“Muerte de animales” by Juan Pedro Castañedas

“Muerte de animales”, published in 1982, is one of Juan Pedro Castañedas’ books. This Canarian/Spanish author always surprises the reader. There is some experimentation that is refreshing to the eye, although it is masked in a very direct and easy way of writing that makes the experience very pleasant for the reader. Two big characteristics in this realist book are the importance of the landscape and the interaction between the characters, which is characterized by a silence that the reader can feel.

As in Castañedas’ book “La despedida”, this book presents a love triangle. Sebastián and Dionisio fall in love with Elvira, a young woman who enjoyed the physical presence of both men. From a point of view of the gender studies, it is interesting observing a woman full of life that is incapable to speak her mind. Because of this, Sebastián and Dionisio took control of her life, deciding that she would be Sebastián’s woman under the condition that they could not get married. Their life together turned to be very difficult because of the lack of children, the hard work and Sebastián’s depression. Elvira tried to help him out, but there was nothing she could do. Dinosio reappeared in their life, and both, him and Elvira, kept having feelings for each other. Finally, Sebastián got himself killed in a revenge plot related to a family will, and Dioniso tried to help Elvira to go through such a traumatic experience. It is after the second half of the book that Elvira started to speak out, although she still kept a passive attitude toward men. Reading books like “El Obelisco” (Emilio González Déniz) or “D’esquerra a dreta” (Manuel de Pedrolo) it is possible to observe how women are perceived during the Spanish Transition. Women were sexually active, and took strong roles, in many cases stronger than men’s.

“La Despedida” by Juan Pedro Castañeda

“La Despedida” is a short book written by Juan Pedro Castañeda, a Canarian author born in the island of El Hierro (Canary Islands) in 1945. This book is not considered a novel because of its extension, roughly 100 pages (111 in the 1977 edition). It has an omniscient narrator that talks in third person and changes the way it express itself depending on the person it’s talking about.

Each of the four chapters tell the same story but from the perspective of each character. Little by little, having access to all character’s personal experiences, the reader gets the whole picture. After reading the first chapter, one can easily feel lost in the plot, but slowly it starts making sense.

Most of the story occurred in the island of Tenerife. It is a love triangle between Juan, Mary and Fernando. To make a long story short, Fernando is an “indiano” from Venezuela. “Indianos” are islanders that went to America, usually to Venezuela or Cuba, to make money. Fernando left her girlfriend Mary behind, and later she started a relationship with his best friend, Juan. But when Fernando came back to Tenerife for a short period of time, Mary left Juan and got engaged to Fernando. Because he had to go back to Venezuela, it was a proxy weeding. After the ceremony Mary took a boat and went to America, but the marriage did not last and she came back to the Canary Islands. Meanwhile, Juan tried to get over Mary, but he died before she returned.

What I really like about this book, besides the literary technic, is the historical background. The plot takes place in the years after the Spanish Civil War, and it shows a poor country where people struggle to survive. The book was written in 1975, and published in 1977, and I wonder if this direct criticism could have been made if Franco was still alive.