Fathers to a Fatherless Nation

227 Pages·2013·1.64 MB·English

by  Anna Casas Aguilar

Fathers to a Fatherless Nation:
From Abjection to Legacy in Spanish and Catalan
Autobiographies after Franco
by
Anna Casas Aguilar
A thesis submitted in conformity with the requirements
for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy
Department of Spanish and Portuguese
University of Toronto
© Copyright by Anna Casas Aguilar, 2013
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Abstract

“Fathers to a Fatherless Nation:
From Abjection to Legacy in Spanish and Catalan Autobiographies after Franco”
Anna Casas Aguilar
Doctor of Philosophy
Department of Spanish and Portuguese
University of Toronto
2013

This dissertation examines the figure of the father in autobiographies published in Spain after
the death of the Spanish dictator, Francisco Franco, in 1975. It analyzes how four well-
known Spanish authors born in Barcelona, Carlos Barral, Juan Goytisolo, Clara Janés, and
Terenci Moix, portray the figure of the father in their memoirs. I consider first and foremost
the authors’ depiction of the biological father. Nonetheless, I read this father in relation to
the political figurehead of Franco, who was portrayed by many as father to the Spanish
nation. The four authors either blame their fathers for being an authoritarian figure in the
shadow of the dictator or present him as an absent but alternative model to the singular
vision of the patriarchal household promoted by the regime. I argue that these four writers
question Franco’s paternity and foster other conceptions of fatherhood in the newly
democratic Spain.

This dissertation addresses several interrelated questions: To what extent do real fathers
collapse and step away from the ever-present figure of the Spanish dictator as a censoring
father? How do father figures influence one’s own gender subjectivity and what is the
relationship between fathers and the transformation of gender models during the Spanish
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transition to democracy? In which ways are fathers central in the construction of selfhood in
autobiographical writings in general and in post-Franco Spain in particular? The close
reading of these four writers illuminates the strong bonds between father figures,
autobiographical writing and Oedipal narratives in the literary scene of the Spanish
Transition and more broadly in the three decades following Franco’s death.

Drawing from psychoanalysis, feminism and theory on autobiography, I analyze how the
language, space, body, and death of the father are essential to the construction of an
autobiographical self. I also contend that the reading of these authors’ melancholic state after
the death of their fathers offers a new way of understanding the politics of mourning in
Spain. These authors’ considerations of the figure of the father illustrate divergent attempts
to deal with desired and undesired legacies of Franco’s dictatorship and, in this sense, this
dissertation establishes a dialogue with current debates about memory, generational
replacement, and the politics of inheritance and legacy in Spain.
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Acknowledgments

