I've only gotten into the period prior to the war so far, a large swath covering the last quarter of the 19th Century and early 20th, but one would gather that in this time there was nothing going on but violence and murder, riots, anarchy. I don't doubt that it was like that -- look at parts of modern Mexico or Colombia for but two examples-- but in light of the discussion going on around David Sheilds' Reality Hunger: A Manifesto (which I haven't read, but have been following the discussions) about the move to "nonfiction" I'd say that the true story, the "truer than" true story that is well written and well imagined fiction, is what happens on the banks and that's where we get understanding.
I'd go as far as saying that reading history is incomplete without reading the fiction, if it exists, around a period or events. It's well known that Tolstoy's War & Peace is itself a history and while that novel may be an exception for its reading as an historical text it supports the idea that the sensitivity of a novelist who brings facts to life might be more valuable than the historian for the purposes that history serves, that is, not repeating our mistakes or inferring a better way to act.
However, the facts, which we know evolve over time, at least many of them, are merely guideposts or backdrop in my view. If you've ever been in a catastrophe reported in the news you know that the experience for most is far from the reality reported in the press. I recently read a blog post from a woman in Chile during the earthquake. Her report was more mundane than the press reports, but more human in my view and probably good fodder for a story (please understand that I'm only talking about story telling here and not trying to be unsympathetic to those lives affected by the tragedy).
But back to Spain.
While I'm not naive enough to think that life in Spain was just like Trueba's romantic conception in the movie "Belle Epoque," it's shocking how the political upheaval in the Spain of that period permeated this otherwise cute film (in particular the priest's suicide on the couple's wedding day). I suppose that may have been the director's intent. History is served through art. The thesis behind Javier Marías's novel Your Face Tomorrow is that we don't really know people we think we know. We can't see what they will be like in the future, which is why the thread of the Spanish Civil War is so important to that book. A civil war is a war of betrayal and no where does that become more apparent or real than in a story, which in this case is a fictionalized remembrance of actual events.
For what it's worth, my Spanish Civil War reading list is a mix of fiction and nonfiction. These are books that I've read, am reading, or intend to read, but far from comprehensive and not necessarily meant to be as it's just one of those things that has taken up its own life in my reading.
Here's the list. While I'm probably not interested in adding any more history books to this list because I think Thomas's is particularly comprehensive, I'd love to hear any other reading suggestions you might have.
Hugh Thomas: The Spanish Civil War
Javier Cercas: The Soldiers of Salamis
Roberto Bolaño: Monsieur Pain (this is on tangentially about the SCW)
Javier Marías: Your Face Tomorrow, Vols 1, 2 and 3
Camilo Jose Cela: San Camilo, 1936
Bernardo Atxaga: The Accordianist's Son
Ian Gibson: The Death of Lorca
George Orwell: Homage to Catalonia
Ernest Hemingway: For Whom the Bell Tolls
Ernest Hemingway: The Fifth Column... (not sure about this one because I can't find it now)
Stephen Koch: The Breaking Point - Hemingway, Dos Passos, and the Murder of Jose Robles
Russell Martin: Picasso's War: The Extraordinary Story of an Artist, an Atrocity and a Painting That Shook the World
Various poetry from the period.
I've seen mention of Raymond Carr's The Spanish Tragedy and I'd be interested to know if you've read it.
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