Unveiling Disconcertment: "La Meva Cristina" and "El Batalló Perdut" as Literature of Exile

Abstract

The end of Spanish Civil war marked beginning of a massive exodus that displaced a whole generation of Spaniards who still carry with them scars of exile. Many expatriates adapted to disconcertment of their new circumstances, and upon their return carried with them an amalgamation of who they were and what they had become, making their process of reintegration quite difficult. Taking into consideration—as per Frederic Jameson—that literature is a cultural product that textualizes Real through author's political unconscious, it is possible to offer a reading of Merce Rodoreda's La meva Cristina and Pere Calders's El batallo perdut as literature of exile. The use of fantastic elements and situations where disconcertment reigns can be seen as an articulation of bizarre experience of rootlessness. Through use of fantastic these stories contribute to representation of exile and translate sensations and emotions that history books can rarely capture. Their ultimate triumph is that of replicating the feel of rootlessness. This article looks at life circumstances of authors in order to help establish context of production of stories. Later it examines use of fantastic genre as a way of projecting ambiguity that arises from banishment. Finally, it unveils various elements within stories that point toward disconcertment of exile: identity crisis and status determination; acceptance and inertia; attempts at defining an incongruent space; pervasive wounds and scars; and reintegration and remembrance