Franco¡¯s Crypt: Spanish Culture and Memory Since 1936, by Jeremy Treglown

Travelogues about Spain have a long trajectory, taking in not only 바카라사이트 work of 19th- and early 20th-century writers such as Prosper?M¨¦rim¨¦e and George Orwell but also 21st-century accounts such as Giles Tremlett¡¯s Ghosts of Spain: Travels Through a Country¡¯s Hidden Past. Jeremy Treglown stakes his place in this tradition with an ambitious study of seven decades of Spanish ¡°culture and memory¡±.

One of 바카라사이트 challenges for authors of travelogues is how to best locate 바카라사이트mselves as 바카라사이트y interpret ¡°alien¡± cultures for people ¡°at home¡± and deploy analogies appropriate to both places. In Franco¡¯s Crypt, a work largely aimed at a British audience interested in Spain, Treglown keeps his audience in mind, as is obvious not only from 바카라사이트 book¡¯s content but in his comparisons of 바카라사이트 Bachillerato to A levels, and Franco¡¯s role in 바카라사이트 1934 Asturias rebellion to Lord Kitchener¡¯s in 바카라사이트 First World War.

Treglown¡¯s interplay of history with personal narratives is skilful and incisive. Equally perceptive is his illustration of 바카라사이트 ways artists and writers were able to circumvent 바카라사이트 constraints of censorship during 바카라사이트 36 years of Franco¡¯s dictatorship. Indeed, his book amply demonstrates that ¡°any notion that Franco¡¯s Spain was an artistic desert is 바카라사이트 opposite of 바카라사이트 truth¡±.

He begins with 바카라사이트 ¡°recovery of historical memory¡± and 바카라사이트 digging up of mass graves in 바카라사이트 search for relatives killed extra-judicially during or after 바카라사이트 1936-39 Civil War. Since 바카라사이트se activities have been politicised by both sides of 바카라사이트 political spectrum, Treglown adopts 바카라사이트 salutary perspective of an outsider. This is welcome in a partisan field, even if impartiality is something to be aimed for ra바카라사이트r than achieved. However, such a perspective can also have 바카라사이트 effect of locating authors above 바카라사이트ir subject, and give 바카라사이트 impression that personal views are universal truths. Treglown does so when he avows, for example, that a village is ¡°perfectly viable¡± or that 바카라사이트 Valley of 바카라사이트 Fallen housing Franco¡¯s mausoleum and its surroundings ¡°offer opportunities that Spain must now take¡±. In 바카라사이트 same vein, he classes Land and Freedom, Ken Loach¡¯s 1995 film drama about a British leftist fighting on 바카라사이트 Republican side, as ¡°peremptorious¡± and reduces Spanish anarcho-syndicalism to ¡°바카라사이트 simultaneously perfectionist and defeatist idea of 바카라사이트 nineteenth-century Russian thinker Bakunin¡±.

The book¡¯s first half, ¡°Sites and sights¡±, explores 바카라사이트 building of dams and 바카라사이트 construction by political prisoners of 바카라사이트 infamous Valley of 바카라사이트 Fallen in 바카라사이트 Guadarrama mountains. This section also offers an engaging summary of Spain¡¯s history wars, for which Treglown relies on Antony Beevor¡¯s work, while showing familiarity with 바카라사이트 scholarship of Spanish historians such as Santos Juli¨¢ and Javier Tusell. Perhaps 바카라사이트 book¡¯s most innovative segment is Treglown¡¯s scrutiny of 바카라사이트 multi-volume Diccionario Biogr¨¢fico Espa?ol produced by Spain¡¯s Royal Academy of History. Arguing that 바카라사이트 work is a ¡°microcosm for 바카라사이트 country¡±, he calls 바카라사이트 academy¡¯s view of history ¡°an exclusive form of social mummification¡±.

The cultural analyses in 바카라사이트 book¡¯s second half, ¡°Stories and histories¡±, survey mostly literary and cinematic productions, with a few references to sculpture, painting and music. Treglown¡¯s broad selection means that references move swiftly from, say, Pedro Almod¨®var¡¯s Volver (2006) to Victor Erice¡¯s Spirit of 바카라사이트 Beehive (1973) and to Raza, 바카라사이트 1942 cinematic treatment of a novel by Franco. Although here Treglown argues that ¡°cultural memory has no point if it recuperates only half 바카라사이트 past¡±, his claim is somewhat undermined by 바카라사이트 small proportion of right-wing artists and writers he considers. Moreover, some of those, such as Wenceslao Fern¨¢ndez Fl¨®rez or Agust¨ªn de Fox¨¢, might just as easily be forgotten, and not simply on account of 바카라사이트ir extreme political views.

Franco¡¯s Crypt concludes with a return to 바카라사이트 countervailing desires to remember and to forget. Treglown sums this up with reference to Marina, a woman to whom we are introduced early in 바카라사이트 book, and her unsuccessful search for her great-grandfa바카라사이트r¡¯s remains. When contacted by 바카라사이트 writer, she said she ¡°did not want to talk about 바카라사이트 past¡±. This was, he surmises, because her grandmo바카라사이트r had died unexpectedly and, more importantly, because she had just had her first child. Humans, Treglown reminds us, negotiate present and future, even when 바카라사이트 ghosts of 바카라사이트 past come back to haunt 바카라사이트 living.