The DOI matches its Crossref record; 36 of the 36 references it cites were found in a registry or an index.
Memory and Modernity in Democratic Spain: The Difficulty of Coming to Terms with the Spanish Civil War
Abstract
The essay argues that modernity is best understood not as the cultural expression of capitalist modernization, but as a particular set of relations of present to past. It examines the varying attitudes toward the violent past of the civil war that have characterized Spain since the Franco dictatorship and continuing to the present day. The obsessive memorialization of the Nationalist war dead throughout the Franco dictatorship led, at the time of the transition to democracy, to a desire to break with the past; it was not, as is often argued, a determination to forget, but a decision not to let the past affect the future. Thus attempts toward the end of the Franco dictatorship to deal cinematically with this violent heritage were followed by a ten-year gap, until the appearance in the mid-1980s of a number of novels and films representing the civil war and their escalation since the late 1990s to create a memory boom, which has resulted in the publication of a large number of testimonies. The essay questions whether trauma theory, which has been so important in Holocaust studies, provides an adequate model for understanding the belated appearance of these memories, arguing that the reason is more likely to be a previous lack of willing interlocutors. Nevertheless, it concludes that the present urge to recount every detail of the past is less effective in communicating the horror of the war and its repression than are those accounts—in film at the end of the dictatorship and in fiction in the mid-1980s, with occasional more recent examples—which acknowledge the difficulty of narrativizing the violent past as well as the importance of transgenerational transmission.
Overview
Integrity signals
Registry
Cites
Statistics
Verification
Claims the paper makes
Citations
Cites
Trauma: explorations in memory
(1996) · Choice Reviews Online · doi:10.5860/choice.33-3030 · Cited by 2,349
Family Frames: Photography, Narrative and Postmemory
Hirsch, M. (1997) · Cited by 2,294
Regarding the pain of others: Un commentaire
Sontag, S. (2003) · Diogène · doi:10.3917/dio.201.0127 · Cited by 2,038
Toews, J. E., & LaCapra, D. (1995) · The American Historical Review · doi:10.1086/ahr/100.1.128 · Cited by 736
Blood cinema: the reconstruction of national identity in Spain
(1994) · Choice Reviews Online · doi:10.5860/choice.32-0207 · Cited by 276
Ramos, J. (2001) · Duke University Press eBooks · doi:10.1215/9780822381099 · Cited by 188
Kinder, M. (1993) · University of California Press eBooks · doi:10.1525/9780520913479 · Cited by 181
The return of Civil War ghosts: The ethnography of exhumations in contemporary Spain
FERRÁNDIZ, F. (2006) · Anthropology Today · doi:10.1111/j.1467-8322.2006.00437.x · Cited by 144
(2020) · Routledge eBooks · doi:10.4324/9781003086086 · Cited by 122
Memoria y olvido de la guerra civil española
Aguilar, P. (1996) · Virtual Defense Library (Ministerio de Defensa) · Cited by 120
Flagged first, then by citations
Research works printed but not linked: 11
- Caruth, Cathy 1995Trauma: Explorations in Memory (Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins University Press).
- 1996 Unclaimed Experience: Trauma, Narrative, and History (Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins University Press).
- 2004 Soldiers of Salamis, translated by Anne McLean (London: Bloomsbury).
- Graham, Helen, and Jo Labanyi, eds. 1995Spanish Cultural Studies: An Introduction (Oxford: Oxford University Press).
- Jelin, Elizabeth 2003State Repression and the Labors of Memory (Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press).
- 2000 Gender and Modernization in the Spanish Realist Novel (Oxford: Oxford University Press).
- LaCapra, Dominick 1996Representing the Holocaust: History, Theory, Trauma (Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press).
- 2001 Writing History, Writing Trauma (Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins Press).
- Richard, Nelly 2004Cultural Residues: Chile in Transition (Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press).
- Richards, Michael 1998A Time of Silence: The Civil War and the Culture of Repression in Franco's Spain (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press).
- Sontag, Susan 2004Regarding the Pain of Others (London: Penguin).