This dissertation would not have been possible without the support of my teachers, friends
and family. To start with, I would like to thank my committee. Robert Davidson, exceptional
mentor, is a model of intellectual and critical thought, a positive and stimulating voice who
always encourages me to take my thoughts further. His advice in all my academic
endeavours has been, and remains, invaluable. Jill Ross always has an open door for her
students, yet her generosity has gone far beyond. The conversations we have shared on
gender, psychoanalysis and literature have been some of the most cheerful moments of my
graduate studies, and her feedback is always thought-provoking. Josiah Blackmore’s
insightful questions and bibliographical recommendations have been exceptionally
welcomed. He always finds the right word and suggests the right book to challenge my ideas.
A tots tres, us dono les gràcies de tot cor. I will always be in your debt.
I feel fortunate to have met at the University of Toronto a vibrant and collaborative
intellectual community. At different stages of my graduate work, many professors have
advised me, and inspired me with their classes. Thank you, then, to Sanda Munjic, Eva-Lynn
Jagoe, Yolanda Iglesias, Cristina Cuervo, Stephen Rupp, Manuel Ramírez, Susan Antebi and
Iván Fernández Peláez. I am particularly grateful to Rosa Sarabia, whose mentorship and
friendship has been indispensable. Néstor Rodríguez offered several helpful questions and
much enthusiasm as a reader of this dissertation. Blanca Talesnik and Rosinda Raposo have
assisted me in all kinds of administrative matters and answered all sorts of questions.
Obrigada! At the Department of Spanish and Portuguese, at the University of Toronto, and in
Canada, I have received financial support that was fundamental for this project. The Social
Sciences and Humanities Research Council, the Avie Bennett Scholarship and several
School of Graduate Studies conference and travel grants have allowed me to fully devote my
summers to research and to share my research with scholars in Canada and abroad.
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Beyond the University of Toronto, I am indebted and deeply thankful to Alberto Medina
Domínguez for his exceptional feedback and advice on how to further think about this
project. ¡Muchísimas gracias! I also want to thank to Marta Segarra and my colleagues at the
Centre Dona i Literatura and at the University of Barcelona for their assistance and advice
when I first decided to pursue my graduate studies.
My dissertation and academic life have been enormously enriched by dear friends who have
contributed to this project in different ways. Ximena Berecochea, Ramiro Armas, Rebecca
Janzen, Paula Karger, Adleen Crapo, Joanne Markle LaMontagne, Manuel Campirano, Gina
Beltrán, Berenice Villagómez and Pamela Fuentes have made of Toronto my home. It has
been immensely gratifying to share my ideas with them while listening to their academic
interests. I also want to thank Alice Jonathan and Paulina Dabrowski for their invaluable
friendship. On the other side of the Atlantic, and always there when I cross it, Maria Ángeles
Rodríguez, Helena Torres, Natalia Villaverde, Ann Marie Poelen, Joana Gaspar Mallol,
Mònica Junyent and Olga Forns have been the best friends anyone could ask for. I am
especially grateful to Maria Ángeles Rodríguez and Teresa Martín Taffarel, who shared with
me their passion for literature when I was a student in high school. In their classes my desire
to study literature began. I also want to thank Rowan Melling and Ben Bryce who read the
entire dissertation and asked me for clarifications on many passages. This dissertation is
considerably better because of them. To Nick Melling, I owe the biblical title.
I am infinitely grateful to my family as well. Rafael Casas and Glòria Aguilar’s love has
guided me through since I began my formal education more than two decades ago. They
created a harmonious and peaceful home where culture and reading was valued. They
supported my studies, even when it meant being away from each other, and my choice to
study hispàniques. Gràcies. My sister, Natàlia, is able to dissipate my fears and concerns
with her irony and sense of humour. The day she was born my world changed for the better,
and I am blessed because she is part of my life. My family in Barcelona and abroad—
cousins, aunts and uncles, and grandfather Isidre Casas—have always been there when
needed, and I want to thank them for that. I also want to thank Ben’s family—Elizabeth,
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Sarah, Gregory, Margaret, Janet and David Bryce as well as Ann Jansen—who have adopted
me and welcomed me with their warmth and affection.
Last but not least, my dearest Ben: my deepest gratitude goes to you, partner throughout
these years. Your love for languages and passion for research has always inspired me. You
are the cornerstone of my life, and this dissertation is only a part of a much larger project I
want to share—always—with you.
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A Glòria Panadés de la Cortina i Anita Esteve Collell,
les meves àvies
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Table of Contents

