Francoist Repression and Incarceration in Contemporary Spanish Culture

This book examines the cultural articulation of Spanish History (and histories (remembered, meaningful experiences). It analyzes how real people and fictional characters experience the rupture of post-war repression, as their vindicating collective memory counters the authoritarian narrative and laws that demonized and criminalized them. The book, that breaks the persistent cycle of denial of Francoist malfeasance, is a resource for scholars and students who research the representation of Spain’s dictatorship, its aftermath and the recovery of postdictatorial memory.

“Professor Tobin Stanley’s Francoist Repression and Incarceration in Contemporary Spanish Culture: Justice through Memory is an essential addition to the field of memory studies in contemporary Spain. Her close readings of literary and filmic texts—both well-known (El lápiz del carpintero, Pa negre, La voz dormida, El lector de Julio Verne)-and lesser-known (the biopic Ángel, Si ha los tres años no he vuelto, the documentary El silencio de otros)—is combined with a solid critical and theoretical approach to provide the reader with profound insights into this crucial topic of justice through memory.”

—Thomas Deveny, Professor Emeritus, MacDaniel College, Maryland, USA

“A remarkable book that engages with the important topic of memory and violence during the Spanish dictatorship, with original analysis and intellectual rigor. Francoist Repression and Incarceration in Contemporary Spanish Culture: Justice through Memory contests Francoist oblivion by examining the literary and filmic experience of repression during the darkest period of modern Spanish history. This book will appeal to specialists and general readers interested in Spain and the ethics of remembering. It is a fundamental contribution to the education of students interested in learning the cultural history of twentieth century Spain.”

—Cristina Moreiras-Menor, University of Michigan, Michigan, USA

“The Spanish Civil War and its aftermath continue to provoke outrage in Spain and abroad as mounting evidence reveals in historical fiction, in films and documentaries, and oral testimonies—especially “femimemories”— nothing less than the Francoist genocide, a history smothered but not extinguished. Concomitantly, the victims demand recognition and justice in the name of historical memory.  As Dr. Tobin Stanley has concluded in this splendid assemblage of incisive and well-documented essays, Spanish transgenerational trauma is the terrifying, on-going legacy of the War and the Franco dictatorship.”

—Nancy Membrez, Professor, University of Texas at San Antonio, Texas, USA

“This timely and well-curated book does much to further the field of the recuperation of the historical memory in contemporary Spanish cultural productions. Anchored by critical theory, it explores the role of memory in various facets of suppressed stories of the trauma inflicted by the Francoist regime. Justice through Memory provides valuable insights and is an indispensable read for scholars and students of contemporary Spanish literature and culture.”

—Victoria Ketz, Professor, La Salle University, Pennsylvania, USA

“Through insightful, informed readings of key works and moments, Francoist Repression and Incarceration in Contemporary Spanish Culture shows how memory work in dictatorial and post-Franco Spain has served to expose, denounce, and counteract the massive injustice of Francoism—and the woeful lack of attention to matters of justice in the democratic transition that followed it. Maureen Tobin Stanley’s valiant book is an original, necessary—and, at times, moving—contribution to Iberian memory studies.”

—Sebastiaan Faber, Professor, Oberlin College, Ohio, USA

 

 

Maureen Tobin Stanley is Professor of Hispanic Studies at the University of Minnesota Duluth, USA. She has published two co-edited volumes with Palgrave Macmillan, Exile through a Gendered Lens: Women’s Displacement in Recent European History, Literature, and Cinema (2012) and Female Exiles in Twentieth and Twenty-first Century Europe (2007), and two co-edited anthologies, Hybridity in Spanish Culture (2011) and (Re)collecting the Past: Historical Memory in Spanish Literature and Culture (2016).