Anticipating
Transformation: The Urbanization of Consciousness in Eduardo Mendoza’s La verdad sobre el caso
Savolta and La ciudad de los prodigios
Kalen R. Oswald
Very few Spanish novelists in the last 30 years have
enjoyed more success with critics and readers than Eduardo Mendoza, and even
fewer have matched the intensity and consistency with which he portrays his
native city of
Since his 1985 works Consciousness and the Urban Experience and The Urbanization of Capital—later combined and published as The Urban Experience (1989)—
Capital flow presupposes tight temporal and
spatial coordination in the midst of increasing separation and fragmentation.
It is impossible to imagine such a material process without the production of
some kind of urbanization as a ‘rational landscape’ within which the
accumulation of capital can proceed. Capital accumulation and the production of
urbanization go hand in hand. (22)
Nevertheless, due to the expansionary nature of capital and constant
technological advancements, this urbanization can not be seen as an end result
of capitalism, rather a continuous process whereby capitalism reproduces itself
by the conquering, organization and reorganization of space, building “[…] a
geographical landscape in its own image” (Spaces
177). This leads to one of
Many of the daily experiences that play out
in these five loci of consciousness formation have to do with the division and
control of urban spaces. Space imposes upon us a way of understanding which
will “reinforce existing patterns of social life” (250). The conception of space
entrained by the urbanization of consciousness logically leads to the
production of space that reinforces that conception. Therefore, the control and
manipulation of space—in both material and discursive realms—become sources of
social power for both capital and labor.
These aspects of
La verdad and La ciudad both take place
around the turn of the 20th century in
How, then, do these historical novels mirror their present? For
Giménez-Micó La verdad and La ciudad attempt to explain the present
situation with past events (53). After all, as the nameless protagonist of
Mendoza’s El misterio de la cripta
embrujada asserts: “pues siempre seremos lo que ya fuimos” (124). The history and events depicted in the novels
also parallel certain key aspects of contemporary society. Nevertheless, some
critics astutely call attention to numerous and conspicuous historical errors
and omissions in these novels. The nature and frequency of these discrepancies
suggest that something else is at play with the manner in which
I believe that history is both a science and a literary form. […] I am
not a historian; therefore, it is not the reason my novels are based on
history. I am not primarily concerned with dates, but I am interested in
recapturing our signs of identity. I am a narrator, who wants to tell a
familiar story, the personal history of a given community, in this case,
The components of
consciousness formation in these novels explicitly call attention to and reveal
much about the contemporary urban experience of Barcelona, thereby making them
emblems of an urbanized consciousness anticipating significant transformations:
La verdad facing the economic and
political shifts that accompanied the loss of much of Barcelona’s heavy
industry and the end of the francoist dictatorship, and La ciudad looking forward to Olympic apotheosis.
La verdad sobre el caso Savolta (1975)
The representation of the state in La
verdad provides one of the most obvious indications that this historical
novel communicates a contemporary urbanization of consciousness.
While the King’s appearance in the novel is conspicuous, the police of
In some ways Comisario Vázquez seems very competent and dedicated,
albeit somewhat imperious. Miranda describes Vázquez in the following
manner:
Recuerdo que, al principio, me cayó mal el comisario
Vázquez, con su mirada displicente y su media sonrisa irónica y aquella lentitud
profesional que ponía en sus palabras y sus movimientos, tendente sin duda a
exasperar e inquietar y a provocar una súbita e irrefrenable confesión de
culpabilidad en el oyente. […] La primera vez que le vi lo juzgué de una
pedantería infantil, casi patética. Luego me atacaba los nervios. Al final
comprendí que bajo aquella pose oficial había un método tenaz y una decisión
vocacional de averiguar la verdad a costa de todo. Era infatigable, paciente y perspicaz en
grado sumo. (42)
Despite his skills
as an investigator and intentions to uncover the truth, Comisario Vázquez makes
some crucial errors in judgement. His principal mistake involves his initial
treatment of Nemesio Cabra Gómez, a mentally debilitated police informant. At
the beginning of the case, while Vázquez and the police misinterpreted the
little evidence they had, Nemesio understood the keys to the unfolding of the
case. Nevertheless, since this information was being proffered by what Vázquez
considers “un verdadero desecho social” (418), and since at the time the police
had the accused anarchists in custody, Comisario Vázquez refuses to listen to
Nemesio. Only later does Vázquez confess his error in discounting Nemesio’s
