Revista Canadiense de Estudios Hispnicos

Dictatorship and Publicity. Cela's Pascual Duarte: The Monster Speaks Author(s): JOS B. MONLEN Reviewed work(s): Source: Revista Canadiense de Estudios Hispnicos, Vol. 18, No. 2 (Invierno 1994), pp. 257-273 Published by: Revista Canadiense de Estudios Hispnicos Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/27763102 . Accessed: 25/12/2011 21:45
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JOSEB.MONLEON

Dictatorship and Publicity. Cela's Pascual Duarte: The Monster Speaks

como ejemplo la novela de Camilo Jos6 Cela, el presente trabajo analiza el funcionamiento y las implicaciones de la parad6jica esfera publica totalitaria que sirvi6 de base a la dictadura del general Franco. La prohibici6n en 1943 de una reedici6n de La familia de Pascual Duarte (1942) sirve de base - del acto de hacerse para la reflexi6n sobre el problema de la publicidad - como a pd'blico factor que tiene repercusiones la hora de asignar un significado al texto.La censura de la novela hace que 6sta adquiera irremediablemente una carga subversiva, pero en la medida en que no habia sido detectada por los primeros censores surge el dilema de si la lectura ideol6gica se encuentra limitada a consideraciones textuales o si, por el contrario, intervienen otros procesos. La presencia de un contexto en un textono se encuentra limitada a la fi nci6n referencial del signo sino que puede ser registrada tambien en sus ausencias. La familia de Pascual Duarte puede haber sido una obra ideol6gica mente correcta,pero el hecho de que ofreciera el espectdculo de un monstruo que empunaba la pluma cuando le correspondia el silencio era en si mismo un Tomando cuestionamiento de la esferaptblica totalitaria.

INTRODUCTION Toward the end of 1942, Camilo Jos6 Cela published La familia de Pascual Duarte. In the desolate Spanish cultural landscape immediately following the Civil War, the appearance of the novel caused passionate reactions: it inspired vehement praise as well as tempestuous criticism (Urrutia 47).1 The book had been supported by official organisms and did not encounter major obstacles during its required revision by the censors. One year later, a second edition was prohibited. How can one account for this drastic change of attitude by the authorities?Was there an "erroneous" firstreading, an act of negligence on the part of the censors? Or does the text contain different levels of signification, a polysemy so contradictory that it allowed for opposing ideological appropriations? In other words, must the blame be

REVISTA CANADTRNSE DE ESTLJDTOSHTSPANTcOS

Vol XVIII

Invierno 1994

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attributed to discursive and formal practices or to external - contextual considerations? This fluctuation in the decision of censorship could be understood as the result of a concrete historical situation. In August of 1942, Ram6n Serrano Sufer and his followers in the Falange were removed from power. Their departure signalled a political change within the regime that had immediate

repercussions in the cultural sphere. Thus, for instance, a glance at Escorial, one of the most influential literary journals of the time, reveals a clear modification of themagazine's general editorial policy: all articles eulogizing the values of the Falange or the feats of theDivisiOn Azul2 - a regular feature during the first part of 1942 disappear towards the end of the year. Likewise, in 1943, novels by such Falangist authors as Pedro de Lorenzo (La Marino), or Rafael Garcia quinta soledad), Gonzalo Torrente Ballester (Javier Serrano (La fiel infanterla),who openly supported the Franco regime,were prohibited. In 1943, as Alexandre Cirici demonstrates, Francoism entered a

new ideological epoch thatwould tone down the virtues ofmilitarism and exalt family and religious values (174). For JorgeUrrutia, the problems encountered by La familia de Pascual Duarte were due tomoral rather than political issues (56). This argument might seem consistent with the historical changes indicated. Nevertheless, - and - the distinction during Francoism particularly during the Forties between morality and politics was always extremely fine. In any case, this historical explanation is not sufficient.La familia de Pascual Duarte is a text that faithfullyreproduces the general ideological and moral principles of the regime above and beyond concrete political junctures.3 Its subversiveness resides neither in the pages of fiction nor in those of history.A rathermore complex process is at work here, one that implies a becoming: the "private reading" undertaken by the censors was not negligent; yet, when Pascual Duarte entered the public sphere, a different reading (a "public reading")

developed that completely transformed its significance. Private and public readings must not be mistaken for individual and collective readings. I am alluding to a very specific problem - that of censorship. The anonymous act of the evaluator, charged with the institu tional mission of policing the virtues or flaws of a given work and of anticipating its public impact, is the private reading. The resulting dialogue of such a work once it comes into being - once it becomes public - is the public reading. In the first instance, the paradigmatic reader that the censor incarnates faces an isolated text, reproducing the illusory and idealized situation of future readers. In the second, the dialogical nature of the text, its intertextuality,the social mechanisms of review and criticism, themedium inwhich it appears, its concrete physical appearance, and so on, will dictate its reception.4

