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Reading the Frame: Signalling Politics in Nada

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Abstract

This contribution contains a political reading of Carmen Laforet’s Nada, published in 1944 under Franquist censorship. Contrary to the general opinion which holds that there are no politics in Nada, I argue that there are hidden references to contemporary post-war political issues, manifesting themselves in the novel through its frame: the dedication to Linka Babecka and Pedro Borrell. The dedication proves to be effective on two levels: both as a political statement and as a clue to a political reading. The reader, filling in the Leerstellen according to this clue, finds references to political exiles and the matter of Catalan autonomy in the novel.

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Correspondence to Fenny Ebels.

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Ebels, F. Reading the Frame: Signalling Politics in Nada . Neophilologus 93, 619–632 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11061-009-9166-8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11061-009-9166-8

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