Cited by
Sorted by citations
Items 101–163 of 163
Vol. III, nº2, otoño/autumn 2015
de Redacción, C. (2015) · Brumal Revista de Investigación sobre lo Fantástico · doi:10.5565/rev/brumal.276
Después de tantos años: Filme espectral y metaforicidad ruinosa en la España post-92
Egea, J. F. (2016) · Journal of Spanish Cultural Studies · doi:10.1080/14636204.2016.1165853
Heroism and Affect: From Narratives of Mourning to Multidirectional Memories
de Menezes, A. R. (2014) · Palgrave Macmillan US eBooks · doi:10.1057/9781137379948_6
Stone, R., & Gutiérrez‐Albilla, J. D. (2013) · Wiley eBooks · doi:10.1002/9781118324882.ch0
Quitarse el peso de la historia: Isidoro Valcárcel Medina y su «2000 d. de J. C»
Noriega, I. E. (2016) · Tropelías/Tropelías · doi:10.26754/ojs_tropelias/tropelias.2016261419
Unsettling Bones as Unsettling Accounts
Payne, L. A., & Aguilar, P. (2016) · Palgrave Macmillan UK eBooks · doi:10.1057/978-1-137-56229-6_7
Desaparecidos, revenants e impostores en la novelística de Juana Salabert
Omlor, D. (2016) · Neophilologus · doi:10.1007/s11061-016-9513-5
The Post-Millennial Horror Revival: Auteurs, Gothic (Dis)Continuities and National History
Reyes, X. A. (2017) · Palgrave Macmillan UK eBooks · doi:10.1057/978-1-137-30601-2_9
El presente cautivo: Violencia y memoria en Así empieza lo malo de Javier Marías
Cuñado, I. (2017) · Romance notes · doi:10.1353/rmc.2017.0005
Vol. 5, Núm. 1, primavera/spring (2017): Lo fantástico en el cómic
de Redacción, C. (2017) · Brumal Revista de Investigación sobre lo Fantástico · doi:10.5565/rev/brumal.438
Blurring the Margins: Ardalén (2012) and Coleective Memory in Spain
Harris, S. (2017) · Brumal Revista de Investigación sobre lo Fantástico · doi:10.5565/rev/brumal.381
‘The Queen of Time’: Isabel I in The Ministry of Time (2015) and The Queen of Spain (2016)
Francomano, E. C. (2018) · Springer eBooks · doi:10.1007/978-3-319-68771-1_9
Feminism Under and After Franco: Success and Failure in the Democratic Transition
Mahaney, K. L. (2018) · CUNY Academic Works (City University of New York)
The En-Genrement of the Nation: The Spanish Civil War Film and Guillermo del Toro’s Fantasies
Egea, J. F. (2018) · Springer eBooks · doi:10.1007/978-3-319-90134-3_6
Silenced Ghosts: A comparison of Spanish and German “reconciliation” attempts
Murgatroyd, B. (2018) · Leiden Repository (Leiden University) · doi:10.13140/rg.2.2.30897.53605
Invoking the past in graphic biographies: The life, death and ghostly return of Alexandre Bóveda
Miranda-Barreiro, D. (2019) · Studies in Comics · doi:10.1386/stic.10.1.27_1
Domingo, I. (2018) · Hispanófila/Hispanófila · doi:10.1353/hsf.2018.0039
Weng, M. (2018) · Hispanófila/Hispanófila · doi:10.1353/hsf.2018.0045
L’Espagne face à son passé : écriture romanesque et stratégies documentaires
Merlos, L. (2019) · theses.fr (ABES) · doi:10.70675/100a8ea8z3a4ez4bdezadf8za379fc2aac0a
Pelayo, Z. (2019) · Revista Sonda Investigación y Docencia en Artes y Letras · doi:10.4995/sonda.2019.18281
Thijssen, A. C. (2020) · Utrecht University Repository (Utrecht University)
A work of death: martyrdom, myth and dead women in contemporary Spanish film
Farrelly, M. (2021) · Journal of Spanish Cultural Studies · doi:10.1080/14636204.2021.1880785
Zarco-Real, S. (2021) · Journal of Urban Cultural Studies · doi:10.1386/jucs_00032_1
Recovering memory, reasserting Europeanness
Suarez, M. F. (2021) · Routledge eBooks · doi:10.4324/9781003027447-47
3. The Child and Spanish Historical Trauma
Balanzategui, J. (2018) · Amsterdam University Press eBooks · doi:10.1515/9789048537792-006
Balanzategui, J. (2018) · Amsterdam University Press eBooks · doi:10.1515/9789048537792-014
Wynne-Walsh, R. (2022) · LIT Literature Interpretation Theory · doi:10.1080/10436928.2022.2075184
Goicoa, D. C. (2023) · Bulletin of Hispanic Studies · doi:10.3828/bhs.2023.15
De fosses i fantasmes: memòria, trauma i identitat en l’escena catalana actual
Sansano, G. (2014) · LA Referencia (Red Federada de Repositorios Institucionales de Publicaciones Científicas)
Buckley, N. (2023) · BOGA Basque Studies Consortium Journal · doi:10.18122/boga.10.1.1.boisestate
(2019) · Casa de Velázquez eBooks · doi:10.4000/books.cvz.8791
Quis custodiet ipsos custodes? Tortura institucional en el cine español de la Transición
López, D. D. (2023) · Symposium A Quarterly Journal in Modern Literatures · doi:10.1080/00397709.2023.2231341
Herausgeber (2014) · Zeitschrift für Katalanistik · doi:10.46586/zfk.2014.i-322
