Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Dedication
- Foreword
- Acknowledgements
- Introduction
- 1 Entre visillos
- 2 Short Stories
- 3 Ritmo lento
- 4 Retahílas
- 5 Fragmentos de interior
- 6 El cuarto de atrás
- 7 Nubosidad variable
- 8 La Reina de las Nieves
- 9 Lo raro es vivir
- 10 Irse de casa
- 11 Essays and Historical Writings
- 12 El cuento de nunca acabar
- 13 Theatre and Poetry
- 14 Children's Literature and Los parentescos
- Conclusion
- Further Reading
- Bibliography
- Index
1 - Entre visillos
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 03 March 2023
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Dedication
- Foreword
- Acknowledgements
- Introduction
- 1 Entre visillos
- 2 Short Stories
- 3 Ritmo lento
- 4 Retahílas
- 5 Fragmentos de interior
- 6 El cuarto de atrás
- 7 Nubosidad variable
- 8 La Reina de las Nieves
- 9 Lo raro es vivir
- 10 Irse de casa
- 11 Essays and Historical Writings
- 12 El cuento de nunca acabar
- 13 Theatre and Poetry
- 14 Children's Literature and Los parentescos
- Conclusion
- Further Reading
- Bibliography
- Index
Summary
Solamente uno que vive aquí puede llegar a resignarse con las cosas que pasan aquí, y hasta puede llegar a creer que vive y que respira. ¡Pero yo no! Yo me ahogo, yo no me resigno, yo me desespero.
(Only a person who lives stuck in this place can resign herself to the things that happen here, and even believe that she’s alive, and breathing. But I can’t! I’m suffocating, I can't resign myself, I’m in despair.)
Introduction
Carmen Martín Gaite completed Entre visillos in 1957, and submitted it for consideration for the Premio Eugenio Nadal under the pseudonym Sofía Veloso (her maternal grandmother's name). It won the prize and the following year it was published by Destino. It remains one of Martín Gaite's most popular and successful books.
It is surprising that a novel containing such a negative portrait of post-war society experienced so little trouble with the censors. The reader's report on Entre visillos, dated 15 January 1958, includes the following comment:
Una historia provinciana de un grupo de chicas, sus estudios y sus amoríos. El argumento se centra en torno a la figura del nuevo profesor de alemán del instituto, desde que llega al pueblo a las vacaciones de Navidad. Convendría suprimir dos expresiones groseras, en las galeradas número 41 y 64. Puede publicarse.
(a provincial story about a group of girls, their studies and their loves. The plot centres on the figure of the new German teacher at the Institute from his arrival in the town to the Christmas holidays. Two crude expressions, on pages 41 and 64, should be suppressed. Publishable).
In handwriting, at the foot of the report, is the comment: ‘consultado Jefe de Sección no se toman en consideración las tachaduras propuestas’ (following consultation with the Head of Section, the proposed cuts are not to be considered). It is worth considering why it was so lightly censored. Aside from the arbitrary nature of the censorship process itself, other factors must be taken into account, such as the fact that Entre visillos was written by an unknown woman, contains elements of the established apolitical genres of autobiography, novela rosa and Bildungsroman, has no overt political message, and does not make obvious points about class and injustice.
Entre visillos artfully captures the atmosphere of relentless tedium of provincial life in post-war Spain.
- Type
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- Information
- A Companion to Carmen Martín Gaite , pp. 13 - 34Publisher: Boydell & BrewerPrint publication year: 2009