259
The Francoist literarypublic sphere emerges as a contradictory institution. On the one hand, itposits itself as representative of the bourgeois sphere, as a truly freemedium where public opinion is rationalized; on the other, it is envisioned as an extension of the prerogatives of authority, as a tool for exercising power.5 Literature must seem spontaneously to reach a public stature and represent a social consensus, while strict controls guide the

pathway to the presses. Censorship plays a fundamental role in this situation and should be considered a constitutive part of writing/reading under totalitarian rule.6 It is an absent presence in the text,but one that transcends "the trace of the other" of contemporary linguistic theory: "We must not therefore speak of a 'theological prejudice; functioning sporadically when it is a question of the plenitude of the logos; the logos as the sublimation of the trace is theological" (Derrida 71). In this context, the logos is rather a remnant carrying the scars of nondiscursive practices: imprisonment, fines, - it materializes in The exile, silence. Its transcendence resides in the censor

Censor.7

were used synonymously; publicare meant to claim for the lord" (Habermas 6). The literarybody must reproduce Him,8 and the public negation of Him realm, to the limbo of appears to be confined to a phantasmagorical between-the-lines. Paradoxically, this is also the place where censorship resides, for no textual acknowledgement of its presence can be allowed. Thus the illusion of a totalizing Sign inwhich the public and the private (presence and absence) collapse, lives a precarious stability. The Sign becomes bound to irony, to Its own negation, to a non-sign brought to lifeby the confronta

In the Spain of 1942, the public sphere is, ultimately, Francisco Franco: he signifies, validates, configures. Censorship is not "the knot that binds power is and knowledge," as the subtitle of Jansen's book indicates. Censorship power and knowledge. Displaying themedieval tradition that he so proudly defended, Franco incarnated order and peace, harmony extended to themost secret and conflictive corners: "In medieval documents 'lordly' and 'publicus'

tion between totalitarianism and the public sphere. Every timeHe speaks, the echoes of silence leave their imprint. Only the arbitrary repetition of authority permits His Sisyphean affirmation; but His image remains for ever condemned to distortion. To understand, therefore, the evolution undergone by La familia de Pascual Duarte, it becomes necessary to examine closely the shape of this was not the result distortion for,as Iwill argue, the subversiveness of the text of a mystical process, of a revelation suddenly illuminating the between-the lines, but rather the concrete outcome of an interaction between the text and a literarypublic spheremoulded by administrative censorship. The construc tion of a "totalitarian public sphere" - in itself a paradoxical concept generates a series of unexpected contradictions thatwill undermine both the

260
representation of authority and the representative character of opinion. will not be restricted Within such a model, the role and function of literature to a separate realm of aesthetics or entertainment, but will become rather a political vehicle, a medium through which to build a public sphere. Art in general will show an impertinent resistance to the taming forces of power, since social interpretation could defy private readings - and even subvert apparently correctwritings. La familia de Pascual Duarte is a case in point. PRIVATE READING La familia de Pascual Duarte resorts to ambiguity as a means of enhancing its polysemy (Livingstone 104). The novel unveils the possibility of diverse readings and demands the active participation of the reader in the elabor ation ofmeaning. What were themotives thatmade Pascual Duarte kill the

Count of Torremejia? When did he finally come out of jail? What is the exact role of the narrator in the final tailoring of the text? These and other questions are not conclusively resolved, and, as Rose Marie Marcone has noted, one of the functions of the transcriber is to call upon the reader to

complete Duarte's story, "to fill in the content of themissing pages, if any existed, and to provide logical conclusions and explanations for theunwritten part of the text.The reader becomes involved in the production of the story, and the novel is constructed with this participation inmind" (13). But such participation is not, by any means, a guarantee of success. The time of Pascual's release from prison is a case in point:
Es una Pascual contrariedad Duarte. no pequena esta falta absoluta de datos de los dltimos anos de Por un calculo, no muy dificil, lo que parece evidente es que volviera sabe si hasta el 36. Desde (134) descartado sali6

de nuevo al penal de Chinchilla (de susmismas palabras se infiere) donde debi6 estar
hasta el ano 35 o quidn antes luego, parece que de presidio de empezar la guerra.

The last sentence becomes crucial for a political understanding of Pascual Duarte. It is Jorge Urrutia's central proof for his argumentation thatDuarte was not liberated by the Republican militia - since he was freed before the - and thus must not be associated with the beginning of the war political prisoners that filled the jails of Spain. Anthony Kerrigan's translation, on the other hand, exploits the other possible interpretation of the misleading Spanish text: he was released after the breakout of hostilities.9 Since we are

told that Pascual Duarte participated in the firstweeks of revolutionary fervour,his release must have occurred shortly after July18, 1936 - but then, of course, the narrator's doubts about the exact year make no sense. The implications, in this instance, would be thatDuarte had indeed been freed by the red militia and that his final crime had political connotations.

