La memoria storica nelle voci degli sconfitti: “Los girasoles ciegos” di Alberto Méndez

Abstract

Among the numerous novels published in recent years on the Spanish Civil War, Alberto Méndez’ Los girasoles ciegos (2004) probably represents one of the most interesting examples of recovery of historical memory through the traumatic testimony of several protagonists of the vanquished Republican party. Méndez’ book is a collection of four strongly interrelated stories, conveying to the reader a deep sense of unity by means of the fragmented voices of the derrotados (or the ‘defeated’) of the conflict. Through polyphony, fragmentation, ambiguity and the insertion of various, sometimes discordant, testimonies, letters, diaries, pseudo-documents, etc., the Spanish novelist establishes a continuity with the postmodernist tradition of the historical novel. By revising and fictionalizing history, Méndez seems to suggest that history itself might be another form of fiction.