Postwar Spanish Literature: Cela and the Rise of Social Realism

Postwar Spanish Literature: The 1940s Generation

The 1940s saw the beginning of publication for authors such as Camilo José Cela, with The Family of Pascual Duarte (1942); Gonzalo Torrente Ballester; Miguel Delibes; and Carmen Laforet, with her work Nada (1945).

The 1950s Generation: Commitment and Social Critique

In 1950, a large group of writers appeared who differed from the previous generation. On one hand, they did not participate in the Civil War and were thus further removed from the war issue, preferring to discuss the present. On the other hand, they believed that literature should express the writer's commitment to society and have a purpose, sometimes political. The two major themes of these writers were:

1. Complaint of the injustice suffered by workers.
2. A description of the affluent.

In their descriptions, they avoided direct intervention, applying a kind of “camera film” objectivity to reality. Among the authors of this group, we must mention Ignacio Aldecoa, Jesús Fernández Santos, Juan Goytisolo, Luis Goytisolo, Carmen Martín Gaite, and Rafael Sánchez Ferlosio, among others.

Camilo José Cela: Narrative and Legacy

Camilo José Cela (1916–2002). His narrative offers controversial aspects (such as profanity) and has sometimes led to questioning his ability to write novels. His book The Family of Pascual Duarte (1942) was a real surprise in the context of mediocrity in which it appeared. Following the success of this work, Cela wrote other novels, stressing his desire to seek new formal models.

He wrote a novel about a community of patients in Pabellón de reposo (Nursing Pavilion) (1944), and a neopicaresque account in Nuevas aventuras y desventuras de Lazarillo (New adventures and misadventures of Lazarillo) (1944).

In 1948, he published one of his most important postwar books, Viaje a la Alcarria (Journey to the Alcarria), in which the trip discreetly highlighted the socioeconomic situation of this region, collected stories of people and places, and provided historical and artistic touches.

The Hive: A Critical Masterpiece

In 1952, he published what is still considered his best novel, The Hive (La colmena). In addition to its literary merit, it marked the beginning of testimonial and critically focused realistic literature concerning the post-war Spanish situation. The Hive is a collective novel featuring a large number of characters—more than three hundred—offering an overview of Spanish life in the early forties, specifically in Madrid.

Narrative Peculiarities of The Hive

With so many characters, there are several narrative peculiarities:

1. The characters do not resemble those of a traditional novel. Because there are so many, the author cannot deepen their individual stories or provide complete biographies; the narrative consists of episodes.
2. The plot is not a linear story.
3. The time frame corresponds to only a few days in Madrid.
4. The space, as mentioned, is Madrid, viewed primarily through the lens of the lower-middle classes.

Through these traits, Cela writes a novel that presents a critical, realistic vision of the material poverty and moral misery of the locals at the time, a vision that extends to national life in general. The approach is objective, but the reality is colored by the writer's ironic humor.