261 Is Pascual Duarte un rojo? In strict textual terms, an affirmative answer would be unsustainable. The murder of the Count of Torremejfa - the only crime with possible political connotations - is not in fact narrated and,

produced within the boundaries of a private reading. The opening of Pascual Duarte's confessions would then haunt the entire narration, hovering over the unfolding of the story: "Yo, seror, no soymalo, aunque no me faltarian motivos para serlo" (15). This surprising initial affirmation directly contra dicts the documents that precede Pascual's narration. The transcriber has already stated his judgment: "es un modelo de conductas; un modelo no para imitarlo, sino para huirlo" (6); Pascual's own letter to Joaquin Barrera L6pez confirms his intrinsic evil nature: "No quiero pedir el indulto, porque es demasiado lomalo que la vida me ensef16 y mucha mi flaqueza para resistir al instinto" (8). Even the act of dedicating the text to his last victim enhances the cruelty of the character. The framing of Duarte's confessions is therefore double: it physically encircles his narration, legitimizing it through the old recourse to non fictional texts; but it also frames it- conspires against it by conditioning must be undertaken. Faced with these introductory the reading that
accusations,10 the phrase "Yo, seftor, no soy malo" emerges as a paradox that

meaning, as the locus for subversiveness. The censor could hardly be blamed formissing what was not in the text; how this vacuum acquired a body and yetmaintained its textual absence - after the novel became public is the process that needs to be addressed. But first, let us assume that such a political interpretation could be

therefore, the motivations behind Duarte's action remain unknown. His - an execution reserved for punishment will be carried out by garrote vil - after due process, a very improbable occurrence in non-political criminals sees in the preservation of War. of the Civil Rafael Osuna the climate the civil the Duarte's fascists persona by political irony of the novel: in the un-political characterization of Pascual resides the political nature of the text (86-87). In other words, a discursive absence appears as the depositary of

admits only two resolutions: either itmust be discarded as the tactical defense of a murderer bound to execution (in spite of Pascual's own refusal to request a pardon) or itmust be accepted, believed (in spite of Pascual's evil life). The (private) reader is thus called upon to cast a judgment, to decide between Pascual themonster or Pascual the victim. In the firstcase, society is redeemed by an aberrant manifestation of nature; in the second, it emerges as guilty of engendering such amonstrosity. A political transgression therefore could only occur if the latter interpretation prevailed. the novel was published, it immediately generated uncertainty When among its readers. The history of Pascual Duarte's reception duplicates, in fact, the dichotomy osed by the text. The first reviews, appearing in 1943

262
tend to confirm the private reading and highlight themonstrous character after the book's prohibition, the history of criticism has been of Pascual; inclined to choose the second option: Pascual isnot bad and he demonstrates it (Ilie 40), his delinquency is the result of an unjust society (Vines 930), he is a Paschal lamb victimized by society (Urrutia 54). Itwould seem, then, that a subversive public reading came into effect as a consequence of censorship. The arbitrary act of the regime engineered the redemption of Nevertheless, absolving Pascual of his responsibilities is not necessarily a
condemnation of Franco's Pascual.

situates the events with precision in the historical framework preceding the military uprising of 1936. If society is to blame, then the role of saviour that Franco so persistently manipulated would be confirmed: the liberal

Spain.

On

the contrary,

the narration's

chronology

would have to acknowledge thatCela's work reproduced the principles of the regime and that Pascual's admission to the public sphere could only serve to expose "un modelo ante el que no cabe sino decir: -ZVes lo que hace? Pues hace lo contrario de lo que debiera" (6). Rafael Osuna tries to solve the mystery of the book's prohibition by establishing a sequence of interpretation. A first reading would see Pascual as a red monster (authorization); a second one, would come to the realization that the novel blames society (prohibition); finally,a third reading would uncover that theNew State was not at risk (re-authorization) (93-94). Such a sequence is difficult to prove, particularly ifone takes into consider ation the fact that the first reviews already noted the third reading. In the first issue of the magazine Lazarillo (1943), Ernesto Gim6nez Caballero
commented: De este chico -con en las venas

(anti)tradition engendered such aberrations as the Second Republic of 1931 and Pascual Duarte. The ambiguities in the novel, therefore,do not allow for appropriations of an opposing political sense. Ultimately, a private reading

enfermo al Tercio

[Cela]

sangre desde

internacional de

que

le empujara Extremadura por

instintivamente increible, la Nelken. aunque

extranjero-

acababa

salir la visi6n

de una

la sospechibamos

anos, desde

los crimenes

rojos excitados

(1979, 939)

The Extremadura portrayed by Cela was thus perceived as an example of the menace that justified themilitary rebellion, regardless of whether Pascual Duarte or society were to blame. PUBLIC READING The private reading of La familia de Pascual Duarte could resolve all the textual ambiguities in accordance with the uidelines that controlled the ates

