Trauma Stories: Rewriting the Past Through Fragmentation in Spanish

TRAUMA STORIES: REWRITING THE PAST THROUGH FRAGMENTATION IN SPANISH TESTIMONIAL LITERATURE by BETSY BROOKS POOLE ANA CORBALÁN, COMMITTEE CHAIR SARAH T. MOODY M. EDURNE PORTELA IGNACIO RODEÑO WILLIAM WORDEN A DISSERTATION Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the Department of Modern Languages and Classics in the Graduate School of The University of Alabama TUSCALOOSA, ALABAMA 2015 Copyright Betsy Brooks Poole 2015 ALL RIGHTS RESERVED ABSTRACT Of all of the literary genres, that of the testimonial narrative is perhaps one of the most difficult and complex genres to study, analyze, and interpret. Combining elements and theories of memory and trauma, history (both written and oral), psychology, sociology, autobiography, gender, and cultural studies, testimonios have proven to be rich in complexity and bursting to the brim with various interpretations and cultural impacts. Upon reading both individual and collective testimonios produced within Spain and France by men and women in the aftermath of the Spanish Civil War and the duration of World War II, I have identified four primary types of fragmentation that serve not only as means of working through the haunting effects of a traumatized past and creating and re-negotiating new identities, but likewise demonstrate intentional resistance to previously established cultural norms (e.g. those solidified under the fascist regimes of Francisco Franco and Adolf Hitler). These forms of fragmentation include: temporal fragmentation, fragmentation of the voice/narrative subject, stylistic/structural fragmentation, and identitary fragmentation. Accordingly, all four forms are not only essential— and obvious—characteristics of the texts I will analyze in this dissertation, but, upon closer analysis, are also vital to the very act of witnessing, working through traumatic memories, recalling experiences, and (re)writing history. In essence, they are the strategic and textual means through which testimonial narrators are able to reclaim their positions as active participants of History and re-assert themselves in public discourse. ii DEDICATION To my husband Bryan: of all the stories in the world, ours is my favorite. iii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I would like to take this opportunity to thank all of the individuals that have so selflessly supported me throughout this project. First, I would like to thank my tireless director, Dr. Ana Corbalán. Her constant guidance, encouragement, knowledge, patience, and passion for her craft have inspired me to push myself beyond what I ever thought I could do. Next, I would like to thank my committee, Dr. Sarah Moody, Dr. Edurne Portela, Dr. Ignacio Rodeño, Dr. William Worden, and Dr. Álvaro Baquero for their invaluable comments, questions, and suggestions that have helped me refine my work and continue to develop as an academic. I would also like to thank Dani Peterson for the encouraging texts and e-mails along the way: they always seemed to arrive when I needed them the most. I am also indebted to the graduate students and faculty of the Department of Modern Languages and Classics at the University of Alabama—it was through our countless discussions, seminars, classes, socials, and roundtables that I discovered the power of true community and the strength to be found in it. Finally, this dissertation would not have been possible without the incredible support of my Heavenly Father, my husband (Bryan—you are my rock!), my family (Brittany, Amy and Jacob, the best siblings a girl could have), my friends, my community group, and my furry daughters Abbey and Rigby (who put in their hours sitting up with me on long writing nights). A huge shout-out to Mom and Dad, too: thank you for always believing in me and raising me to rise to the challenges set before me. The road went ever on and on, and I followed it, pursuing it with eager feet while you ran alongside of me. I am forever grateful. iv CONTENTS ABSTRACT ................................................................................................ ii DEDICATION ........................................................................................... iii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ......................................................................... iv INTRODUCTION: TESTIMONIES OF SPANISH TRAUMAS ...............1 CHAPTER 1: “HAY MUCHOS CRISTOS”: RESURRECTING THE BURIED PAST IN MANUSCRITO DE UN SUPERVIVIENTE BY FELIPE MATARRANZ GONZÁLEZ ......................................................24 CHAPTER 2: FILLING IN THE GAPS: TEXTUAL FRAGMENTATION AND ALTERNATIVE HERSTORIES IN NEUS CATALÀ’S DE LA RESISTENCIA Y LA DEPORTACIÓN .....................76 CHAPTER 3: SHATTERING THE SILENCE: FRAGMENTATION AND THE (RE)CREATION OF IDENTITY IN JUANA