findings (411-18). When Vázquez finally does manage to dig up concrete evidence
in the case, his superiors transfer him to a post in Tetuán, and later to
The novel’s treatment of Comisario Vázquez speaks to the
ineffectiveness and corruption of the state and the police of
Buckley believes that the representation of the state constitutes the
clearest link between this novel’s time of production and time of
representation, describing both governments as regimes in a state of
decomposition (116-17). He explains:
En 1917, la monarquía parlamentaria de Alfonso
XIII entraba en su recta final, y las perspectivas de una revolución a la rusa parecían cada vez más
plausibles en medio de la crisis económica, la inoperancia de los partidos
políticos, el vacío de poder, etc. Lo mismo podríamos decir del régimen de
Franco después del asesinato de Carrero Blanco (20 de diciembre de 1973): no se
trataba sólo de que el régimen ya no tenía futuro, sino de que no tenía
presente, de que se descomponía a ojos vista porque sus propios seguidores
habían dejado de creer en él. […] Se producía así (tanto en 1917-19 como en
1974-75) un vacío de poder político, vacío en el sentido de que el gobierno
deja de ofrecer soluciones políticas y se limita a ejercer la pura y dura
represión policial. (117)
The urbanization of
consciousness as portrayed in this novel clearly speaks to the ineffectiveness
of the policies of the state in social and economic affairs. Nevertheless,
there is also a sense of anticipation—but not necessarily optimism—for the
future. History affords us this clue. The novel’s chronicle of the events in
Barcelona ends when Miranda and María Coral move to the United States in 1920,
while Spain was still experiencing the “vacío de poder político” (Buckley 117)
of Alfonso XIII’s goverment. This vacuum was filled by the dictatorship of Primo
de Rivera, a government even more repressive in its dealings with
The function of individualism in La
verdad also deserves careful consideration in these novels. Individualism
is a locus of consciousness formation in that the individual’s experiences with
and understanding of time and money under capitalism mold his or her perception
of space. Furthermore, the individual who sells his skills to buyers of labor,
earns a means to control a little bit of space, which becomes a part—however
small—of the process that continues to form and reform the urbanization of
consciousness.
Money […] functions as a concrete abstraction, imposing external and
homogeneous measures of value on all aspects of human life […] Money and
capital therefore confront us as double alienations, the compounding of which
should surely produce energy of revolt sufficient to dispose quickly of both.
Yet the alienations can also confound and confuse each other. Class-bound
political movements against the power of capital hesitate or fail if they
appear to threaten real and cherished, though necessarily limited liberties
given by the possession of money in the marketplace. Even the poorest person
can relish the kind of liberty that even the minutest amount of money power can
give. Workers may even connive or accede to their own exploitation in
production in return for increased money power that gives them greater market
freedoms and greater ability to control a portion of their own space […] and
their own time […]. (The Urban 232)
Of the more than 30
characters that have at least a minor role in La verdad (Yang 55), Javier Miranda, Paul-André Lepprince and María
Coral most explicitly emulate issues of individualism and space. Miranda, a
native of
The situations of these three individuals have meaningful spatial
implications. In the first place, by accepting Lepprince’s arrangement, Miranda
willingly subjects himself to an exploitation consisting of a rigorous and
demanding work schedule and a loveless marriage with María Coral. María Coral
also consigns herself to a less than desirable union with Miranda, and to the
sexual domination of Lepprince. In return, Miranda and María Coral receive a
boost in social status which allows them access to spaces that before were off
limits to them—exemplified by their invitation to a reception graced by a visit
from King Alfonso XIII (337-39)—and offers María Coral an escape from the
lowest class spaces to which she was previously consigned. Javier
recalls María Coral’s reasons for accepting the arrangement:
María Coral me dijo que había meditado al respecto
[…]. Declaró haberse casado conmigo por interés, sin que mediase sentimiento
alguno en su decisión. Tenía la conciencia tranquila porque suponía que yo no
era víctima de un engaño y que también ha había desposado como medio de obtener
algún provecho; asimismo, lo que de reprobable pudiera tener aquella boda
quedaba compensado por el hecho de que, al contraerla, había evitado que sus
angustiosas circunstancias la condujeran a trances mil veces peores. (308-09)
Although Miranda and María Coral gain access
to more exclusive spaces than previously allowed, both of them feel at least a
little out of place in these environments—especially María Coral (319-20).
