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.
Reprinted from Neophilologus 93 (2009), 619–632.
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Notes
- 1.
For the multiple interpretations of Andrea’s character and of Nada itself, see Fraai (2003), pp. 43–82.
- 2.
See Delibes, M., op. cit., p. 91.
- 3.
For a description of Alberti’s life in Rome, and Laforet’s reaction when, in 1983, he was awarded the Premio Cervantes, see Laforet (1983), El PaÃs, 22. Dec.
- 4.
For more information on this draft, see Rosenvinge and Prado (2004), pp. 30–32.
- 5.
For more information about the painter Pere/Pedro Borrell del Caso, see Pascual (1999).
- 6.
For the broad definition of the notions ‘text’ and ‘intertextuality’ as proposed by Roland Barthes, see Mertens and Beekman (1990), p. 18.
- 7.
For the concept of the framing of the literary work, see Culler (1988).
- 8.
Interestingly, in the draft of Nada, there was a group of Catalan ‘independentistas’: see Rosenvinge, T., Prado, B., op. cit., p. 32.
- 9.
For more discussion about the role of Catalunya and Catalan in Nada, see Tree (2007) TLS 16. Mar. 2007.
- 10.
Throughout this article I will be using Laforet (2004).
- 11.
For the street names in Franquist Spain, see, for instance: Miravall (1955).
- 12.
For the text of and comment on this poem, see Jiménez and Sánchez Barbudo (1982).
- 13.
For the various effects of quotations in literary texts, see, for instance, van Heusden and Jongeneel (1993), pp. 153–159.
- 14.
For a similar way of quoting Juan Ramón Jiménez, see Cela (1951): La colmena, in which the young poet MartÃn reads a sonnet of a certain ‘Juan Ramón’ to his girlfriend Pura.
- 15.
For more information about these poems, including a reference to the Xochipilli in Nada, see Amor y Vázquez (1992), pp. 1057–1072.
- 16.
For information about these statues, see Hughes (1992), p. 361.
- 17.
For information about the prince of Viana see, for instance, Hughes, R., op. cit., pp. 169–170.
- 18.
To get an impression of Jaime’s features, for Jaume Huguet’s Sant Jordi/San Jorge, see, for instance, the poster of the Museu Nacional d’Art de Catalunya in Barcelona; for a reproduction of the Fernando de Bolea drawing, see, for instance, Jackson (1972), p. 141.
- 19.
For more information on this etching and its full title (which was changed from Nada. Ello lo dice to the less pessimistic Nada. Ello dira by the Academia de Bellas Artes), see Wilson Bareau (1981), p. 57.
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Ebels, F. (2016). Reading the Frame: Signalling Politics in Nada . In: Bremmer Jr, R., Porck, T., Ruiter, F., Wilbers, U. (eds) Tracing Paradigms: One Hundred Years of Neophilologus. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-33585-8_14
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