page_title: Carlism in literature
section_title: Interwar novel: great names
hierarchical_section_title: Carlism in literature / Catastrophism / Interwar novel: great names
caption_attribution_description: Deutsch: Joseph Conrad
context_page_description: On March 21, 1890, at a conference dedicated to the siege of Bilbao during the last civil war, Miguel de Unamuno delivered a lecture titled La última guerra carlista como materia poética. It was probably the first ever attempt to examine the Carlist motive in literature, as for the previous 57 years the subject had been increasingly present in poetry, drama and novel. However, it remains paradoxical that when Unamuno was offering his analysis, the period of great Carlist role in letters was just about to begin. It lasted for some quarter of a century, as until the late 1910s Carlism remained a key theme of numerous monumental works of Spanish literature. Afterwards it lost its appeal as a literary motive, still later reduced to instrumental role during Francoism. Today it enjoys some popularity, though no longer as catalyst of paramount cultural or political discourse; its role is mostly to provide exotic, historical, romantic and sometimes mysterious setting.
context_section_description: Among great writers from the 1898 generation Baroja kept writing along the lines he had developed during Modernism, and at least in terms of the Carlist thread the late novels from Memorias de un hombre de acción released in the 1920s/30s and Zalacaín of 1908 form the same homogeneous opus. Unamuno has abandoned the Carlist motive, though he kept tackling the phenomenon in his treaties and studies. Some scholars claim that in case of Valle-Inclán one can speak of a new quality, resulting from his experiences during the First World War. Initially when in his role of a war correspondent Valle-Inclán posed as a Carlist-like patriarch, touring the frontlines in red beret and semi-military gear, but many students claim that war changed his perspective on grandeur and glory. They maintain that Valle-Inclán abandoned his earlier reportedly genuine Carlism and turned towards new ideas, perhaps somewhat attracted by the appeals of both Fascism and Communism. El ruedo ibérico (1927-1932) is viewed as increasingly saturated with grotesque and farcical Carlism; the change is sealed when Marqués de Bradomín eventually abandons legitimism.
  One of few rare cases of Carlism featured as key motive in writings of a literary giant who did not come from a Hispanic culture is The Arrow of Gold by Joseph Conrad (1919). The Polish-English writer claimed he had been himself involved in smuggling arms for the rebels along the Mediterranean coast during the Third Carlist War, yet historians of literature do not agree whether these claims should be taken seriously. However, he must have at least witnessed Carlist conspiracy in Southern France of the early-1870s and some suspect even a flaming love affair with Carlist motives in the background. The Arrow of Gold seems heavily based on these juvenile experiences, yet Carlism serves mostly as a background evoking an atmosphere of mystery. It is difficult to find either particular sympathy or particular hostility for the movement, yet many scholars claim that the key protagonist considered Conrad's alter-ego was cynically used by Carlist conspirators. On the other hand, the mysterious heroine he falls in love with, Doña Rita, is a Carlist, though this seems to have little to do with the love affair. Overall, the novel is considered a treaty on "emotional boundary between people"; Conrad has never again displayed any literary interest in Spanish issues.
  Carlism attracted also another English writer, at that time yet to become eminent, Graham Greene. Either in the late 1920s or in the very early 1930s he wrote The Episode, the novel which traced the experiences of an idealistic young man against very loose background of revolutionary turmoil in the 19th-century Spain; the narrative contained non-marginal Carlist threads. The novel has never been published, but some of its threads and protagonists were recycled in Rumour at Nightfall (1931), the work considered Greene's "first Catholic novel", set during the First Carlist War. The novel's torrid action focuses upon a love affair and jealous relationship of two Englishmen, which dominates over potentially exciting political action. The protagonists become infatuated with a beguiling Catholic woman, highly resemblant of Conrad's female protagonist Doña Rita, while another elusive protagonist, a Carlist commander Cavera, bears some resemblance to Cabrera. By critics the novel is considered a rather unfortunate attempt “to combine the conflicting forms of a Christian morality drama and an international adventure story"; the role of Carlism is to evoke moral dilemmas related to "intense spirit of religious devotion".
caption: Conrad
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