Shifting Ground: Spanish Civil War Exile Literature

The article examines the socio-economic causes of the outcome of the Spanish Civil War (1936-1936), which, as opposed to the Russian Civil War, resulted in the victory of the “Whites”. Choice of Spain as the object of comparison with Russia is justified not only by similarity of civil wars occurred in the two countries in the XX century, but also by a large number of common features in their history. Based on statistical data on the changes in economic well-being of different strata of Spanish population during several decades before the civil war, the authors formulate the hypothesis according to which the increase of real incomes of Spaniards engaged in agriculture is “responsible” for their conservative political sympathies. As a result, contrary to the situation in Russia, where the peasantry did not support the Whites, in Spain the peasants’ position predetermined the outcome of the confrontation resulting in the victory of the Spanish analogue of the Whites. According to the authors, the possibility of stable increase of Spanish peasants’ incomes was caused by the nation’s non-involvement in World War I and also by more limited, compared to Russia and some other countries, spending on creation of heavy (primarily military-related) industry in Spain.

Download Full-text

The Spanish Reception of Le Sacre du Printemps (1913–1936)

Dance Research ◽

10.3366/drs.2018.0220 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 36 (1) ◽

pp. 48-66

Author(s):

Idoia Murga Castro

Keyword(s):

Nineteenth Century ◽

Civil War ◽

Spanish Civil War ◽

Original Work ◽

Silver Age ◽

Avant Garde ◽

Ballets Russes ◽

Rite Of Spring ◽

Le Sacre Du Printemps ◽

Cultural Expansion

Centenary celebrations are being held between 2016 and 2018 to mark the first consecutive tours of Diaghilev's Ballets Russes in Spain. This study analyses the Spanish reception of Le Sacre du Printemps (The Rite of Spring) (1913), one of its most avant-garde pieces. Although the original work was never performed in Spain as a complete ballet, its influence was felt deeply in the work of certain Spanish choreographers, composers, painters and intellectuals during the so-called Silver Age, the period of modernisation and cultural expansion which extended from the end of the nineteenth century to the beginning of the Spanish Civil War.

Download Full-text

Kate O'Brien and Virginia Woolf: Common Ground

Irish University Review ◽

10.3366/iur.2018.0334 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 48 (1) ◽

pp. 127-142

Author(s):

Aintzane Legarreta Mentxaka

Keyword(s):

Civil War ◽

Virginia Woolf ◽

Spanish Civil War ◽

Common Ground ◽

Point Of View ◽

Political Alignments ◽

Literary Influences ◽

Kate O'brien

Convergences in the work of Kate O'Brien and Virginia Woolf range from literary influences and political alignments, to a shared approach to narrative point of view, structure, or conceptual use of words. Common ground includes existentialist preoccupations and tropes, a pacifism which did not hinder support for the left in the Spanish Civil War, the linking of feminism and decolonization, an affinity with anarchism, the identification of the normativity of fascism, and a determination to represent deviant sexualities and affects. Making evident the importance of the connection, O'Brien conceived and designed The Flower of May (1953), one of her most experimental and misunderstood novels, to paid homage to Woolf's oeuvre.

Download Full-text

“The heart above the ruins”: Miriam Waddington’s Poetry, the Spanish Civil War, and Jewish Canadian Literature

Canadian Jewish Studies / Études juives canadiennes ◽

10.25071/1916-0925.40065 ◽

1969 ◽

Vol 26 ◽

Author(s):

Emily Robins Sharpe

Keyword(s):

Human Rights ◽

World War Ii ◽

Civil War ◽

Spanish Civil War ◽

World War ◽

Canadian Literature ◽

The Earth ◽

The Holocaust ◽

The Subject ◽

War Consequences

The Jewish Canadian writer Miriam Waddington returned repeatedly to the subject of the Spanish Civil War, searching for hope amid the ruins of Spanish democracy. The conflict, a prelude to World War II, inspired an outpouring of literature and volunteerism. My paper argues for Waddington’s unique poetic perspective, in which she represents the Holocaust as the Spanish Civil War’s outgrowth while highlighting the deeply personal repercussions of the war – consequences for women, for the earth, and for community. Waddington’s poetry connects women’s rights to human rights, Canadian peace to European war, and Jewish persecution to Spanish carnage.

Download Full-text