MONTSERRAT ROIG’S EL TEMPS DE LES CIRERES : A NOSTALGIC LOOK AT THE PAST

Abstract

In Postmodernism or, the Cultural Logic of Late Capitalism, Fredric Jameson speaks to the legitimacy of the claim that we have entered the postmodern era. He also notes, however, that cultural artifacts often contain elements of a previous social structure while, at the same time, revealing one in its early stages of development. In this article I argue that Montserrat Roig’s 1977 novel, El temps de les cireres, supports Jameson’s premise. Through the motifs of photography and time, Roig not only chronicles some of the significant social changes took place in Barcelona during the 1960s and 1970s, she also conjures up the city’s more remote past for an older generarion that had been denied it, as well as for a younger generation that no longer recognized it. In so doing, her novel not only documents events leading up to Spain’s transition to democracy, it also grapples with the broader historical transition from modernity to postmodernity in Spain.