Gonzalo Navajas: La modernidad como crisis. Los clásicos modernos ante el siglo XXI

Review of: Gonzalo Navajas. La modernidad como crisis. Los clásicos modernos ante el siglo XXI. Madrid: Bibilioteca Nueva, 2004. 184 pp

Numa and the Nature of the Fantastic in the Fiction of Juan Benet

Perhaps the most rewarding critical approach to the novels of Juan Benet is one that encompasses the irrational and seeks to reveal the mysterious— one that can be closely identified with the notion of the fantastic. The view of the fantastic developed in the present study is based on a synthetic modification of the precepts of Todorov and Rabkin, and places emphasis on the hesitation of the reader when confronted with a diametric reversal of the laws of the text. Both the literary theory and prose fiction of Benet can be closely linked to the fantastic: the former through Benet\u27s focus on narrative uncertainty and ambiguity; the latter in a variety of important ways, but most pervasively through the character Numa. Numa recurs throughout Benet\u27s fiction as an enigmatic and superhuman figure. He at once conforms to and transgresses the norms of the text, and inspires reader hesitation in the face of the marvelous. Through him Benet reifies many of his theoretical tenets, and also shapes the specific nature of his fantastic world

Novela e identidad nacional durante la época franquista

El autor describe la estrategia del régimen franquista de apoderarse de la historia con tal de legitimar su poder: el franquismo como la culminación de un incesante proceso que define la auténtica identidad española, arraigada a la institución de la Iglesia, y opuesta a las intensiones de quienes sustentaron la República. En este contexto surge una producción narrativa vinculada al realismo social – novelas como "La colmena" o "Los bravos"– que permitió la aparición de voces y discursos ajenos a la versión histórica oficial y que ponen en duda la idea de identidad nacional unívoca. The author describes the strategy of the Franco regime to take control of history as long as it legitimized its power: Francoism as the culmination of an incessant process that defines the authentic Spanish identity, deep-rooted in the institution of the Church, and opposite to the intensions of those who sustained the Republic. In this context there surges a narrative production tied to social realism—novels like "The Beehive" or "Los Bravos"—that permit the appearance of voices and speeches not belonging to the official historic version and that put in doubt the idea of a univocal national identity

Numa and the Nature of the Fantastic in the Fiction of Juan Benet

Perhaps the most rewarding critical approach to the novels of Juan Benet is one that encompasses the irrational and seeks to reveal the mysterious— one that can be closely identified with the notion of the fantastic. The view of the fantastic developed in the present study is based on a synthetic modification of the precepts of Todorov and Rabkin, and places emphasis on the hesitation of the reader when confronted with a diametric reversal of the laws of the text. Both the literary theory and prose fiction of Benet can be closely linked to the fantastic: the former through Benet's focus on narrative uncertainty and ambiguity; the latter in a variety of important ways, but most pervasively through the character Numa. Numa recurs throughout Benet's fiction as an enigmatic and superhuman figure. He at once conforms to and transgresses the norms of the text, and inspires reader hesitation in the face of the marvelous. Through him Benet reifies many of his theoretical tenets, and also shapes the specific nature of his fantastic world