Review of: Camilo José Cela Conde, Cela, mi padre, Madrid, Temas de Hoy, 1989, 255 pp

Charlebois, Lucile C.

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ESPANA CONTEMPORA.NEA critico de La desheredada (1881) es el portico de la teoria de la novela espanola de la Restauracion. Para entonces Alas esta em-bargado por la nueva poetica naturalista; y ahora, en los articulos de 1885 y 1886, en el contexto de las reflexiones sobre el genero que llevan a cabo Valera y Altamira, Clarin inicia un proceso de revision critica de la estetica naturalista, a la vez que establece -segun atinadas palabras de Vilanova-, «aunque en forma dis-persa y fragmentaria, una verdadera teoria de la novel a» (p. 3 7). De esa fragmentaria y brillante reflexion sabre el genero en la orbita naturalista, Vilanova muestra el interes de Alas por la concepcion del personaje novelesco -elemento clave en la confi-guracion del relato decimononico- y mas en concreto por «la es-trecha conexion e interdependencia entre lo fisico y lo psiquico» (p. 49). Esta concepcion, verdadero sosten de su secular natura-lismo espiritualista, tiene su punto de partida en el intento de «ar-monizar los postulados mas f ecundos e innovadores del natura-lismo experimental con las mas valiosas aportaciones de la novela rcalista, psicologica y de analisis» (p. 55). En este sentido, el pro-fesor Vilanova documenta con exquisito rigor las fuentes zolescas (en Les Romanciers Naturalistes) de algunas afirmaciones de Clarin, lo que constituye, sin duda, la aportacion mas valiosa de su denso prologo. En resumen, la presente edicion de Nueva Campana nos ofrece un ejemplo mas de la labor trascendente y decisiva que Alas re-alizo en el panorama de las letras espafiolas de la Restauracion. El lector transitara por las sendas inteligentes y profundas, ironicas y sarcasticas, con las que Clarin preludiaba la fascinante labor de Miguel de Unamuno, su verdadero continuador no solo en el analisis de la cultura espanola sino tambien en las teorizaciones sobre la novela. Universidad de Barcelona ADOLFO SOTELO V AZOUEZ Camilo Jose Cela Conde, Cela, mi padre, Madrid, Temas de Hoy, 1989, 255 pp. While the title of this quasi-biography about the Nobel prize winner attests to the relationship between the biographer and his subject, their kinship is unequivocally confirmed by the tongue-- 112 -RESENAS in-cheek humor that emanates from the titles of the introductions and the epilogue that encompass the superbly interspersed pho-tographs and eight chapters of the book. If from nothing more than this cursory overview of the work at hand, little doubt re-mains for the reader that this firsthand narration by Cela's son will be imbued with much of the wit and sarcasm that generally characterize the father's own prose and otherwise uncanny pro-nouncements. All things considered, it is this very jocosity that underlies both the nature of what is shared with the reader and how it is transmitted, thereby dismissing almost from the onset any hopes of finding such typically biographical minutiae about Camilo Jose Cela as dates and blow-by-blow chronological ac-counts of his life.; the author begins by warning the reader whoever really wants to know... (Cela) will have to read his books 1• The outcome, then, of this a-biographical stance is the unpretentious narration of various events which highlight keY points in Camilo Jose Cela's life and career, all of which, when all is said and done, leave the reader with a greater understanding of and closeness to Camilo Jose Cela the human being behind the audacious, irreverent and recalcitrant writer. Notwithstanding the geographical markings of most of the chap-ters - «Madrid», «Cercedilla y Cebreros», «Jose Villalonga 87», «La Bonanova» and « Voragine literaria y algo mas» - which serve as textual as well as thematic indicators of the important moments in Camilo Jose Cela's life, one becomes aware of a subtly inter-woven subtext that deals primarily with the son's own self-image in counterpoint to that of his father's evolving and highly polemic profession in post-Civil War Spain. Parallel to this psychologicallv engaging father-son, biographer-subject, repartee is the discerning statement which the author himself - having been raised, schooled and molded in the Francoist Spain of the fifties and six-ties - seems to make about the erstwhile Nationalist Movement. From a purely thematic point of view, the places alluded to in the chapter titles serve as structural underpinnings for what this book really is all about: an anecdotal recounting of Camilo Jose Cela's literary career. In this regard, the first chapter speaks of the economically strapped pre- and post- La familia de Pascual Duarte days as they developed in Madrid immediately following I The underlined represents the reviewer's translation, 21. - 