The British Exile: Memory and Trauma in the Works of Spanish Writers Exiled in Great Britain after the Spanish Civil War

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Due to its complex nature, the Spanish exile has not received the necessary attention yet. Moreover, censorship and the difficulties of publishing abroad, among other reasons, have denied exile literature the opportunity of becoming part of the literary canon. Furthermore, besides challenging the canon and displaying new perspectives about historical events which are crucial for the Spanish collective identity, Spanish exiles' literary works are relevant in the context of transnational studies as hybrid creations which belong to two cultures. Therefore, exile literature stands in an undefined space between politics, history and literature, which facilitates the understanding of the complexities of a people's history. Besides its problematic nature as a genre, testimonial writing presents similar issues. Despite not receiving numerous Spanish refugees, Britain attracted Spanish intellectuals who benefited from a relatively privileged position in exile (although the cultural difference and Spain's devastation still generated a profound sense of alienation). These conditions, different from those found in France (where refugees faced extreme difficulties) or in Latin America (where they were too far distant to know about their country), led to the creation of testimonies which offered different perspectives on the causes of the war and attempted to reconstruct the memory of exile. Moreover, as their authors worked on their literary dimension, these testimonies also constitute pieces of art. The works studied will be Arturo Barea's trilogy La forja de un Rebelde (1941 - 1944), Esteban Salazar's Perico en Londres (1947) and En aquella Valencia (1995), Jose Antonio Balbontin's La Espana de mi experiencia (1952) and Mis impresiones de Inglaterra (2014) and Salvador de Madariaga's Memorias de un federalista (1967) and Memorias (1921 - 1936). Amanecer sin mediodia (1974). These are the only well-known authors of published testimonies whose exile occurred entirely in Britain. Moreover, despite their diverse backgrounds and ideologies, they had similar exile experiences which resulted in similarly oriented testimonies. Theories of exile and memory will frame this analysis. Ugarte (1989) conceives testimonies as the result of the exiles' existential need of recovering their loss, and exile as a phenomenon where language is seen as more effective for social change than political action. Similarly, Soler-Sasera (2006) describes testimonies as a moral debt against collective oblivion and as an exercise in remembering those who were voiceless. Said's (2000) ideas on exiles' contrapuntal vision brought about by traumatic experiences and the awareness of foreign perspectives will elucidate the influence of their British exile. Furthermore, following Assmann's (2008) concept of 'cultural memory' as a 'form of collective memory in the sense that it is shared by a number of people and that it conveys to these people a collective, that is, cultural, identity', this project will study how these testimonies enabled the recuperation of exiles' identity while constructing cultural memory.