Evading/Invading History: Adolescent Preoccupations with Reality, the Historical Present and Popular Culture in Spanish GenX Narratives By Paul Gunnar Norberg A dissertation submitted in partial satisfaction of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Hispanic Languages and Literatures in the Graduate Division of the University of California, Berkeley Committee in charge: Professor Michael Iarocci, Chair Professor Dru Dougherty Professor Anthony Adamthwaite Fall 2012 1 Abstract Evading/Invading History: Adolescent Preoccupations with Reality, the Historical Present and Popular Culture in Spanish GenX Narratives by Paul Gunnar Norberg Doctor of Philosophy in Hispanic Languages and Literature University of California, Berkeley Professor Michael Iarocci, Chair The Spanish Generation X (GenX) refers to a group of writers, born in the 1960s and early 1970s, who published novels in the 1990s. Their work focused on a generation of Spanish adolescents who were raised during and the closing years of the Franco government and the Transition to democracy. Ray Loriga, José Ángel Mañas and Lucía Etxebarria are three writers who are consistently identified by critics as the figureheads of the generation. This dissertation explores the historical dimensions of their early texts. GenX, a polemical group and categorical designation, is characterized by an emphasis on international popular culture, especially music, film and literature. The young characters in these novelists’ works are alienated from society and their peers, immersed in the present, suspicious of the future, and indifferent to the past. They turn to gratuitous violence, sex and substance abuse in their search for meaning or in order to avoid the realities of their lives. While stylistically ranging from realism to postmodern skepticism about the real, the early novels of Loriga, Mañas and Etxebarria coincide in the representation of how Spain’s young people grappled with the difficulties of a newly global, media-driven, consumerist society as Spain integrated into the European Union. In my dissertation, I analyze how these novelists, who have frequently been criticized for their seeming historical and political apathy in fact engage history in their representations of the their era. While debates rage on about the recuperation of historical memory and political corruption, these authors I study engage in very different projects. They capture in myriad ways the peculiar sense of time and history that characterizes a culture saturated in quick-hitting television news clips, sensationalist television shows and distorted newspaper headlines. GenX novels reflect this new historical consciousness. Everything and nothing is historical; Kurt Cobain’s and Ian Curtis’ suicides (lead singer of Joy Division) become historical markers, signaling the passage of time instead of the attempted coup in 1981 or the death of Franco in 2 1975. History is easily lost to the quickened pace of life, and these novelists show how the attempt to recover and narrate the past often results in fragmented and sometimes mythical texts. i Table of Contents Introduction ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1 Chapter 1: Punk, Realism, and Indifference to History and Politics as Critical Gestures in José Ángel Mañas’ Historias del Kronen and Ciudad rayada ------------------------------------------ 9 Chapter 2: Hyperreality, an Imagined Island and Historical Ahistoricity in Ray Loriga’s Caídos del cielo and El hombre que inventó Manhattan ---------------------------------------------------- 43 Chapter 3: The Haunting Traces of History and the Generation X through the Gendered Lens of Lucía Etxebarria’s Amor, curiosidad, Prozac y dudas --------------------------------------------- 69 Conclusion ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 98 Bibliography --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 101 ii Acknowledgements It has been a fortuitous journey, one I would have never expected or imagined, that has led me to the University of California, Berkeley’s Department of Hispanic Languages and Literatures and ultimately, a doctorate degree. Most certainly, it would never have happened without the influence, guidance and passion of so many people, as well as luck and good fortune. I wanted to first thank my parents, Bob and Joan Norberg, who instilled in my brother and me a strong appreciation for the importance of education, and took us on a life-altering trip to Spain after my high school graduation. I will never be able to repay you both for all of the sacrifices you made in order for me to be where I am today, but nevertheless I thank you and love you. Also, I wanted to thank my younger