263
to publicity. Nevertheless, itspublic appearance created a tremendous impact and opened the road for a series ofworks thatwould conform what came to be known as tremendismo.Given the irreproachable ideological character of the novel, the attacks - and the defenses - centred on its aesthetic values. The crude naturalism used by Cela was targeted as the vehicle responsible for altering the sensibility of Spanish readers. Cela would rightly complain about the ironic reaction to his novel: "es curioso lo espantadiza que es la gente que, despues de asistir a la representaci6n de una tragedia que dur6 tres afios

y cost6 rios de sangre, encuentra tremendo lo que se aparta un apice de lo socialmente convenido (no de la tradici6n literaria espafiola)" (Amor6s 272). Moreover, Pascual Duarte was not an isolated literary case in its depiction of a crude reality: Falangist literature, in general, cultivated a mysticism of violence

the new, hegemonic mode of domination" (Fraser 117). That Franco's personalist dictatorship required the simulacrum of an ideal public sphere indicates the extent of the historical power acquired by such an institution.12 If the public sphere is the site of domination, then it also becomes the site of resistance. The opposition to Francoism would soon perceive the peculiar nature, and vulnerability, of the public sphere under a modern totalitarian rule: in spite of censorship - or,more precisely, because of censorship - the apparent house of reason could be transformed into the trenches of conflict. The relevance of Pascual Duarte was that it inadvertently ushered this possibility into publicity. The creation of the literary public sphere in Franco's totalitarian society followed a very basic principle: to project a unitary and harmonious image, exempt from any acknowledgement of conflict.'3 Pio Rodriguez summarizes the paradoxical character of such a principle: "The National Movement, as

persons" to discuss "public issues" in order to check the power of the state. Such a public sphere connotes, as Nancy Fraser indicates, "an ideal of unrestricted rational discussion of public matters" (113), a proposition that could hardly function under a totalitarian regime. In fact, within the development ofWestern societies, the public sphere must be conceived as "the prime institutional site for the construction of the consent that defines

activated by the presence of the novel in the literary public sphere. The dialogical character of Pascual Duarte, as Cela pointed out, called upon the past, upon a literary tradition firmly rooted in the picaresca; but it establis hed a dialogue in the present with the echoes of silence. The concept of the public sphere requires some clarification. It does not - that is, an institution that allows "private imply the Habermas model

that generated novels glorifying cruelty (Urrutia 74). The trans gression effected by the novel resided neither in its politics nor in its inhabited a more volatile space: breaking the aesthetics. Subversion confinements of the text, it came into being as the result of relations

264
the case with German Nazism and Italian Fascism, had invented a movement without dialectic or conflict, smoothly controlled by state power" (65). The imposition of harmony required the adoption of specificmeasures: "Against the democratic principle of diversity Fascism has always advanced was

with all the connotations that had been discarded from the public realm.14 In order for the literarypublic sphere to conform to absolute norms, the State has no option but to establish institutions charged with the mission not

the principle of spiritual, racial and national unity. In practice this unity signifies exclusion and discrimination" (68). The totalitarian public sphere admits only the voice of submission. Dissidence - political as well as aesthetic belongs to silence, to the obscure realm of exile. This exclusionary act forged two monolithic blocks: on the one hand, an absolute, monovalent public "I"; on the other, amany-headed demon, one "absent other" invested

gated. Pascual Duarte, for instance, did not contain, as Urrutia points out, moral or political points thatwere inconvenient; it simply did not articulate desirable issues: "La censura no podia cortar; en todo caso hubiera tenido que afiadir" (102). The preface to the 1939 law creating theDirecci6n General de Arquitectura reveals the concern with which Francoism addressed representation. The aesthetic ordering of the public space was understood as a direct expression of the State:
La necesidad importancia la fuerza ordenar todas de ordenar representativa la misi6n las diversas la vida material que tienen del pals con arreglo a nuevos como inducen principios, expresi6n a reunir

of communication, the task of propagating the regime's doctrines was, to a certain extent, feasible; in the case of artistic production, the issue became more complex. The State, of course, would subsidize some publications; but there could occur instances inwhich works adhering to the official ideology did not reproduce, at the same time, the values that needed to be propa

only of preventing dissidence but also of promoting its own values. The final public image was not intended to reflect society (in spite of the official - in propaganda) but rather to illuminate, from above, a vision of consensus opposition to contubernio, Franco's favourite term to designate any agreement reached outside the public sphere. In the case of the press and other means

la de y

las obras en una

de la Arquitectura determinada, de

y de

del Estado

6poca

manifestaciones

Direcci6n al servicio de los fes pdblicos. De esta manera, los profesionales, al en los organismos oficiales, serin representantes intervenir de un criterioarquitect6 nico sindical-nacional,previamenteestablecidopor los 6rganos supremosque habrin de crearsepara este fin. (Cirici 120)