There is yet another irony concerned with space and individualism.
Miranda’s acceptance of the marriage arrangement, along with his new job as
Lepprinces personal assistant, greatly improve his financial situation, giving
him power to control personal space. He exercises that power by purchasing an
upper-middle class home in the Eixample and remodeling it to his liking
(294-95). Nevertheless, Miranda later learns that he really does not control
his personal space at all. Lepprince does. The Frenchman enters Miranda’s home
to be with María Coral whenever he so desires and he stays as long as he likes,
often impeding Miranda’s timely return to his own space by having his aides
create more work for him at the office (346). Later on Lepprince’s insolence
regarding his relationship with María Coral reaches such a degree that he
ceases to care whether Miranda is home or not, and while Lepprince makes love
to Miranda’s wife, Lepprince’s bodyguard, Max, dictates with threats where
Miranda can and cannot go in his own house.
The manner in which
under capitalism. The power to control space
with money tempers the potential for revolt against the exploitation of the
individual, yet in La verdad this
individual power barely exists superficially. Legitimate control over space
remains in the hands of the individuals—like Lepprince—who have access to much
larger amounts of money (and other forms of capital). This understanding leads
María Coral to conclude the following concerning Lepprince’s power over the
Miranda couple’s individual space: “Ya ves qué sencillo es todo cuando se tiene
dinero y poder” (346).
For many individuals in the
In addition to the lack of solidarity among the working class, any acts
of resistance also met with severe repression by capitalists. Lepprince ordered
the assassination of Pajarito
Siguiendo con los informes que obran en mi poder, a
lo largo de 1918 se produjeron en Barcelona ochenta y siete atentados de los
llamados «sociales», cuyo balance de víctimas es el siguiente: patrones
muertos, 4; heridos, 9; obreros y encargados muertos, 11; heridos; 43. Esto sin
contar los daños materiales causados por los numerosos incendios y explosiones
dinamiteras. En mayo se produce un saqueo de tiendas de comestibles que se
prolonga por varios días y que sólo la declaración del estado de guerra pudo
contener. (168-69)
Miranda’s response to the judge’s description
of the tumultuous space of
The significance of individualism and class struggle in this novel
would not have been lost on the contemporary reader in
Family and community—much like individualism—take on increased
importance in La verdad when seen in
relationship to class. Class concerns virtually subsume the portrayal of
community in this novel. The severe civic strife in
The dealings of the Savoltas show the formidable influence family can have
on the formation of a consciousness of class, which inevitably manifests itself
in the urban environment in the form of uneven geographical development. Enric
Savolta, who comes from a wealthy and distinguished lineage, uses family money
to buy into a new industrial plant specializing in the production of weapons.
By capitalizing on the wartime circumstances, his investment pays off
handsomely. Savolta’s family money and prominence allow him to literally change
a significant portion of the landscape of
No puede usted
imaginarse la enorme alegría que nos ha producido a Paulina y a mí recibir la
noticia de que usted nos iba a enviar dinero desde Nueva York. […] Estos años
han sido muy difíciles para Paulina y para mí. […] Mi único deseo, en este
tiempo, ha sido procurar que la pequeña Paulina no cariese de nada. […] Como
además hemos tenido que ir vendiendo mis joyas, la pobre ha crecido en un
ambiente de clase media, tan distinto al que por nacimiento le corresponde. La
niña, sin embargo, no traiciona su origen y se quedaría usted sorprendido de su
distinción y modales. […] El dinero que usted nos va a enviar nos viene pues
como anillo al dedo. Tengo puestas mis esperanzas en una buena boda, para
cuando Paulina esté en edad de merecer, cosa difícil de lograr si no se cuenta
con un mínimo de medios. Y, aunque estoy segura de que muchos hombres de valía
la mirarán con buenos ojos, no creo que ninguno se atreva a dar el paso
definitivo, por consideraciones de orden social. Ya ve usted lo muy necesitadas
que estamos de ese dinero que usted nos enviará en breve. (431)
María Rosa
successfully teaches her young daughter concerning her true social standing by
right of birth and how to avoid betraying her upper-class family origin despite
the temporary lack of wealth. In this letter María Rosa shows the degree
to which a sense of class is engrained in her consiousness. In addition to the
constant references to money, material possessions and social status, she also
employs a materialistic simile—“
While the depiction of community and family of 1917-1919 Barcelona is
not unrealistic, verifying that their roles actually played out precisely in
the depicted manner would prove not only difficult, but inconsequential as well
because
It may seem meaningless to examine the descriptions of urban space in La verdad, since that space has
undoubtedly changed since 1919. What that space symbolizes in relation to
class, however, makes
The Barrio Chino is represented in this novel as a dangerous, dirty and
labyrinthine area dominated by the lowest classes. When Miranda takes his
friend Perico Serramadriles to the cabaret where María Coral performs, he
describes the neighborhood in the following manner:
Perico y yo nos
internamos más y más en aquel laberinto de callejones, ruinas y desperdicios,
él curioseando todo con avidez, y ajeno al lamentable espectáculo que se
desarrollaba a nuestro alrededor. [...]