Memoria histórica interrogativa y modernidad (Oído atento a los pájaros, de Luis Goytisolo)
García, C. J. (2023) · Siglo XXI, literatura y cultura españolas/Siglo XXI, literatura y cultura españolas · doi:10.24197/sxxi.21.2023.83-107
La guerra civil española en los juegos y entornos lúdicos
Kuschel, D. (2023) · Iberoamericana Vervuert eBooks · doi:10.31819/9783968695228
Representar a Franco en los juegos
Achmüller, L., Kuschel, D., & Mogdan, P. (2023) · Iberoamericana Vervuert eBooks · doi:10.31819/9783968695228_008
Ben-Youssef, F. I. (2024) · Journal of War and Culture Studies · doi:10.1080/17526272.2023.2299060
Victimhood, Silence, and Denial
Lawther, C. (2024) · Oxford University Press eBooks · doi:10.1093/9780191938634.003.0006
Constructing Victimhood: Innocence, Guilt, and Definitional Dilemmas
Lawther, C. (2024) · Oxford University Press eBooks · doi:10.1093/9780191938634.003.0002
Lawther, C. (2024) · Oxford University Press eBooks · doi:10.1093/9780191938634.002.0005
Doing Victimhood: Agency, Activism, and the Mobilisation of Empathy
Lawther, C. (2024) · Oxford University Press eBooks · doi:10.1093/9780191938634.003.0005
Introduction: Victimhood in Transition
Lawther, C. (2024) · Oxford University Press eBooks · doi:10.1093/9780191938634.003.0001
Victimhood and the Haunting of Lives, Landscapes, and Unresolved Pasts
Lawther, C. (2024) · Oxford University Press eBooks · doi:10.1093/9780191938634.003.0007
Lawther, C. (2024) · Oxford University Press eBooks · doi:10.1093/9780191938634.002.0006
Lawther, C. (2024) · Oxford University Press eBooks · doi:10.1093/9780191938634.003.0004
Lawther, C. (2024) · Oxford University Press eBooks · doi:10.1093/9780191938634.003.0008
Aydoğan, C. (2025) · The Soviet and Post-Soviet Review · doi:10.30965/18763324-bja10114
Unstitching trauma in Ana Lena Rivera’s Las herederas de la Singer
Saunders, S. N. (2025) · International Journal of Iberian Studies · doi:10.1386/ijis_00160_7
La domesticación de la memoria: entre lo íntimo y lo histórico en un archivo familiar del franquismo
Cuyàs, J. F. G. (2025) · Quaderns de l'Institut Català d'Antropologia · doi:10.56247/qua.561
DISSONANT HERITAGE AND THE LEGACY OF FRANCOISM: MATERIAL MEMORY IN CONTEMPORARY SPAIN
Leggott, S. (2026) · International Multidisciplinary Research Journal · doi:10.47722/imrj.2001.70
« Apocalípticament edificant ». Protéiformité de l'apocalypse heuristique chez Alfons Cervera
Gourgues, M. (2024) · theses.fr (ABES) · doi:10.70675/5a29d1c9zbf0dz4ce1za3d2z8b52885bf9c4
del Valle, A. V. (2025) · Tesis Doctorals en Xarxa (Consorci de Serveis Universitaris de Catalunya)
Fantasmas contra la irrelevancia y el olvido: un acercamiento a Rabos de lagartija de Juan Marsé
Rodríguez, N. C. (2026) · Brumal Revista de Investigación sobre lo Fantástico · doi:10.5565/rev/brumal.1178
Recuperando la memoria de la Guerra Civil española en Luna Lunera y La higuera
Waites, W. A. (2013) · Scholar Commons (University of South Carolina)
Metadata
- Authors
- Labanyi, J.
- Corresponding author
- Labanyi, Jo
- Venue
- Poetics Today
- Publisher
- Duke University Press
- Published
- 2007-03-01
- Volume
- 28
- Issue
- 1
- Pages
- 89-116
- ISSN
- 0333-5372 (ISSN-L)
- 1527-5507
- OpenAlex
- W2153526629
- Cited by
- 164
- References
- 35
- Citations by year
- 2026: 2 · 2025: 6 · 2024: 14 · 2023: 9 · 2022: 8 · 2021: 10 · 2020: 4 · 2019: 7 · 2018: 16 · 2017: 13 · 2016: 14 · 2015: 9 · 2014: 19 · 2013: 12 · 2012: 3
- FWCI
- 52.92
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Poetics Today (publishedVersion)
- HighWire Press Open Archive (submittedVersion)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Cultural Studies › Spanish Culture and Identity
- Social Sciences › Arts and Humanities › History › Memory, violence, and history
- Social Sciences › Arts and Humanities › History › Spanish History and Politics
- Keywords
- Spanish Civil War, collective memory, modernity, Francoism, democratic transition, memory boom, trauma theory, war dead memorialization, historical fiction, witness testimony, transgenerational transmission, coming to terms with the past
About these checks
Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.
Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.
Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.
What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›
Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review