Abstract

Reading the Infortúnios Trágicos da Constante Florinda of Gaspar Pires de Rebelo (divided in two parts published respectively in 1625 and 1633, in Lisbon), causes a remarkable impression on the reader, even on the most prudent one. This work aims to show how this impression results from the application of the grotesque to the universe of the Portugueses exemplary novels, and it also tries to explain the contours and the results of this situation within the context of Baroque literature.

Abstract

Since the mid-nineties onwards, the theme of the Civil War and Franco’s Dictatorship has generated in Spain an enormous number of novels, newspaper articles, historical research papers and audiovisual production that highlight the problematic relevance of the theme in the present time. This article focuses on one aspect of this production: those narrations that within Catalan literature have addressed it. It is an extensive body of works in which some of the most outstanding writers have been involved. Our approach aims to study this vast and diverse production, trying to figure out the motivations and narrative approaches that govern these proposals. We’ve discerned three basic models: the testimonial, the updater and the storyteller, and we have exemplified them with the works that we have considered the most representative. Likewise, we have identified a change regarding the model of representation of historical characters and events, which tends towards multiperspectivism and a more critical vision. This change is related to the public debate that the movement of recovery of historical memory has generated throughout Spain.