Time in the Novels of Elena Quiroga

Abstract

ELENA QUIROGA has been one of the first Spanish writers of the post-war literary generation to experiment creatively with time, and her novels reveal an extremely varied approach to this subject.' Two novels in the traditional vein proceed chronologically from start to finish according to cosmic time, with no mental digressions. Others maintain a similar objective chronology, but are interrupted subjectively to a greater or lesser extent by flashbacks or thought projections into the future. There are some works which take place chronologically within a relatively brief period of clock time, yet mental time intrudes to flesh out the psychology of the characters. Finally, in some novels the chronological events are extremely limited in time and take place within a single afternoon or evening, yet the past is evoked so frequently and so abruptly that it fuses with the present to create a simultaneous narration on two temporal planes. It is in this last category that one finds Quiroga's most experimental novels. La soledad sonora and Viento del norte, her first works, are the only ones written with a straight chronological sequence unbroken by flashbacks or jumps ahead in time. Only later does she become aggressively experimental with this technique. Viento del norte marks a step forward in Quiroga's novelistic skill, although it must be classified with La soledad sonora because of the similarity of their chronological development. In Viento del norte time becomes a key element making the unusual events of the story seem believable. Only time could bring about the mellowing which allows Alvaro to come to love and marry Marcela. He could not do so at the novel's beginning, not only because Marcela is just a baby then, but also because his own youthful idealism and pride in his social position would not permit his marriage to a servant. With the passage of time the obstacles disappear and such a relationship ceases to be impossible for them. Tristura and Escribo tu nombre must be discussed together because of the manner in which their objective, external chronology is interrupted subjectively by flashbacks and thought projections into the future. These works, written a decade after the publication of La soledad sonora and Viento del norte, appear to some critics to signal a rejection of the novelistic experimentation which had characterized Quiroga's intervening novels and a return to a less interesting style.2 This is not true, for the manner in which Quiroga employs time in these works is sophisticated and effective, although undeniably more subtle than in novels such as La careta.