Gerald Brenan's concept of anarchism as the ‘most Hispanic thing south of the Pyrenees’

Abstract

As indicated by its many editions and print runs, Gerald Brenan's The Spanish Labyrinth has become one of the most popular histories of modem Spain in the English-speaking world.1 Its depiction of the anarchist movement as ‘the most Hispanic thing south ofthe Pyrenees’ has arguably been Brenan's most influential and enduring legacy, to the extent that many scholars have uncritically accepted his romantic and impressionistic interpretation, thus perpetuating some of the more questionable premises and conclusions of his work. This paper focuses primarily on the influences that shaped Brenan's views and on the personal biases that underpin his interpretation of the Spanish anarchist movement. It argues that these influences and biases coloured his assessment of its social base, distorted its numerical strength, and overemphasised its spiritual dimensions. Nevertheless, the exotic appeal of Brenan's interpretation has exerted an extraordinary influence on Anglo-American historiography; an influence that continues to inhibit closer examination of old myths and cliches, despite the existence of a growing body of research, carried out mostly by Spanish scholars, that makes them untenable.