To Narrate Against History: from Juan Benet to Ignacio Martínez de Pisón (through Galdós)

Abstract

The return of history and of the rewriting of national memory is a significant cultural development that reflects the new contemporary condition—which is hermeneutically integrative—after the phase following the postmodern epistemological dispersion.   The article defines and studies the contrast that exists between the concept of specular and epic historical narration versus the contra-specular version of history which is typical of the new historical narratives.  In Juan Benet, Spanish history is viewed in an unfavorable manner and his texts reject the option of self-deception in the evaluation of the national past.  Yet, from the ruins of national temporality, a legitimate view of the literary text may emerge  as being a perceptive and uncompromising testimony of the collective past.  Galdós, for his part, identifies himself with a specular notion of historical narration according to which the text is capable of representing the history of the nation in a way that can become collectively acceptable to the entire national community.  Furthermore, Galdós's narratives assume the function of designing a national conscience in which the cohesiveness of objectives and horizons is a real possibility.  For the verification of these ideas I focus on Galdos' novel, Gerona, and Arturo Pérez-Reverte's Un día de cólera.

The projects of Galdós y Pérez Reverte to write a new national history can be interpreted as the aesthetic restructuring of a national historical profile with which we can identify emotively.   There are other versions that aim at illuminating the most somber aspects of the ideological and cultural spectrum with the objective of writing a history that is truly inclusive. Javier Cercas's novel, Las leyes de la frontera, and Ignacio Martínez de Pisón's, Enterrar a los muertos, are the illustrative textual referents.