Myth and History in the Contemporary Spanish Novel

Since the Civil War, Spanish novelists have produced a noteworthy body of fiction. In this book, Jo Labanyi provides detailed textual analysis of six of the most important novels to have been written during this period: Martin-Santos’ Tiempo de silencio, Benet’s Volveras a Region, Marse’s Si te dicen que cai, Cela’s San Camilo, 1936, Juan Goytisolo’s Reivindicacion del conde don Julian, and Torrente Ballester’s La saga/fuga de J.B. The focus on myth as a response to history is intended as a corrective to archetypal myth criticism, and stresses the variety of ways in which Spanish novelists have resorted to myth, and the need to relate their use of it to the historical context of Francoist ideology. The book also raises important general issues about the ways in which fiction, as a form of mythification, relates to the real world.