profesionales

la Arquitectura

en una

265
The Oficina de Informaci6n y Censura was the entity in charge of guarding the access to the literarypublic sphere. At the same time, itsduties included the dissemination of material whose publicity was, very often,mandatory. This office (and others such as the Delegaci6n Nacional de Prensa) issued including the font size about information that had to appear in newspapers and journals. Thus, for instance, on November 7, 1941, the Delegaci6n Nacional de Prensa distributed the following directive relating to a campaign aimed at collecting funds for the Divisi6n Azul:
Ha de darse a toda la campana un tono de cordialidad, vibrante, emocionado, sincero orders, directives, scripts, general and particular norms sometimes

y de intensidad crecientehasta el final,huyendo del t6pico y del comentario de

encargo, de a fin de que una en la unidad de los trabajos se observe, no un sistematico que matiz rinda la sino coincidencia de sentimiento espontanea consigna, a la justicia, tambien maxima, maxima eficacia y responda que (Sinova 162-63) y viva, inspire

el homenaje.

This imposed "spontaneous consensus," silently shaping the image of Spain, was difficult to achieve within the artistic realm, a fact that helps explain why, a few years later, literaturewould assume the burden of challenging the - even public sphere: the neo-realism of the 1950s has been accused by its own practitioners of betraying literature in favour of politics. Yet itwas only because writers had a profound awareness of the literarynature of neo realism that they could exercise artistic freedom, re-appropriate and publicly vindicate their own voice.15 Francoism tried to create an exclusive representation of itself that functioned, at the same time, as a reflection of the totality of Spain. The

collapse of social diversity into "one" ("Espafia, una") image of recognition, vertically emanating from Franco, required a careful control of its contours: any intrusion, any distortion would immediately mean a questioning of the The information about crimes, for instance, reveals transcendental sign itself. the ultimate insecurity affecting the authoritarian public sphere. In a first instance, their inclusion in the newspapers' respective section had to connote some moral lesson. According to Sinova:
La principal obsesi6n de las autoridades era mostrar un pais en orden, y ademas

Cuando no podian presentaresta estampa, los servicios alimentado, trabajandoy feliz. de vigilancia de la Prensa se encargaban de que los periddicos la dibujaran. La informaci6nde sucesos se concibi6 como uin recursoque serviapara este fin.Por ello habia de teneruna fmnalidad moralizante. (246)

266 By 1941, it became apparent that the simple presence of these events in the public sphere was problematic. On November 18, a censorship directive tried to regulate their presence: "A partir de hoy todos los crimenes y sucesos de

la misma indole deberin reducirse suprimidndose los detalles macabros y dejando simplemente la noticia" (Sinova 245). Nevertheless, the preferred practice was to omit them totally (Sinova 243), since theirpublic recognition had to be assimilated within the portrayal of Francoism. The monstrous intrusion of conflict represented not only a social and moral attack on the principles of the literary sphere, but also a politically subversive act. During the post-war years, the monster generated by the process exclusion, and hiding in the shadows of silence, was primarily "el rojo;' red menace. "El Bolchevismo va vestido de ruso, tiene ojos oblicuos, hombres son como bestias, huelen mal, andan borrachos, y sus huestes recoge de of the sus

las todos los fondos miserables, embrutecidos, esclavizados y (Gimenez Caballero 1939b, 75-76). The desesperados de los pueblos" as of defined the official communism, objectives by Enciclopedia Universal Ilustrada Espasa Calpe. Suplemento Anual 1945-1948,were "destruir la familia, para convertir a los hombres en salvajes" (1409).With theDecree ofApril 18, 1947, the boundaries ofmonstrosity acquired a final legal formulation. The lawwas enacted to suppress the activities of the guerrillas still operating in parts of the country,but the introductory paragraph reveals a clear intention to dehumanize Republican Spain, to depoliticize the motives that had caused the Civil War. Under the association of banditry and terrorism, the "other" was transformed into an intrinsic criminal:
Los delitos de terrorismo situaci6n de y bandidaje, de postguerra, medidas que secuela constituyen y acometividad represi6n, cuya las mis graves especies morales e

delictivas y de

de toda

de la relajaci6n

de vinculos

la exaltaci6n

los impulsos

de crueldad de

de gentes

criminales

inadaptadas, requieren especiales a la de los crimenes que se trata de combatir.