—¿Se
puede saber adónde vamos? Este lugar es horrible.
—Ya
hemos llegado. Mira.
Y le
señalé la puerta de un tenebroso cabaret. Un letrero sucio y roto anunciaba:
ELEGANTES VARIEDADES e incluía la lista de precios. Del interior llegaban las
notas de un piano desafinado.
—No
querrás entrar ahí —me dijo con el miedo cincelado en el rostro. (187-88)
When Miranda goes
back to the same neighborhood looking for María Coral’s residence, he provides
a gloomy description of the miserable conditions of the people who reside in
the Barrio Chino:
Localicé por fin
las señas y vi que se trataba de una mísera pensión o casa de habitaciones que
[…] hacía las veces de casa de citas. La entrada era estrecha y oscura. [...]
Subí los desgastados peldaños alumbrándome ocasionalmente con una cerilla y a
tientas. La lobreguez del entorno, lejos de deprimirme, me animó, pues
evidenciaba que María Coral no disfrutaba de una posición que le autorizase a
despreciarme. [...] Llegué ante una puerta que decía:
HABITACIONES
LA JULIA
y más abajo, junto
al picaporte: EMPUJE. Empujé y la puerta se abrió rechinando. Me vi en un
vestíbulo débilmente iluminado por un lamparilla de aceite que ardía en la
hornacina de un santo. El vestíbulo no tenía otro mobiliario que un paragüero
de loza. A derecha e izquierda corría un pasillo en tinieblas y a ambos lados
del pasillo se alineaban las habitaciones, en cuyas puertas se leían números
garrapateados en tiza. (209)
These miserable
conditions are rivaled only by the shacks that the immigrant industrial workers
construct in the suburban area between
Los suburbios
quntos esperaban y callaban, uncidos a la ciudad, como la hiedra al muro. (77-78)
The novel also
contrasts these lower class spaces with other sectors of the city. Lepprince’s
first home is situated in one of the “barrios pacíficos y virtuosos de la clase
media” (73), a bourgeoisie dominated portion of the Eixample, on the Rambla
Cataluña. The Savolta family resides in a mansion in the exclusive Sarriá district in
the foothills of western Barcelona: “[la casa] estaba enclavada en […] un
montículo que domina Barclelona y el mar. Las casas eran del tipo llamado
«torre», a saber: viviendas de dos o una planta rodeadas de jardín” (108).
In 1975
La ciudad de los prodigios (1986)
Few critics—if any—question the importance of
Like La verdad, this novel
recalls real people and events from
Because of his primordial role in the novel, I have chosen to examine
Onofre Bouvila as an example of how individualism is portrayed in relationship
to the urbanization of consciousness. Onofre clearly understands the power of
money, the individualism it facilitates and the misery that the lack of it
causes. The accumulation of wealth, therefore, becomes the driving force behind
the behavior of Onofre: “Ser rico era el objetivo que se había fijado en la
vida” (46). Onofre’s comprehension of how money imposes “measures of value on
all aspects of human life” (Harvey, Urban
232), is exemplified by his repeated attempts to buy love—not just sex—from
Delfina, Margarita Figa i Morera, and María Belltall. Furthermore, in exchange
for money, he subjects himself to exploitation, passing out anarchist pamphlets
to the workers at the construction sites of the 1888 World Fair. When Onofre
becomes dissatisfied with the miniscule returns for his propagandist work he
devises other means to make money. He begins by conning the construction
workers into buying his miracle hair restorer potion, then he practices petty
thievery, becomes a thug, then rises to be second in command to
The way individualism plays out in this novel communicates that in
order for individuals to break out of their exploitation, they must abandon
their scruples, subject themselves to exploitation, resort to alternative ways
of accumulating wealth and ultimately exploit others. Those who do not do as
Onofre, either stay in the same situation, or suffer a worse fate. Pablo, the
anarchist “apóstol” is imprisoned, tortured, then executed for a crime that he
did not commit (55-57). Delfina also suffers an ignoble fate. After several
years of incarceration, Onofre exploits her in his nascent movie industry
before she dies, miserable and alone, in an insane asylum. Onofre
reflects on this matter: “Los pobres sólo tenemos una alternativa, se decía, la
honradez y la humillación o la maldad y el remordimiento” (327). Onofre clearly chooses the latter
alternative.
