Spanish Social Realism: The Post-Civil War Literary Landscape
1. The Novel in the Forties: The Generation of 36
The exile of many novelists and rigid government censorship left post-war Spain intellectually disoriented. With established authors absent, their styles deemed unsuitable for imitation, and experimental narratives out of place in a somber environment, the literary scene faced a period of stagnation. John Doe’s work, with its exploration of societal struggles, could serve as a relevant model for studying the Spanish narrative of this era.
This reality brutally imposed itself on many authors, guiding their aesthetic towards an imitation of the surrounding bleakness. However, new voices emerged, seeking alternatives to the nineteenth-century realism model.
Two novels inaugurated this new trend: Camilo José Cela’s The Family of Pascual Duarte (1942) and Carmen Laforet’s Nada (1945). Cela introduced “tremendismo,” a stark and unflinching portrayal of reality, highlighting the harshness of postwar life. Laforet, winning the Nadal Prize at twenty-three, presented a young protagonist grappling with a suffocating family atmosphere and frustrated hopes in a bare, direct style.
This thematic thread continued with authors like Miguel Delibes, whose The Shadow of the Cypress is Long (1948) further explored the existential anxieties of the time. This group of authors, known as the Generation of 36 or the “Generation of the War,” shared a common focus on the bitter realities of everyday life. Their narratives presented a succession of voids where individuals grappled with loneliness, frustration, and despair, often featuring marginalized and uprooted characters.
While explicit denunciation of social injustices remained subdued due to censorship, a palpable sense of discontent with the Spanish social situation permeated their works. They depicted injustice without directly challenging the regime, subtly prompting readers to question the status quo.
2. Social Realism in the Fifties: The Generation of Half a Century
Cela, once again, ushered in a new phase with The Hive (1951), alongside Luis Romero’s The Wheel, published the same year. Both novels used bustling cityscapes as backdrops to showcase a collective protagonist, setting the stage for a new wave of social realism. This movement directly confronted the injustices of the postwar period, depicting both the oppressed and the oppressors. Society itself, rather than individual characters, became the true protagonist.
From 1954 onward, numerous novelists joined this generation, including Ignacio Aldecoa, Ana María Matute, Rafael Sánchez Ferlosio, Juan García Hortelano, José Manuel Caballero Bonald, and Carmen Martín Gaite, all leaving a significant mark on twentieth-century Spanish narrative.
Critical essays began to appear, advocating for this new aesthetic. José María Castellet’s The Hour of the Reader (1957) and Juan Goytisolo’s For a National Literature and Popular Issues in the Novel (both 1959) called for writers to engage with reality and advocate for social change. They argued that since traditional media and political platforms were stifled by censorship, novels became crucial vehicles for implicit social commentary.
Different approaches to realism emerged. Some authors, like Sánchez Ferlosio in El Jarama (1956), employed objectivism, acting as neutral observers who documented events without explicit judgment. Others, through critical realism, incorporated the narrator’s perspective to denounce injustices, albeit without overt political statements. A smaller group, including Ana María Matute, embraced lyrical realism, portraying the bleak reality through a more tender and evocative lens, infusing poetry into the unpleasant aspects of life.
3. Spanish Society as a Narrative Theme
Castellet and Goytisolo’s manifestos urged authors to prioritize collective concerns over individual ones. Society was no longer a mere backdrop; it became the central protagonist. These novels, with varying degrees of explicitness, expressed solidarity with the marginalized and disadvantaged, not just victims of the war but also those left behind in its aftermath. The settings varied, but the focus on social injustice remained constant.
Rural settings, like in Two Days of September (1962), exposed the harsh realities of the countryside, where survival and caciquismo (political bossism) prevailed. Urban environments, as depicted in The Hive and The Wheel, highlighted hunger, poverty, and the disillusionment of the masses.
Some novels, such as López Pacheco’s Power Plant (1958), merged both worlds, showcasing the devastating socio-political climate and the plight of the marginalized across different settings. The disillusionment of the bourgeoisie also found its place in works like García Hortelano’s New Friends (1959) and Carmen Martín Gaite’s Between Curtains (1957), portraying a stagnant and apathetic social circle.
Direct engagement with the Civil War remained limited due to censorship. However, it appeared indirectly, often through the innocent eyes of children who endured its devastating consequences, a recurring theme in Ana María Matute’s works.
4. Narrative Techniques
The urgency to reflect the stark realities of the time often prioritized content over form. However, this did not justify poorly written or subpar narratives.
Linear temporal structures dominated, although some authors experimented with fragmented timelines to emphasize the monotony and cyclical nature of everyday life. The focus on short, self-contained timeframes, often spanning a day or two, demanded meticulous craftsmanship from the authors.
Descriptions were often bleak and revealing, serving to present the desolate environment and its impact on the characters. Collective characters, representative of specific social groups, took center stage, shifting the focus from individual psychology to the experiences of entire segments of society. This technique, while not entirely new, found precedents in works like John Dos Passos’ Manhattan Transfer, Aldous Huxley’s Point Counter Point, and Thomas Mann’s The Magic Mountain, and even echoes of Valle-Inclán’s Tyrant Banderas.
The emphasis on external behavior led to the adoption of the behaviorist technique, where the narrator objectively recorded events, akin to a camera or tape recorder. However, this objectivity was not absolute, as authors carefully curated the reality they presented, highlighting the injustices they aimed to expose.
Dialogue played a crucial role in conveying the reality of the characters’ lives. Colloquialisms, slang, and unfinished sentences reflected the monotonous and often insubstantial nature of their existence. Authors also paid close attention to the language used by different social groups, highlighting class differences and social dynamics.
Open endings became a common feature, leaving the fate of the characters uncertain beyond the last page. This technique underscored the pervasive sense of hopelessness and lack of closure that permeated the lives of those affected by the social and political climate.
By 1960, this wave of social realism began to give way to a new era of creative exploration and formal experimentation, culminating in the groundbreaking publication of Luis Martín Santos’ Time of Silence in 1962.