This article focuses on censorship during Franco's regime and examines its impact in the present

Cornella, Jordi

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Franco’s invisible legacy: books across the Hispanic world are still scarred by his censorship

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13/05/2019 Franco's invisible legacy: books across the hispanic world are still scarred by his censorshiphttps://theconversation.com/francos-invisible-legacy-books-across-the-hispanic-world-are-still-scarred-by-his-censorship-115488 1/4AuthorJordi Cornellà-DetrellSenior Lecturer in Hispanic Studies,University of Glasgow  LanguagesEspañolEnglishAcademic rigour, journalistic flairFranco’s invisible legacy: books across the hispanic world arestill scarred by his censorshipApril 15, 2019 3.11pm BSTIt’s exactly 80 years since the end of the Spanish Civil War, when General Francisco Franco’s populistforces finally overcame the leftist resistance and plunged the country into full-blown dictatorship.Decades after his death, Franco continues to cast a long shadow over Spain, from the rise of the far-right Vox party to the hundreds of mass graves of people who died in the war that are still waiting tobe exhumed.One other hugely important legacy that few people are aware of is the continuing effect on books, bothin Spain and throughout the Spanish-speaking world. To this day, translations of many world classicsand works of Spanish literature are being reprinted using expurgated texts approved by the dictator’scensors – often without publishers even realising it, let alone readers. It has had a chilling effect onfreedom of speech over the years, and must be addressed as a matter of urgency.Between 1936 and 1966, every single book published in Spain had to be submitted to a national boardof censors for examination. The censors would decide whether the text should be banned altogether orwas fit for publication, in which case they would stipulate any necessary changes. After 1966, when a new law that partly liberalised freedom of speech was introduced in the country, publishers couldvoluntarily decide whether to submit a text for censorship. However, the authorities still retained theability to withdraw any book from circulation that they deemed unacceptable. Spanish practices. Dani Oliver13/05/2019 Franco's invisible legacy: books across the hispanic world are still scarred by his censorshiphttps://theconversation.com/francos-invisible-legacy-books-across-the-hispanic-world-are-still-scarred-by-his-censorship-115488 2/4Franco’s censorship laws sought to reinforce Catholicism and promote ideological and culturaluniformity. The censors enforced conservative values, inhibited dissent and manipulated history,especially the memory of the civil war. Sexually explicit material was banned, as were alternativepolitical views, improper language and criticisms of the Catholic church.Spain abandoned these policies after Franco’s death in 1975, yet most of the same texts are still widelyavailable today. Ira Levin’s Rosemary’s Baby is available in more than 20 different Spanish-languageeditions, for instance, including an electronic one, all of which lack two extended passages thataccording to the censors glorified Satan. James Baldwin’s Go and Tell it on the Mountain is onlyavailable in a version with cuts that include references to birth control and details about the sex livesof the main characters. The publication of this expurgated text is sponsored by none other thanUNESCO.Many literary works by some of Spain’s most important 20th-century writers have suffered similarfates, including those by Ana María Matute, Camilo José Cela, Juan Marsé and Ignacio Aldecoa. Insome cases, such as George Orwell’s Burmese Days and Ian Fleming’s Thunderball, censored partshave even survived in retranslated and restored versions.With no one under the age of 40 even alive during the dictatorship years, few people are even aware ofthe problem. Public libraries are encouraging people to read thousands of volumes without realisingthey are censored. Many of these texts have been imported to Latin America, sometimes even beingrepublished in different countries with their censored parts intact. It means that a fairly largeEl caudillo. Wikimedia13/05/2019 Franco's invisible legacy: books across the hispanic world are still scarred by his censorshiphttps://theconversation.com/francos-invisible-legacy-books-across-the-hispanic-world-are-still-scarred-by-his-censorship-115488 3/4proportion of the world’s population is being routinely denied access to literature as it was intended toappear.Why censorship never endedIt is a well known fact that Spaniards have found it difficult to confront their traumatic recent history.The so-called “pact of forgetting”, a tacit decision among the Spanish political elites not to question orexamine the past, was seen by many as vital to make the transition to democracy possible in the late1970s and 1980s. For years, this included a general amnesia about Franco’s cultural policies: evenwhen books were retranslated to restore censored parts, few people said anything about it.Spain’s 2007 Law for the Recovery of the Historical Memory was a major step away from these yearsof forgetting. It condemned the dictatorship and established compensations for people who enduredpolitical violence during the regime. It also initiated the removal of statues and other public symbolswhich glorified Franco’s reign. Yet other cultural artefacts, such as books, were overlooked.The upshot is that Spain’s literary censorship problem is alive and well today. Indeed, it is arguablygetting worse: it is easy to release digital versions of these classics, so Franco’s hand even reaches intoKindles and tablets. We are talking about one of the most long-lasting yet invisible legacies of hisregime. The effect on culture in Spain and in other hispanic countries is almost incalculable.Censorship has certainly distorted many people’s perception of the civil war and its consequences.Many readers will also be ignorant of writers’ real points of view regarding important social issuessuch as gender roles, birth control and homosexuality.The question is how to deal with this complex problem – particularly now that the Vox party, which isexpected to do well in the upcoming election, has promised to repeal the Law of Historical Memory onVox leader Santiago Abascal on the campaign trail. EPA13/05/2019 Franco's invisible legacy: books across the hispanic world are still scarred by his censorshiphttps://theconversation.com/francos-invisible-legacy-books-across-the-hispanic-world-are-still-scarred-by-his-censorship-115488 4/4Spain Latin America Spanish literature James Baldwin Global Perspectives The Conversation's Instagramthe grounds that it manipulates the past.The most important task is to raise awareness among the reading public. This needs clear supportfrom the Spanish government, plus serious engagement from the whole literary sector, includinglibraries, publishing houses, translators, archives, cultural publications and writers themselves. Thetechnologies that are giving new life to the problem could be used to help: a public database ofrestored texts, for instance, could become an important tool.The point is that while Spain has increasingly been addressing the impact of Franco’s regime in thecountry’s social and historical memory since the early 2000s, the process of coming to terms with thepast is far from complete. The pact of forgetting has not only marred Spain’s democratic progress, ithas severely damaged the country’s cultural heritage. Spain and the rest of the Spanish-speakingworld will not be free from Franco’s censorial shadow until this issue is publicly and decisivelyaddressed. With people on the ascendant who would prefer to turn back the clock, there is no time tolose.Help combat alt-facts and fake news and donate to independent journalism.Make a donation 

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Franco’s invisible legacy: books across the Hispanic world are still scarred by his censorship

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