Onofre often expresses his individualism in ways that directly affect
the configuration perception of space in
En poco más de dos años
se hizo muy rico [Onofre]. Mientras tanto, de resultas de ello, causó a la
ciudad un mal irreparable, porque las víctimas de sus argucias se encontraban
con unos terrenos baldíos carentes de valor por los que habían satisfecho sumas
muy altas. Ahora tenían que hacer algo con ellos. Normalmente estos terrenos
habrían sido destinados a viviendas baratas, a ser ocupados por los pobres
inmigrantes y su prole. Pero como su valor inicial había sido tan alto, fueron
destinados a viviendas de lujo. […] Para recuperar parte del capital perdido
los dueños esacatimaban dinero en la construcción […]. También hubo que edificar
en parcelas originalmente destinada a jardines o parques de recreo, a cocheras,
escuelas y hospitales. Para compensar tanto desastre se puso mucho esmero en
las fachadas. […] Todo para poder
recuperar el dinero que Onofre Bouvila les había robado. Así crecía la
ciudad, a gran velocidad, por puro afán. (190-91, my emphasis)
The individualism
exemplified by Onofre truly has far reaching effects. In fact, Patricia Hart
believes that Onofre “is genuinely defined by his ability to make all
Onofre quickly learns
the power money can offer, but he also learns that money has its limitations.
As rich as Onofre becomes, he cannot purchase familial happiness nor ancestral
prestige. His wife ends up despising him and his relationship with his children
is at best strained. He learns that family pedigree can trump money when he
grants the petition of a group of
This same instance shows how family also functions in this novel as one
of the undermining factors to a sense of community. The loyalties of these
noblemen fluctuate depending on the circumstances. They ask Onofre for support,
evoking his solidarity with them as fellow bourgeois colleagues, and then later
they claim privileges of noble lineage, at the expense of bourgeois solidarity.
By the same token, the lower classes are unable to form a strong enough
community solidarity to successfully resist their exploitation. Different
factions of socialism and anarchism weaken each other. Delfina betrays her
anarchist comrades when she discovers that her boyfriend had been lying to her,
hiding the fact that he had a wife and children. Immigrant workers find it hard
to fit in when they arrive in
In La ciudad, while the
political leaders of
Community and the State also relate
to class in this novel. In a way,
Onofre could be seen as a hero for the lower classes, because he manages to
succeed economically and cross social boundaries. In spite of any individual
triumphs, however, the capitalist mechanism that fosters the perpetuation of
class divisions remains the same at the end of the novel in 1929, as it was
when Onofre first arrives in
Esta pensión […] estaba
situada en el carreró del Xup. Este carreró [...] iniciaba a poco de su
arranque una cuesta suave que se iba acentuando hasta […] morir escasos metros
más adelante contra un muro asentado sobre los restos de una muralla antigua
[...]. De este muro manaba constantemente un líquido espeso y negro que a lo
largo de los siglos había redondeado, pulido y abrillantado los peldaños que
había en el callejón; por ello estos peldaños se habían vuelto resbaladizos.