(Boletin Oficial

gravedad corresponda del Estado, May 3, 1947)

The guerrilla-fighter/bandit/terrorist profiled in a way that could apply to was the figure of Pascual Duarte dispossessed of a rational motivation, reduced to an instinctive (evil) nature unchecked by a tolerant (evil) society. The political was subsumed and class strugglewould thus encompass a series
of unexpected connotations: no en

Nosotros

-los

imperiales-

ignoramos

cambio

que

la lucha

de

clases

es una

realidad eterna de la Historia. Porque siempreha habido ddbilesy poderosos, feosy cobardes y valientes. Y siempre existir4 la lucha y el guapos, tontos e inteligentes, odio, del miserable, del feo,del tontoy del cobarde contra el pudiente, el apuesto, el
capaz y e1 hombre bravo. (Gim6nez Caballero m3a,35 m phanascis in the orignal)

267
The project of depoliticizing dissidence created an undifferentiated semiotic chain: one single signifier, Marxism, assumed all the values cast out of the public sphere.16 Its inclusion was allowed in order to force a concatenation social and aesthetic significations. The literary public sphere, therefore, univocally conditioned the perception of themonster. The censor's private reading of Pascual Duarte reached the conclusion that the novel did not question the ideological principles of the regime. The caretaker of absences had fulfilled his duties. The problem now resided in determining the consequences of presence. Could its publication affect the rigid imagery forged by state organisms? Could a public reading contradict the promotional Pascual's of moral,

effortsof the literary sphere? confessions end with themurder of his mother. Yet the crime forwhich he is going to be executed corresponds to the killing of the Count of Torremejia. Following the tradition of Lazaro de Tormes, this appears to be the veiled case that- literally- frames the narration. Pascual's adventures, therefore, could be read in terms of this finalmurder (Sobejano 24), as a means of understanding this unnarrated last act. The nature of this crime - the only one with possible political connota tions - is of particular relevance. As the dedication clearly indicates, the Count represents for Pascual a father figure: "A la memoria del insigne patricio don JesdsGonzalez de la Riva, Conde de Torremejia, quien al irlo a rematar el autor de este escrito, le llam6 Pascualillo y sonrefa" (13). The affectionate patrician used the same nickname, Pascualillo, with which Duarte addressed his own son. His murder, then, could be considered a case of parricide. Furthermore, in the Spanish Penal Code in force during the 1940s, murder of the father as well as that of themother. The parricide included the of the is in a sense a redundance, and its textualizat Count, therefore, killing
ion becomes

explain why Duarte was not executed by a military squad. A public reading should not have been subversive. Pascual Duarte aptly reproduces the goals of depoliticizing the Civil War, of dehumanizing the "red hordes." Yet it also tested the perils inherent to a univocal literary sphere: the absence of difference in the semiotic chain might have been intended to reduce revolutionary - or simply liberal - reasons to natural instincts; by the same token, such an identification ran the risk of creating the opposite effect,of politicizing moral, social and aesthetic categories. The structural ambiguity of the novel could allow a debate not only of Pascual's degree of "redness" but also of the degree of rnonstrosity of "the red:'

of the mother's death, the case has been fully explained, for the case is parricide, and not the revolution. Or, in other words, the political events of 1936 become subsumed into a social-moral category which would also help

unnecessary.

When

the confessions

reach

the climactic

moment

268
The Roman Law inherited by Francoism conceived regicide as an act of were "la base de la familia, que a la vez lo es de la parricide, since parents gens, de la tribu y de la naci6n" (Enciclopedia Universal Espasa Calpe, 1920, 294). Thus, when Pascual kills the head of his family he is, in fact, publicly ritualizing a political act of subversion against the head of the nation. To portray the apolitical character of themonstrous Pascual Duarte could also lead to his humanization, to the politization of parricide. Is Pascual good or bad? Is "el rojo" good or bad? All answers, all private and public resolutions of the question ultimately condemned him, and thus confirmed the ideology of Francoism. But the question itself, the enunciation of a debate, subverted the totalitarian public sphere.

THE MONSTER SPEAKS

explaining his motives with impeccable logic. His mother and sister tormented his father. To free the latter from such a miserable life, Pierre decides to sacrifice himself and murder the two women. Yet, he reasons, in order to truly liberate his father,he must also hide his sacrificial gesture. By killing the beloved littlebrother, Riviere will make sure that his fatherwill despise him. His own execution would not be a painful and haunting experience for his father but rather the beginning of a free life. The arguments ofmonstrosity are absolutely rational. The publication of Riviere's memoirs originated a confusion within dominant epistemology. The problem resided not in the essence of themonstrous crime but in the fact that Riviere wrote his confessions. The logic of unreason questioned the principles sustaining the literary public sphere: could a monster expound reasons? Did the appropriation of discourse by unreason effectively dismantle the public sphere? Was the silencing of monstrosity an arbitrary - and
therefore irrational act?