brother, Scott. A lot of who I am today comes from our Madden ’95 battles, street football everyday after school, the Europe trip, the late night talks while hanging upside down from the top bunk, the constant fights growing up, and our mutual respect and love for each other as we (hopefully) matured into somewhat responsible adults. There are so many other people whose contributions, seemingly insignificant at the time, have helped me get to this point. Thank you to my high school Spanish teachers, Mrs. Winters, Ms. Rota and Mr. Schmidt, as well as the other great teachers I had at Cardinal Newman. The classroom experiences were important, but I will never forget the amazing trips to Mexico and Costa Rica. Also, I wanted to thank all of the guys from Kenwood Fencing, who taught me the Spanish not spoken in my high school classes. My high school friends, Thomas O’Brien, Michael Mancuso, and Moose; the metal concerts, JSA, Confinement, and random misadventures we had were awesome and I couldn’t ask for a better core group of friends. Up the Irons! Thank you to Scott Hibbard, Analisa and Michael Schelle, the Kyses, Randy Seelye and Katharine Anderson, the Kreck family and Bruce Thomas at Mill Creek Winery, the NorCal Sluggers fantasy league, Philz, Buster Posey and Matt Cain, Kathy Sheldon, the Bryans, my niece, Kate, and my godson, Brady; you’ve all helped keep me rather sane throughout this process and contributed to my life in ways I can’t even begin to identify. One key moment in my life was when I first got on the water in a single in the Oakland Estuary; thank you to all of the guys at the East Bay Rowing Club for pushing me to work hard on the water and even harder on land. I can’t wait to get back into the boat with you. Thank you to my professors and lecturers at the University of San Francisco, especially Ana Urrutia-Jordana, Caroline Weber and Pedro Lange-Churión. At a time when I was unsure about my life’s direction, you gently suggested the academic route. To the Danville Dans and the Hodges, thank you for one of the best (baseball) summers of my life. I never would have made it without the support of the great staff of the Spanish department; Cathie, Sue, Mari Mordecai and of course, my Spanish mom, Verónica López. The Dissertation Workshop with Juan Caballero, Allen Young and Natalia Brizuela was the stimulus I needed to make progress on the thesis and find my direction. Thank you to the professors of UCB, and in particular, Ignacio Navarrete (and your phone message from eight years ago admitting me to the program), Emilie Bergmann, Herminia Kerr, Milton Azevedo, Julio Ramos and Laura Garcia-Moreno (a visiting professor from SF State). Thank you to my grad school comrades who commiserated in my suffering and celebrated in my triumphs, making this journey much more enjoyable than it otherwise would have been: Anna Hiller, Dena Marie, Natalia Valencia, Kelly Sullivan, Danger Chang, Heather iii Bamford, Israel Sanz, Óscar Perea Rodríguez (not a grad student but a great basketball player), Donna Southard, Luis Cordero, Sarah Schoellkopf, Rakhel Villamil, and Alexandra Harman. A special thank you to Lori Mesrobian for her constant support, advice, friendship and kicks in the rear, you are the sister I never had. My students throughout my years at Berkeley, from Spanish 1 to Spanish 25, kept me going and deserve recognition too. I was very fortunate to have the opportunity to work with Michael Iarocci and Dru Dougherty, two of the top academics in their respective fields, amazing mentors, impeccable editors and incredibly intelligent professors who spent countless hours supporting me as a graduate student and then as my dissertation committee. Thank you so much, you are my Spanish idols. Also, thank you to Anthony Adamthwaite in the History Department, who worked with me for my Ph.D exams and as a member of my dissertation committee. Your feedback was invaluable, come jump in a boat with us anytime. Finally, I wanted to thank my wife, Jordan. You stood by me during some rough times, knew when to prod me and when to let me be, you inspired me to push through the difficult moments, and this dissertation is as much a tribute to your sacrifices as it is to my hard work. Thank you so much for being the incredible, amazing woman that you are. I love you. Oh, and of course, thank you to my dog, Indy. You spent many a day curled up on the floor on top of my clothes, or nuzzled into the blanket on the couch, or slumped against my side, as I typed away on this strange looking, silver machine. 1 Introduction The Generation X writers in Spain have been a contentious and polarizing group of authors since Ray Loriga’s novel Lo peor de todo was first released