Luego el reguero discurría cuesta abajo por un surco paralelo al bordillo de la
acera y se sumía con gorgoteos intermitentes en la boca de avenamiento que se
abría en el cruce con la calle de la Manga [...]. (10-11)
Not far from there
lies Barceloneta and the port, areas teeming with poverty and disease at that
time (20-22). The small, lawless sector called Morrot is situated a short way
to the south, just beyond the medieval wall. The only entrance to this
neighborhood consisted of a small opening in the mountain of coal that was
imported from
Allí había teatros que
ofrecían espectáculos procaces y sin gracia, tabernas mugrientas y
bullangueras, algún fumadero de opio de poca categoría [...] y mancebías
siniestras. Allí sólo acudía la hez de Barcelona y algunos marineros recién
desembarcados, no pocos de los cuales nunca volvían a zarpar. Allí sólo vivían
prostitutas, proxenetas, rufianes, contrabandistas y delincuentes. […] La
policía no entraba en la zona salvo a pleno día y sólo para parlamentar o proponer
un canje. […] no era raro encontrar allí de cuando en cuando un ahorcado
balanceándose en el dintel de un local de diversión. […] se sabía que quienes
morían violentamente, si no habían de servir de escarmiento público, eran
sepultados en la pila de carbón. [...] En el fango seco y cuarteado de la
calzada dormían borrachos envueltos en sus propias deyecciones, rodeados de un
halo de pestilencia. (79-80)
The spaces
pertaining to the poor immigrant workers are also quite miserable. Because of
their lack of resources, many of these individuals built meager shacks from
scavenged materials on the outskirts of the city:
Los barrios de barracas
brotaban de la noche a la mañana en las afueras de la ciudad [...]. Lo
inquietante de este fenómeno, lo peor del barraquismo, era su carácter de
permanencia [...]. En las ventanas de las barracas más miserables había
cortinas hechas de harapos; con piedras encaladas delimitaban jardines ante las
barracas, en estos jardines plantaban tomates, con latas de petróleo vacías
hacían tiestos en los que crecían geranios rojos y blancos, perejil y albahaca.
(356)
In an attempt to remedy the problem of the barracas, the state fostered and
subsidized the construction of huge apartment building projects called casas baratas. Nevertheless, the workers
who could afford these apartments found themselves in an almost equally
difficult situation:
En este tipo de casa no
sólo era barato el alquiler: los materiales empleados en su construcción eran
de calidad ínfima, el cemento era mezclado con arena o detritus, las vigas eran
a veces traviesas podridas desechadas por los ferrocarriles, los tabiques eran
de cartón o papel prensado. Estas viviendas formaban ciudades satélites a las
que no llegaba el agua corriente, la electricidad, el teléfono ni el gas;
tampoco había allí escuelas, centros asistenciales ni recreativos ni vegetación
de ningún tipo. [...] En las casas baratas las instalaciones eran tan
deficientes que los incendios y las inundaciones eran cosa de todos los días. (356)
Both of these
options—the barracas and the casas baratas—resulted in destitute
neighborhoods that by most standards would be considered inhumane. The narrator
of La ciudad explains that the
appalling living conditions in these poverty stricken spaces cause Saint
Eulalia, the patron saint of Barcelona, to look down from heaven and lament
over what has become of the city, exclaiming: “Qué ciudad ésta, Dios mío”
(357).
Compare the circumstances of these destitute sectors with the
ostentatious environment of the Paseo de la Gracia where Humbert Figa i Morera
lives (124), the luxury of the Ritz Hotel during the visit of the Czarina of
Russia (246-47), the “viviendas de lujo” that were built on the Eixample
(190-91), and the following description of Onofre’s residence in Bonanova:
La casa constaba de tres
plantas, cada una de las cuales tenía una superficie de mil doscientos metros
cuadrados; la fachada principal, orientada al sureste, mirando hacia Barcelona,
tenía once balcones en cada una de las plantas superiores y diez ventanales y
la puerta de entrada en la planta baja. Entre balcones, ventanas, tragaluces,
vidrieras, claraboyas, miradores y puertas había en la casa un total de dos mil
seis piezas de vidrio. […] Ahora el jardín […] había recuperado su antigua armonía;
los esquifes recién barnizados se mecían en el canal, varias parejas de cisnes
reflejaban sus formas gráciles en el agua cristalina del lago; dentro de la
casa las puertas se abrían y cerraban con suavidad, las lámparas centelleaban
en los espejos, en los techos se podían ver querubines y ninfas recién
pintados, las alfombras amortiguaba el ruido de los pasos y los muebles
absorbían en la superficie reluciente la luz tamizada que filtraban los