Abstract ii
Acknowledgments iv
Table of Contents viii
Introduction 1
Chapter 1: The Father’s Language and Culture 21
Chapter 2: The Father’s Spaces 69
Chapter 3: The Father’s Objects and Body 118
Chapter 4: The Death of the Father and the Melancholic Subjectivity 159
Conclusion 201
Bibliography 207
1
Introduction
Five days after Francisco Franco died, Juan Goytisolo published “In Memoriam, F.F.B. 1892-
1975.” In the article, the Spanish intellectual denounced the moral genocide that Franco had
inflicted on those who, like him, were children during the war and grew up under Franco’s
authoritarian regime. According to Goytisolo, Franco was an arbitrary and castrating father, a
monstrous head of the family who obliged Spaniards to abandon their own principles. In his text,
Goytisolo describes the dictator as a person “cuya sombra ha pesado sobre mi destino con mucha
mayor fuerza y poder que mi propio padre” (3);1 Franco’s moral subjugation was such that
Goytisolo felt forced to flee Spain, turning him into “an errant Jew,” “incapaz de aclimatarse y
sentirse en casa en ninguna parte” (no page). Despite Goytisolo’s impassioned words regarding
the dictator in “In Memoriam,” the writer’s two autobiographies, Coto vedado (1985) and En los
reinos de taifa (1986), reveal a more complex understanding of fatherhood and of paternal
figures. Throughout Goytisolo’s autobiographies, father and dictator are two mutually dependent
figures, intimately bound to the author’s conception of censorship and law. They are two
inhibiting presences from which Goytisolo tries to escape and liberate himself.
This thesis considers the importance of father figures in autobiographies published in Spain after
1975. Goytisolo is not the only writer that relates father and dictator during the Transition.2 He
is, nonetheless, one of the only Spanish writers to establish this bond as part of his
autobiographical project. I examine how four well-known Spanish authors born in Barcelona,
Carlos Barral (1928-1989), Juan Goytisolo (1931-), Clara Janés (1940-) and Terenci Moix
(1942-2003) portray their fathers in their memoirs.3 In dealing with fathers, I consider first and
foremost the biological father, the author’s predecessor. Nonetheless, I read the real father in
relation to the political figurehead of Francisco Franco. The four chosen authors either blame

1 Juan Goytisolo’s article “In Memoriam,” originally published in the review El ruedo ibérico, can be consulted on-
line [http://www.radiotierra.com/files/goytisolo.rtf.]
2 In this dissertation, the Transition refers to the period following the death of Franco in 1975 until the early 1990s,
as Spain established its democratic institutions. A critical summary on the different theories regarding the time
frame of the Spanish Transition can bee found in Teresa Vilarós El mono del desencanto (1-2).
3 My primary texts are: Carlos Barral’s Años de penitencia (1975) and Los años sin excusa (1978) Juan Goytisolo’s
Coto vedado (1985) and En los reinos de taifa (1986), Clara Janés’s Jardín y laberinto (1990) and La voz de Ofelia
(2005) and Terenci Moix’s El peso de la paja, that includes El cine de los sábados (1990) and El beso de Peter Pan
(1993).
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their real father for being an authoritarian figure, somehow in the shadow of the dictator, or
present him as an absent presence that turns out to be an alternative model to the singular vision
of a patriarchal household that the regime promoted.
Overall, I argue that these four writers question Franco’s paternity and foster other conceptions
of fatherhood in the newly democratic Spain. At the same time, in their memoirs, these four
writers place their fathers in a central position in relation to their own gendered subjectivity. I
contend, therefore, that fatherhood is essential to understanding how gender models were
received and subverted during the Transition in the works of those who were children during
Francoism.
In Franco’s Spain, and through the foundational weight of ‘Nacional Catolicismo,’ core ideas of
Christian and Roman patriarchy were adapted by the regime as a way of organizing society and
envisioning the structure of the dictatorship. Based on the Christian model in which the man is
the ‘head’ of the family—while the woman is the body—Franco’s regime reinforced a model of
fatherhood that highlighted men’s leadership in the household. At the very same time, Franco
emphasized his role as father of the Spanish nation, emulating his relationship to Spain in
parallel to Christ’s position as head of the church. For those who grew up in Franco’s Spain,
ideas of fatherhood were deeply interwoven into the regime’s ideals.
The first objective of my analysis is to determine the ways paternity and dictatorship are linked
in autobiographical writings. To what extent do authors collapse real fathers into the ever-
present figure of the Spanish dictator as a censoring father? Why is it that fathers are
continuously placed in relation to the subject’s quest for identity, and appear bound to a national
historical legacy? Other driving questions of my work are related to gender issues and
intergenerational change: how do father figures influence one’s own gendered subjectivity? And
what is the relationship between fathers and the transformation of gender models during the
transition to democracy in Spain? In this project, I seek to find nuances in the importance of
Franco as a father, examining how real fathers contrast with the dictator. I analyze how space,
body and language are related to the father in the work of the four aforementioned authors, and I
consider in what ways fatherhood is essential to these authors’ autobiographical subjectivity, as
well as to the memory of Spain’s Francoist past. While Juan Goytisolo and Terenci Moix