Imaginarios de la resistencia antifascista española: memoria, literatura, cine

Abstract

This dissertation explores the memory of the Spanish antifascist resistance movement that opposed the dictatorship of Francisco Franco (1936-1975) through an analysis of literary and visual texts that depict the struggle. Soon after the military uprising in 1936 (that toppled the elected government in 1939), a resistance movement began to form as many Spaniards fled to the mountains. Although the rural movement had mostly died out by 1952, the last resistor was not killed until 1965.

My analysis of several aspects of memory contributes to a better understanding of the literary and filmic representations of this movement. The extensive bibliography, including novels, short stories, autobiographies, transcribed interviews, documentaries, and fiction films, is united by Pierre Nora's conception of artistic creations as lieux de mémoire. I examine the evolution of these works (published in Spanish, Catalán, Gallego, Portuguese, French, and English) and classify them in five periods that extend from 1936 to 2006. Through a consideration of these periods, memory's complex relationship with identity and power is visible in the changing image of the resistors, their fight, and the fascist forces and the fluctuating level of interest in the resistance.

By focusing on a few representative works from the prolific final period (1997-2006), including Maquis (1997) by Alfons Cervera and Soldados de Salamina (2003) by David Trueba, I study several aspects of collective and traumatic memory. Dominik LaCapra's ideas on loss and absence enable me to explain why the protagonist of Maquis continues to act out his traumatic memories instead of work through them. The fact that the fascist regime prohibits him from mourning the death of his father, a resistance fighter, causes him to experience this death as an absence instead of as a loss which prevents him from achieving closure. Likewise, his tarnished fingernails constantly provoke him to remember his traumatic memories that include the torture inflicted on him.

Nevertheless, it seems that this extensive and recent imaginary, so removed from the struggle, is slowly decaying. The future representations of the Spanish antifascista guerrilla resistance are unpredictable since memory, forms, and history endlessly change through the passing of time.