In 1835, in France, Pierre Riviere - a peasant - killed his mother, his sister and his littlebrother.'7 The press immediately reported the event, not only for itsmonstrosity but also for its legal and political implications, since it coincided with an attempted regicide. In jail, Riviere wrote his confessions,

If the case that sustains Pascual Duarte's confessions is the final parricide, that of the novel itself is quite different. The frame - the notes and documents preceding Pascual's narration - posits the problem of publicity: "Me parece que ha llegado la ocasi6n de dar a la imprenta lasmemorias de Pascual Duarte" (5) is the opening sentence of the novel, and corresponds to the transcriber's note. The next document is a covering Letter,from Pascual to Don Joaquin Barrera L6pez, accompanying themanuscript. In it,Duarte reflects on the act of writing and clearly shows that his endeavour was not conceived as a private matter but rather as a "confesi6n pd'blica" (8). Finally, an extract from the Lastwill of Don Tnaquin Barrera TLAnezfocuses on his

269
wishes that themanuscript he received "sea dado a las llamas sin leerlo" (io). Discharged of his responsibilities, the public fate of the text is left to (io). The dilemma raised within La familia de Pascual Duarte anticipates (or, from a historical perspective, duplicates) the problem confronted by the novel: the central issue surrounding Pascual Duarte's narration resides in the appropriateness of its publication, in whether it should enter the public sphere or remain in silence. The final decision rests on the transcriber,who openly assumes the role of the censor:
preferido, por lo en algunos detalles el que pareci6 pasajes demasiado

Providence

He

crudos

de

la obra, al

usar

de de

cortar algunos

sano;

el procedimiento -que mis nada

pequefios de evitar me

la ventaja las que

recaiga

evidentemente, priva, con en cambio, pierde ignorar-; pero presenta, en intimidades incluso repugnantes, sobre la vista la poda que el pulido. (5-6)

lector

la tijera y conocer

-repito-

conveniente

On

sustaining the totalitarian public sphere. The second one is to yield the floor: "Pero dejemos que hable Pascual Duarte, que es quien tiene cosas interesan tes que contarnos" (6). With this act, the reasons that configured Pascual's "Yo, seror, no soy malo" subjectivity would unfold publicly, disallowing - an immediate condemnation, and empowering the public sphere with its legitimate function: to discuss matters of public concern. For Nancy Fraser,
In general, "private" designations political critical and theory needs to take a harder, more are not critical look at the terms

the one hand, this passage represents a clear defense of censorship, a justification of absences. But the transcriber will commit two fundamental transgressions. The first one is his own inclusion in the text, his own publicity, his open reflection on the act of censorship: the acknowledgement of a presence that questioned the illusionary assumption of consensus

"public:'

of social

discourse, some

delegitimate

These terms, after all, straightforward simply are cultural classifications and rhetorical labels. In spheres; they are frequently are to terms that deployed they powerful to others. and and valorize interests, views, (15) topics

Pascual Duarte's access to publicity meant, precisely, a questioning of such designations, an unveiling of the political construction of the literary sphere. One of the apparent inconsistencies of the novel lies in the enunciation and Ilie, for instance, coincide in their of Duarte's story. McPheeters - as with Pierre Riviere - that a peasant to it is difficult believe appreciation: like Pascual Duarte, with a minimal elementary education, could write with such a degree of philosophical irony (Ilie 38). Indeed, many of Pascual's criminal acts result from his ineptness with words (Gull6n 4) Yet, this

270
monster manages, through language, to convey the portrait of a dreamer (Vines 932). It is in language where Duarte becomes human. His textualiza tion of dominant values (he agrees with his own imprisonment, defends society, advocates his own execution) blurs the distinctions strictlydrawn in carries with it the the public sphere: the monster's humanization dehumanization of the "public I." Thus it is the appropriation of a discourse which, by definition and imposition, does not belong to him that constitutes the novel's final offense. By breaking silence, Pascual spoke .for all those exiled from the literary sphere.Was he a monster? The subversive character of La familia de Pascual Duarte did not reside in interpretation, in the private or public incorporation of absences. It inhabited

rather a more obvious and elusive realm: enunciation. The novel might have been ideologically correct, but the presence in the literarysphere of a self that took up the pen when he belonged to silence represented, in and of itself,a transgression. A few years after its prohibition, the novel would be readmitted. Itwas the logical redressing of censorship's futile decision: the act of becoming public could not be erased, and Pascual Duarte's existence had subtly - but irremediably - changed the literary sphere. University of California, Los Angeles

NOTES 1 The defense of the novel tended to highlight its vitality, its aesthetic qualities, its an extensive originality; the attacks were normally based on moral grounds. For in the Soviet

2 3

summary of La familia de Pascual Duarte's reviews see Urrutia. Azul was a Spanish military force fighting communism Union in support of the German troops. The Divisi6n

Villanueva 4 Itmust

In October of 1942, Martin Torrent, presbyter of the Alcall prison, published a book, lQu6 me dice usted de los presos?, addressing the central moral issues developed in Cela's novel. As for the political and ideological implications see, for instance, Sanz (249). also be emphasized that I am here referring concretely to the novel: the private reader will have only the power to suppress and thereforewill concentrate on the textual presences. Later I will address the different attitude of censorship vis-c2-vis the

press. I am, for the moment, development situation.

following Habermas's general arguments in relation to the of the bourgeois public sphere - as they can be applied to the Spanish

modes

existence is not an anomaly in the history of literature but rather a Censorship's constant presence. There are, of course, different degrees and forms of controlling the - and - various social literary public sphere that depend on help shape organizations: totalitarian regimes and liberal democracies require, by their own definition, diverse of control. From institutionalized administrative censorship

to themarket place;

