The Experimental Spanish Novel: A Literary Revolution
The Experimental Spanish Novel
Other Techniques
Other techniques used in the experimental novel include:
- Simultaneity (Concurrent Story): Telling two stories that occur at the same time, alternating between them.
- Counterpoint: Mixing unrelated situations that happen in different spaces and times.
- Multiple Perspectivism: Reporting an event from the viewpoint of several characters.
Structure
The experimental novel breaks away from the traditional division into chapters, adopting a sequence or scene structure influenced by cinema.
Linguistic Innovations
The language in experimental novels undergoes various breaks. Authors sometimes intermingle letters, reports, advertisements, and newspaper clippings. They also mix different types of letters and break traditional scoring. In short, the novel becomes a literary game.
Juan Goytisolo
One of the most representative writers of the experimental novel is Juan Goytisolo. Born in Barcelona, he lived in Paris since the 1950s. His three major works represent a unity of meaning and a new narrative project:
- Signs of Identity (1966): This novel features a protagonist desperately seeking his identity. Goytisolo believes that cultural markers are formed through education. The story focuses on Álvaro Mendiola, a Spanish exile in France who opposes Franco. After ten years, Álvaro returns to Spain to reconnect with his roots. He delves into his past, recalling his childhood during the Spanish Civil War, his college days, and his exile in France with his wife, Dolores. Upon returning, Álvaro feels like a foreigner in his own country, highlighting the theme of rejecting Spain.
- Claim of Count Don Julian (1970): This novel revisits the legend of the fall of Visigothic Spain, where King Don Rodrigo raped Count Julian’s daughter. Julian then helps the Muslims invade the Iberian Peninsula to avenge his family’s honor. Goytisolo protests against the myth of a traditional, chivalrous, and Catholic Spain. Due to censorship, the novel was published in Mexico, not Spain. An anonymous narrator in the 2nd person (creating a split self) in Tangier imagines the destruction of the “sacred Spain” from which he has been banished. The destruction is a mental recreation of the Muslim invasion of 711. The novel includes parodies of historical figures like Queen Isabella and Seneca.
- Juan sin tierra (1975): This work features multiple formal renewals, with the character rejecting his own language and speaking only Arabic.
Miguel Delibes
Another important author is Miguel Delibes, known for his novel Five Hours with Mario (1966). The story centers on Carmen, a conservative upper-middle-class woman, who holds a monologue with the body of her deceased husband, Mario, a school teacher, committed journalist, and intellectual.
Through Carmen’s memories of their unsatisfactory life, Delibes recreates provincial Spain, the problems of marital communication, and the conflict of “two Spains.” The novel consists of a prologue, twenty-seven chapters (Carmen’s monologue), and an epilogue. Each chapter begins with a biblical quotation that Mario underlined in his Bible. Carmen uses these quotations to express her thoughts, continually reproaching her husband for his integrity and lack of ambition, which prevented him from gaining the social status she desired. She recounts their engagement, marriage, and other memories during the five hours she spends with her husband’s body. Her colloquial language reflects the disordered nature of her memories.
Juan Marsé
Juan Marsé, born in Barcelona in 1933, was an adopted child and a poor student who spent most of his time playing in the streets. Between 14 and 26, he discovered bohemian life and began writing stories while working at a jewelry store. At 22, he started his first novel, Locked in a Single Toy, which was a finalist for the Premio Biblioteca Breve Seix Barral. In the 1960s, he moved to Paris and translated Franco-Spanish screenplays. He taught Spanish to Teresa, the daughter of pianist Robert Casadesus, who inspired his most famous novel, Last Evenings with Teresa (1966), which won the Prix Formentor. He married Joaquina Hoyas and continued writing novels like The Dark History of the Prima Montse, exploring relationships between characters from different worlds. If You Say That I Felt, attacking Franco, was banned in Spain and published in Mexico. In 1978, he won the Premio Planeta with The Girl with the Golden Panties. In the 1990s, he published The Shanghai Spell, where the character travels to Shanghai on a risky mission, and The Bilingual Lover, featuring Juan Marés, a Catalan abandoned by his wife, Norma, who has a sexual preference for immigrants. Marés loses his mind and becomes two different people: the Catalan Marés and the Murcian Juan Faneca. He published Lizard Tails in 2000 and Love Songs in Lolita’s Club in 2005, addressing illegal immigration, prostitution, and corruption in Barcelona. This novel was adapted into a film by Vicente Aranda in 2007.