The Noventayochistas and the Carlist Wars

Abstract

THE name Generation of '98 suggests that its members have been profoundly branded by the national catastrophe: the loss of Spain's last colonies, a historic event with far-reaching political, economic, social consequences. The Cuban war provoked a strong opposition from the Socialists. The noventayochistas-quite outspoken in their anti-Marxist criticism on other issues-joined in the socialist protest against the war. But they focused the problem from a different angle, incorporating it to their main themes: preoccupation with Spain, and time. This article proposes to examine Baroja's, Unamuno's and Valle-Inclan's approach to them through art. A direct result of the circumstance full of conflicts is the revival of the historical novel. The noventayochistas give it a very special character. Prompted by present upheavals, they center their interest on wars that had ravaged the country several decades before. This is an important point in their focus on the problem as well as their technique: acknowledgment of the necessity of distance. That distance is not sufficient, however-according to the few theories that exist on the historical novel-to make their writing fit quite within the genre: a historical novel should not deal with immediate experience; at least fifty years-two generationsshould separate the writer from the events. Madeleine de Gogorza Fletcher, in a recent study of the historical novel in Spain, offers a solution: any book that includes events with which the author has come in contact directly should come under the heading of episodio nacional.1 As a matter of fact, none of these authors was concerned