271
from the Inquisition to national security; from the zealots of morality to the guardians of discourse, the access to publicity has never been free. Here I will limit myself to the effects of administrative censorship in a totalitarian regime. For a recent discussion see Jansen. 7 I am thus objecting to the restrictive limitations of a general or abstract interpretation of the trace: to attach it ontologically to discourse omits taking into consideration the non-discursive 8 As Habermas guardians of what can or cannot be difference (see note 5). indicates in relation to theMiddle Ages, such a "publicity of representation [is] inseparable from the lord's concrete existence, that, as an 'aura' surrounded and endowed his authority" (7). I am not trying totally to conflate the

Medieval

lord and Francisco Franco. There are unquestionable historical differences, one of them being precisely the contradictory character of the public sphere that I am connotations of the Franco regime highlighting. Nevertheless, the irresistible Medieval will shape and dominate many of its policies and institutions (see note 12). Itmust be noted translation done consultation that Kerrigan's introduction indicates that his is the only English in close cooperation with Camilo Jose Cela. Furthermore, this revision of the novel for the takes place after Cela's meticulous

io

ii

Revuelta

that Jesds (Ya, November 21, 1943). It is also worth mentioning found the novel "no-inmoral" (Ya, September 20, 1943), a term which implied objecting towhat was not said, to the textual absences. The Catholic magazine Ecclesia found it "una obra literaria notable" that, nevertheless, should not be read "mis que por inmoral ... por repulsivamente realista" (quoted by Rodriguez-Pudrtolas Pascual Duarte 380). Cela, by the way, was 1944 (Sinova 300). the censor in charge of thismagazine between 1943 and

dominating those years (2-3). One must not forget though that Duarte himself shares such a dominant view. I would add that the transcriber also represents the censor, evaluating the validity of the text. In any case, "proto-intellectual" and censor very - Cela often coincided in the same person being a case in point. Castillo Puche's for Luis See, instance, Jos4 commentary "A prop6sito de La familia de

publication of his Obras completas, in 1962. For German Gull6n, the transcriber represents the proto-intellectual of the postwar in accordance with the oppressive climate period, prejudging Pascual's memories

12

The Francoist

reconstruction of the regime would openly engage in a Medieval - Franco ruled of power "by the grace of God." Its ruling praxis, legitimation nonetheless, demanded popular consent manifested through the existence of a public - or Cortes - as well as sphere. The creation of an apparent representative parliament a the recognition of "public opinion," channelled through the press and through literature, are two of the most obvious (and necessary) contradictions that the State had to admit.

13

I am referring to the first stage of Francoism. As the regime evolved, the fundamental framework of the public sphere would also change. This becomes particularly noticeable after 1966, when the new Press Law of Fraga Iribarne completely Claudia transformed the rules of "publicity." Schaefer recognizes the existence of this dichotomy in the Spanish New Order (267). In a way, I am unintentionally providing an answer for the questions that she

14

raises at the end of her article. 15

This does not imply that realism was the only formal challenge through which such a vindication could take place. I am suggesting that, given the configuration of a public sphere where the pre-allotted spaces of fantasy and reality had suffered a radical

272
dislocation, the recourse to realism required as much future experimental (re)vindications. 16 Kampf, formal self-consciousness as

In his study of fascist literature, Julio Rodrfguez-Pudrtolas analyses Hitler's Mein inwhich it is clearly indicated that diverse enemies have to be portrayed as a belonging to a single category, since the recognition of diversity could easily lead to questioning of the self (22). For an extensive analysis of this case, see Foucault.

17

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1977. del franquismo. Gayatri UP, 1976. Slaughtered of Nebraska my Mother, P, 1982. my Sister Barcelona: Chakravorty Gili, 1977. trans. Baltimore

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JACQUES. Of Grammatology. The and London: Johns Hopkins ed. I Pierre ... Lincoln

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to the Critique the Public Sphere: A Contribution of "Rethinking Habermas and the Public Sphere. Craig Calhoun, Actually Existing Democracy." editor. Cambridge The MIT and London: Press, 1992, 109-42. a una resurrecci6n GIMtNEZ CABALLERO, ERNESTO. Genio de Espana: exaltaciones nacional . Los . y del mundo. secretos de Barcelona: Jerarquia, 1939a. 1939b. textos y estructuras. en La familia de Pascual la Falange. Barcelona:

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La picaresca. por la picaresca." "Vagabundeo Origenes, Madrid: Fundaci6n Universitaria 1979. 935-52. Espanola, GULLON, GERMAN. Hispania "Contexto Duarte." HABERMAS, ideol6gico 68, 1 (1985): 1-8. Structural y forma narrativa

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into a Category Press, 1989. ILIE, PAUL. La York

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HORTENSIA.

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