master and The Flanders Panel. His Captain Alatriste series blends historical fiction and thriller elements.
Other highly successful novelists include Javier Marías, one of Spain’s most internationally recognized writers, Almudena Grandes, and Javier Cercas, whose work Soldiers of Salamis was a major publishing success.
The Novel’s Renewal from the 1960s
In the early 20th century, writers like James Joyce and Marcel Proust revolutionized the European novel with formal innovations. These changes impacted the narrative point of view, shifting from the traditional omniscient narrator to a limited perspective that allowed characters to present the action from their viewpoints. Characters evolved from traditional heroes to more human and relatable figures, even anonymous individuals. Plots moved away from linear structures, often merging past and present or employing circular time. Space became more confined, sometimes limited to the protagonist’s mind.
Due to historical circumstances, such as the Civil War and the Franco regime, this renewal didn’t reach Spain until the 1960s. The preceding decade saw the rise of the “social novel,” often analyzed through Marxist criticism. Representative writers and novels of this trend include Jesús Fernández Santos’s The Brave, López Salinas’s The Mine, Juan Goytisolo’s Níjar Country, and Juan García Hortelano’s Summer Storm, among others.
Luis Martín-Santos’s Time of Silence (1962) marked the end of the social novel’s dominance and the beginning of the aforementioned literary renewal. This shift involved established postwar novelists like Camilo José Cela (San Camilo, Mazorca for Two Dead Men), Miguel Delibes (The Wars of Our Ancestors), and Gonzalo Torrente Ballester (The Island of Cut Hyacinths), as well as younger writers like Juan Benet (You’ll Return to Región) and Juan Goytisolo (Count Julian).
These novelists recognized the limitations of the social novel and sought new narrative approaches with greater attention to literary language.