113 -ESPANA CONTEMPORANEA the end of the country's civil strife. Subsequent chapters continue along similar lines, with chapter three serving as the turning point in Camilo Jose Cela's career when his novel, La catira (The Blonde) was commissioned by the Venezuelan government and henceforth proved to be the beginning of that financial stability that allowed its author to decide to leave Madrid for good and establish permanent residence in Mallorca. It is from that time on in the mid-fifties that Cela's literary undertakings really began to flourish and leave their mark on the then virtually dormant intellectual life of Spain. As Camilo Jose Cela undertakes such en-deavors as the founding of the «Conversaciones Poeticas de For-mentor» in 1959, the creation of Papeles de Son Armadans in 1956, the implementation of the «Alfaguara» publishing house, and the writing of some of his most significant novels since La colmena, he also strategically moves his family and household from one location to another in Mallorca, changes which are meticulously plotted in chapters four through seven. As one might imagine, interspersed throughout these chapters are the names of Camilo Jose Cela's friends - Gregorio Marafi6n, Pablo Picasso, Pio Baroja, Joan Mir6, etc.-, renditions of many «tales» both legendary and told-for-the-first-time, and the author's recollection of his father's election to the Royal Spanish Academy in 1957 and later to the Spanish Parliament where he served as a senator. As the accomplishments of Camilo Jose Cela's profes-sional life are disclosed, so too are some aspects of his more per-sonal: his fascination with gazing upon cattle and the empower-ment it brings him, his incorrigible bad habits as a motorist, the peculiarity of his snoring, etc. On a more sublime level and as the final chapters of the book materialize, the author conscien-tiouslv strives to point out what appears to be for him his father's most salient characteristic: an unbridled rebelliousness and ensuing abhorrence of rules, formulae and prescriptive dictates for human behavior. For the reader who perhaps retains a mental image of the front cover of the 25 december 1989 issue of the magazine 1-Hola! - on which are exhibited photos of Cela's ex-wife Charo, Maria Castano and himself accepting the Nobel prize in Stockholm -, curiosity about whether or not the author will make any reference to his father's reputed amorous leanings is assuaged in the «Epi-logue>>, where the issue is addressed by way of a tacit, albeit sar-- 114 -RESENAS donic, allusion to its veracity. Whether this is merely and quite simply a sign of the author's allegiance to his kinship and to his father's right to privacy or only a matter of good taste, the reader comes away from a reading of this book with a sense of hu-manity and integrity for the much maligned Nobel prize winner. The University of South Carolina LUCILE C. CHARLEBOIS CREA CI ON Eduardo Mendoza, La isla inaudita. Barcelona, Seix Barral, 1989, 236 pp. La isla inaudita, quinta novela de Eduardo Mendoza, se des-arrolla por una via intermedia entre la monumentalidad de La verdad sabre el caso Savolta y La ciudad de los prodigios, y la aparente levedad de El misterio de la cripta embrujada y El labe-rinto de las aceitunas, consideradas ( equivocadamente, segun mi opinion) novelas «menores» dentro de la trayectoria del autor. En com(m con el resto de la producci6n novelistica de Mendoza, La isla inaudita destaca por una distintiva cualidad de exceso, tanto en cuanto al uso del lenguaje coma a las formas narrativas y la capacidad imaginativa empleada. Sin atenerse a patrones pre-establecidos, la novela adopta libremente elementos de diferentes generos literarios, de variados discursos heterogeneos, mezclando distintos niveles de realidad, en una ir6nica diatriba contra el or-denado racionalismo burgues. Aunque no sigue las pautas narrativas ensayadas anteriormente con exito par el autor (reconstrucci6n imaginaria hist6rica, o aven-tura policiaco-picaresca), esta novela explora la relaci6n -siempre central en Mendoza- entre el individuo y el desorden que le rodea, manifestado en el espacio narrativo de la ciudad. La ciudad ocupa obviamente un papel protagonista, funcionando coma meta-fora del universo, imagen de la organizaci6n de la realidad y re-flejo del yo individual. Mendoza utiliza en esta novela la estrategia narrativa del viaje coma forma de conocimiento; la exploraci6n fisica se yuxtapone a la historia de una busqueda espiritual. El protagonista, Fabregas, es un empresario barcelones enfrentado en el espejo al hastio de su vida rutinaria, que decide romper las - 115 -

Camilo José Cela Conde: Cela, mi padre

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Camilo José Cela Conde: Cela, mi padre

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