Spanish Experimental Novel of the 1960s

The 1960s: Structural and Experimental Novels

In the 1960s, there was a depletion of the social novel. The publication in 1962 of Tiempo de silencio by Luis Martín-Santos highlights the political and social separation of literature. The new narrative keeps the focus on certain critical issues in Spain but appreciates more the form of expression and the structure of the approach to collective disputes, turning back to the imagination of the narrators.

Existentialism and the Open Novel

It also incorporates the existential, focusing on the alienation of man and the absurdity that dominates his life, thanks to the recovery of philosophical irrationalism returning to prevail in these complex years. These novels emerge and require the reader's interpretation; they are open novels.

Factors Influencing the New Narrative

In developing this new narrative, a number of factors were influential:

• The direct influence of foreign reformers: Kafka and Proust provided thematic and stylistic renovations.
• The success of Latin American novels: The so-called Boom added imagination and Latin American exuberance. Key works include The City and the Dogs by Vargas Llosa and One Hundred Years of Solitude by García Márquez.
• The growing power of publishers: This helped the wider dissemination of published works.

Key Characteristics of the Movement

The movement is characterized by:

• Characters with identity problems: Individuals trying to find their identity and the reasons for their existence.
• Dissolution of the argument: The plot often dissolves into small stories that intersect in the background (a technique used by Objectivist writers). Alongside the real, the fantastic and dreamlike take place.
• Counterpoint technique: Stories take place alternately. When characters are numerous, the narrative world becomes kaleidoscopic.

Narrative Perspectives and Techniques

The technique reaches the reader not only from the standpoint of the traditional omniscient narrator but also from the perspective of a character (single view) or from multiple perspectives to offer different versions of the same story. In addition to the first and third person, it uses the second person narrative (a thoughtful "you" who identifies with the character speaking).

Traditional dialogue loses weight in favor of free indirect style and the interior monologue, which allows the reader to be engrossed in the character's inner consciousness. Characters are treated individually, facing personality problems and the search for identity. In their struggle with society, they often fail.

Time, Structure, and Language

Life is rarely told chronologically. High time constants move from present to past (flashbacks), justified by the need to recover memory. The story of the structural novel often starts abruptly (in media res) and features open endings.

The language of the structural novel features all records of speech, parody, and non-fiction texts from various sources, including advertising. Juan Benet and Luis Martín-Santos were the primary figures in the renewal of the 1960s novel.