"Impresiones y paisajes" by Federico García Lorca

“Impresiones y paisajes” (1918) was the very first book that Federico García Lorca published. I am not

going to introduce this author for obvious reasons. He is a very well known member of the Generation of ’27… and probably one of the most popular nowadays. Surprisingly this book is neither poetry nor a play. This time Lorca wrote something closer to a diary, in which he expressed his thoughts on many short trips around the Spanish geography. He visited very different places like Avila, Covarrubias, Baeza, Galicia, Granada, etc.

The lack of a storyline makes it hard to read, because this is not the kind of book that we read to easily distract our minds.  It is all the opposite. “Impresiones y paisajes” is a complex text that helps us to understand a little better Lorca’s mind. He literally painted us his perception of Spain. Colors are very important in the esthetic of this book, in which a very bright and warm palette is used. Equally important is music, which is not a surprise if we remember that Lorca was very drawn to music.   

I have enjoyed this book because it opens a door to a better understanding of Lorca’s posterior writing. He let us see Spain through his eyes in a very poetic way. In the book, the cities of Castilla are trapped in the past, and far from becoming the new future of Spain. It is in other places of the Iberian Peninsula, like in the south, where modernity is happening. But Lorca neither looks down the tradition, nor overvalues modernity. He is attracted to both in a very balanced way. He sees the beauty in the majestic ancient Castilla, and understands that modernity cannot be stopped. But he neither approves ignorance in the rural Spain, nor the attack on Nature and tradition of the modern urban life.  

"Horizonte del liberalismo" by María Zambrano

María Zambrano (1904-1991) was a Spanish female philosopher and essayist. Juan Fernando Ortega Muñoz has written a very complete biography about her. “Horizonte del liberalismo” (The Horizons of Liberalism) was her first published book (1930). It is a philosophical essay about the essence of politics, and the problems with liberalism. It uses an easy oratory that helps us to understand her most complicated thoughts.

This essay focuses on two main basic concepts: politics and liberalism. She thinks that politics is a desire to accept change and requires of the society. There are two kinds of politics: the conservative and the revolutionary. The first one betrays the very nature of politics because it goes against the change. Those who support a conservative party do so for laziness and selfishness.  When she talks about liberalism it is to improve it. She considers that liberalism has many paradoxes, but these paradoxes help us to think harder and improve it. She proposes a social liberalism that stay away from any liberal economy.

During the second half of the twentieth century, there was a debate in the Spanish intellectual community about liberalism. This book is one example of many. Ortega y Gasset, the most famous Spanish philosopher at the time, also wrote about this topic. This discussion about liberalism was also taking place in other countries of Europe. Just to give an example, the German Carl Schmitt wrote “The crisis of parliamentary democracy” (1923). 

“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.