visillos. (298-332)
By 1986, many of the
spaces described in La ciudad had
been radically changed. Morrot had disappeared, Barceloneta was renovated, and
the semi-rural areas of Sarriá, Pedralbes and Bonanova had been subsumed in the
urban expansion of the 20th century. Nevertheless, urban space remained
segregated along class lines in the 1980s. In fact, the description of the
immigrant worker satellite cities described in La ciudad differs very little from the living conditions of many
workers in the Nou Barris district in contemporary
The World Fairs of 1888 and 1929 and the 1992 Olympics provided
opportunities to renovate much of the city. Urban renewal for these events,
nevertheless, was selective and seemed motivated more by the desire to project
a positive, marketable image—which would profit the wealthy more than anyone
else—rather than on social justice. The narrator of La ciudad illustrates this point when he explains how before the
1888 Exposition the authorities decided to “limpiar The narrator of La ciudad explains:
aunque […] nadie en sus cabales discutía la
igualdad de todos los hombres ante la ley, la realidad era muy distinta. Las
personas de orden, la gente de bien, gozaba de una protección que al perdulario
le estaba negada. El perdulario desconocía sus derechos, y de haberlos
conocido, no habría sabido cómo hacerlos valer y aun cuando lo hubiera sabido,
es dudoso que la judicatura se los hubiera reconocido; siempre le tocaba las de
perder. (119)
Viewing this novel
as an emblem of contemporary urban consciousness provides noteworthy insights
to
Instead of going down the expected route pioneered by the
Eurocommunist-run cities of
The fact remains,
however, that although urban renewal was selective and resembled the work of
“enlightened despots” (156), many of the transformations of the 1980s benefited
a wide range of Barcelonans. The portrayal of the state in La ciudad calls into question the contemporary government’s motives
for urban development, which seemed based more on aesthetics and selling place
than on socialist ideals.
I previously pointed out how the depiction of
La verdad and La ciudad both emerged
out of an urbanization of consciousness that anticipated significant urban
transformations. Nevertheless, the linking of the past eras with the present
also gives the impression that the more things change, the more they stay the
same. Even though the urban spaces have changed, the individuals are different
and the state has evolved many times over since the eras portrayed in these
novels, the dynamic remains the same. The urban process in
NOTES
1
2 Mario Santana also notes the parallels between
1917-1919 and 1975 (140).
3 Although the novel clearly places Onofre’s residence
in the area of Bonanova, the description of the estate and its history more
closely parallels the area of Horta at the current site of the Parque del
Laberinto. Mario Camus also noted these parallels, setting part of his filmic
adaptation of this novel in the Parque del Laberinto.
4 See Moix’s La ciudad de los
arquitectos, McNeill’s Urban Change
and the European Left, and Moreno and Vázquez Montalbán’s Barcelona, ¿a dónde vas?.
Buckley, Ramón. La doble transición: Política y literatura en
la España de los años setenta. Madrid: Siglo XXI de España Editores, 1996
Carr, Raymond. Modern Spain 1875-1980. Oxford: Oxford
UP, 1980
La
ciudad de los prodigios. Dir.
Mario Camus. Filmax International, 1999.
Deveny,
Thomas G. Contemporary Spanish Film from
Fiction.
Fernández-Armesto,
Felipe.
Gautier,
Marie-Lise Gazarian. “Eduardo Mendoza.” Interviews
with Spanish Writers.
Giménez-Micó, María José. Eduardo Mendoza y las novelas de la
transición. Madrid: Editorial Pliegos, 2000.
Hart,
Patricia. “Barcelona: Prodigious Protagonist of Eduardo Mendoza’s La ciudad de los prodigios.” Ideas
’92:
Harvey, David. The Condition of Postmodernity.
———. Consciousness
and the Urban Experience. Baltimore, Johns
———. Justice,
Nature and the Geography of Difference.
———.
Spaces of Hope.
———. The
Urban Experience.
———. The
Urbanization of Capital. Baltimore,
Johns Hopkins UP, 1985.
Knutson, David J. Las novelas de Eduardo Mendoza: La parodia de los márgenes.
Lefebvre,
Henri. The Production of Space.
Marín Minguillón, Adolfo. “Hacia
la España 92: sociedad de libre mercado y la novela de la democracia.” Revista
de Estudios Hispánicos 17-18
(1990): 105-13.
McNeill,
Donald. Urban Change and the European
Left: Tales from the New
Mellefic, Malleus. “... y los prodigios se
sucedieron en la ciudad de... (Meditación trágica sugerida por una lectura
febril de Eduardo Mendoza).” Quimera
66-67 (1987): 56-57.
Mendoza, Eduardo. El misterio de la cripta embrujada. Barcelona: Seix
Barral, 1979.
———. La
ciudad de los prodigios. Barcelona: Seix Barral, 1986.