Cronica del alba

Crónica del alba, is the first in an autobiographical series of nine novels by one of the most famous twentieth- century Spanish novelists, Ramón Sender. Crónica del alba, is the first in an autobiographical series of nine novels by one of the most famous twentieth- century Spanish novelists, Ramón Sender. The novel recounts the very funny adventures of a rebellious ten-year-old and has an immediate appeal to readers of all ages. However, the narrative frame of the Spanish Civil War points to more depth and the major events of twentieth century Spanish history. The critical introduction places the author and the novel in the context of the Spanish Civil War, the Franco regime, the literature of exile and censorship and shows how they interrelate. It suggests that the situation of the disillusioned adult narrator, a Civil War refugee in a detention camp in southern France, configures how he writes and affects our reading of his account of a relatively happy childhood. Furthermore, the introduction draws attention to the similarities and differences between the life of the narrator and that of the author who was writing the novel in 1942 in Mexico, concluding that Sender selectively fictionalises aspects of his own childhood to explore the feelings of sadness and loss arising from the defeat of the Republic and his own enforced exile; writing helps him adjust to powerful and destructive personal experiences.The edition will be of interest to students with a reading knowledge of Spanish, undergraduates studying the literature and/or history of Spain; students of the literature of exile and those taking thematic courses on history and fiction or autobiography and fiction. Crónica del alba is a novel by Sender with a Civil War background, like the popular Réquiem por un campesino español, also in this series. The author evokes his childhood in rural Aragón at the beginning of the twentieth century in a book which has a charm and something of the character of The Adventures of Tom Sawyer. The young Pepe fights to believe in himself as a hero in the face of a world, and a father bent on putting him down. He is supported by his girlfriend, Valentina, who believes in him implicitly and often ends up in as much trouble as him. But there is something more here than scrapes and mischief-making. It is written by an older and disillusioned Pepe who has known real heroism and is now detained in a prison camp for Spanish Civil War refugees in southern France. The novel raises challenging questions about the loss of hope, how people cope with disillusionment, and the place of writing in that process. Moreover, since the novel reflects Sender’s own childhood it sheds light on the complex relationship of fact and fiction in autobiographical novels.