DOÑA’S DESDE LA NOCHE Y LA NIEBLA .........................................................127 CHAPTER 4: THE FRAGMENTED INTERPLAY OF FICTION, HISTORY, AND TRAUMA IN THE TESTIMONIAL NOVELS OF JORGE SEMPRÚN .................................................................................174 CONCLUSION: WRITING TRAUMA, REWRITING HISTORY .......232 REFERENCES ........................................................................................238 v INTRODUCTION TESTIMONIES OF SPANISH TRAUMAS In the opening chapter of his testimonial memoir La escritura o la vida, Spanish author and concentration camp survivor Jorge Semprún poses an interesting and important question as he thinks about writing his memories of trauma: “¿Pero se puede contar? ¿Podrá contarse alguna vez? […] No hay más que dejarse llevar. La realidad está ahí, disponible. La palabra también” (25). Hidden between the lines of this quote, another question lingers, crying out for an answer: but can the real story be told? For countless Spanish men and women who found themselves repressed, brutalized, and victimized by the Francoist and Nazi regimes throughout the Spanish Civil War and World War II, this question hauntingly persists. Having experienced indescribable or seemingly unspeakable trauma at the hands of human perpetrators, they are faced with the uphill battle of working through the trauma they have experienced, reclaiming their own personal stories, and correcting the historical records forged by the victors who skewed, manipulated, or even erased their words for political gain and control. Finding the writing process to be cathartic and capable of profoundly subjective expression, many victims have written their stories down, both for themselves and the greater public, demonstrating through their writing that it is possible to narrate subjective traumatic experiences with authority and purpose. Thus the question changes from “can the story be told?” to “how does one tell it?,” a question that this dissertation aims to analyze through the work of four Spanish writers who wrote of their personal experiences within Francoist prisons and Nazi concentration camps. Bridging the gap between 1 testimonios and testimonial fiction birthed from traumatic experiences, I will examine the literary strategies of fragmentation utilized by Felipe Matarranz González, Neus Català, Juana Doña Jiménez, and Jorge Semprún that reveal their trauma in perceivable ways and enable them to overcome it and (re)write history from alternative perspectives. Defining Testimonio: An Overview Before delving into close readings and an analysis of these authors, it will be worthwhile to define key terminology and broadly review how testimonial criticism and trauma theory have been shaped by the conflictive political climate of the twentieth century. Although evidence of the testimonial genre dates back as far as the voyage diaries of the Spanish explorers of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, the surge of critical study did not come to fruition until the rise of widespread political unrest in Latin America and Europe in the mid-twentieth century (e.g. political and cultural revolutions throughout South and Central America and the Caribbean, World Wars I and II in Europe). A distinct genre first officially highlighted by scholars following the publication of Miguel Barnet’s Biografía de un cimarrón in Cuba in 1967, the testimonio, or memory text, is perhaps one of the most difficult and complex genres to study, analyze, and interpret.1 Combining elements and theories of memory, trauma, history (both written and oral), psychology, sociology, autobiography, gender, and cultural studies, testimonios have proven to be rich in complexity and bursting to the brim with various interpretations and cultural impacts. To add to the already-existing complexity of this genre, many critics have traditionally studied 1 The term “memory text” is used by critic Shirley Mangini in her attempt to underscore the wide variety of text types that testimonios can imitate. She writes, “this label permits me to subsume it under both testimonials and written texts, which often converge because some of the written texts are transcribed oral testimonies and because I have turned other fragments of interviews into ‘written text.’ In still others texts […] the authors use the format of novel, diary, memoir, and more traditional autobiography.” (188). 2 memory texts produced by male and female authors separately, implying that there are no unifying or key structures connecting the two, or that there is very little merit in comparatively interpreting their narratives.2 An additional gap in the world of literary criticism is seen in the relative lack of theoretical or critical analyses that focus exclusively on the peninsular

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