Spanish Postwar Literature: Social Realism and Key Authors

Key Figures in Postwar Spanish Literature

• Miguel Delibes: With his first book, The Shade of the Cypress is Long. The rural life of the people of Castile, the mentality of the provincial middle classes, the world of children, and the lives of humble and marginalized people are the most frequent themes of his novels, alongside his deep concern for nature.
• Carmen Laforet: Nada. Her novel offers a portrait of the sordid and monotonous life of the postwar years in Barcelona through the experiences of the protagonist.

The Social Novel of the 1950s

The dominant current in the 1950s was social realism (or critical realism), characterized by the following features:

• The novel serves as a direct testimony of Spanish society, aiming to denounce social injustices (the "compromised novel").
• The writer intends to register events with total objectivity, focusing on the external behaviors of individuals or groups.
• The action usually takes place within a short timeframe.
• Fundamental importance is placed on dialogue, the primary way to express the inner lives of characters.
• The protagonist is often a set of individuals representing a class or social group: a collective character.

Milestones of Social Realism

The novel that initiated the current of social realism was The Hive by Camilo José Cela, published in 1951. The action takes place over three days in a sad, lonely, postwar Madrid, utilizing over three hundred characters as a collective protagonist to provide a snapshot of daily life in the 1940s.

Notable Works by Miguel Delibes

While not strictly following all guidelines of social realism, Miguel Delibes wrote some of his best-known novels during these years:

• The Road: Recounts the awakening to life of its protagonist, Daniel the Owl, an eleven-year-old boy who, on the night prior to his departure from town to attend high school, remembers the most important episodes of his life.
• The Red Leaf: Explores the loneliness of a retiree.
• The Rats: Reflects the harsh life of a Castilian village.

Rafael Sánchez Ferlosio

Among the authors of the fifties, Rafael Sánchez Ferlosio stands out. His novel El Jarama embodies the characteristics of social realism: the author's conscientious objectivism and a collective protagonist—a group of young people from Madrid who visit the Jarama River to spend a holiday.