Haunted Noir: Neo-Gothic Barcelona in Carlos Ruiz Zafón's La Sombra del Viento

Abstract

The origin of fiction of detection and in particular roman noir or novela negra may be traced back to the dark and gloomy narratives of the eighteenth-century Gothic novels. In these tales exquisitely drawn spaces often create suspense and fear in the reader, two elements ever-present in detective fiction. This essay explores the connection between Gothic fiction and Spanish crime fiction through an analysis of space in Carlos Ruiz Zafón's novel La sombra del viento. A brief examination of the primary features of Gothic narrative illuminates the existence of Gothic spaces, including the city of Barcelona and several key locations in the novel. Gothic spaces are seen as indicative of the socio-historical milieu in which the author sets the novel — post-Civil-War Spain. Similar to the original Gothic novels, this twenty-first-century Gothic tale of detection allows the reader to work through social anxieties by experiencing them within the imaginary world of fantasy. The socially transgressive nature of both discourses operating in the novel together contributes to a critical examination of the torture and terror of the Franco regime.