The Spanish Civil War and the Catalan Young Adult Narrative: Testimony And Literature

Abstract

The historical novel has been a highly cultivated genre in Catalan Young Adult Literature, but until the end of the 20th century, the topic of the Spanish Civil War  was little dealt with. However, during the last twenty years many authors have chosen the Spanish Civil War and postwar period as  a central topic of their literary works. The article analyzes this production taking as a starting point the revision of the interaction between reality and fiction ( the war years, the postwar repression, the exile, the concentration camps , the reprisals, the maquis etc. ). It also considers the narrative typologies, the ideology that they convey, the authorship and the paratexts of the books. Finally, the conclusions which are drawn highlight the significant role of these works in the consolidation of the novel for young adults and the vision of the conflict that they transmit, always from the point of view of the defeated and on behalf of peace, freedom, democracy and respect for the Catalan culture.