Interviews with Spanish Writers by Marie-Lise Gazarian Gautier (review)

Book Reviews231 yard and La Prieta's imminent disappearance from it disclose the parallel— and confusion—between Pancho's private and public life. Each story is prefaced by a brief account of the writer's life, and the name of each translator appears at the end of her work. A bibliography of the author's publications and criticism follows each story, and the last twenty pages of the book include a general bibliography encompassing works on the short story, feminism, and Latin American women writers. Beyond the Border includes stories by writers from twelve different Latin American countries. Splendidly suited for use in courses focusing on Hispanic or comparative literature, women's or gender studies, and feminist studies, this anthology offers a variety of literary types, themes, and styles in the stories included, as well as excellent and well classified bibliographies . The tales will, of course, enchant and captivate the general reader. SUSANA CONDE Boise State University MARIE-LISE GAZARIAN GAUTIER. Interviews with Spanish Writers. Elmwood Park, IL: Dalkey Archive Press, 1991. 343 p. In the space of 24 interviews, Gazarian Gautier outlines the political and aesthetic context of contemporary Spanish literature. Two dozen of Spain's most important writers discuss their own works and the works of other writers, creativity, art, Franco, censorship, and the upcoming anniversary of Columbus' voyage to America. The interviewees are well chosen. Though novelists predominate, there are also poets and playwrights. All geographic regions of Spain are represented . The authors range in age from 35 to 89. Rafael Alberti, Antonio Buero Vallejo, Camilo José Cela, Carmen Conde, José Luis Sampedro, and Gonzalo Torrente Ballester represent a generation that suffered the Civil War as young adults. Juan Benêt, José Luis Castillo Puche, Miguel Delibes, Carmen Laforet, Carmen Martin Gaite, and Ana María Matute, born in the twenties, represent the "wounded generation." Fernando Arrabal, José María Carrascal, Lidia Falcón, Juan Goytisolo, Juan Marsé, Francisco Umbral, and Manuel Vásquez Montalbán were born during the decade of the thirties. Eduardo Mendoza, Justo Jorge Padrón, and Julian Ríos, born in the forties, represent the beginnings of a more international perspective. Rosa Montero and Antonio Muñoz Molina, born in the fifties, exemplify the young writers of today's Spain. Each interview consists of a briefbio-bibliographical sketch followed by a 12-15 page interview. Gazarian Gautier's questions focus on three related areas: the specific works of the individual author, the socio-historic context in which these works were created, and the creative process itself. By using a framework of five or six questions which are asked of all the interviewees, along with author-specific questions, she maintains a continuity that enables us to establish relationships between authors. By comparing the 232Rocky Mountain Review responses to the common questions, that is, by putting each author in the context of the others, a pattern of cultural intertextuality emerges as we read one interview after another. At the same time, her questions are flexible enough to allow each author's distinctive style to emerge. Thus, the reader acquires both a sense of the underlying continuity of Spanish literature and a sense ofthe individual personality of each author. Gazarian Gautier's familiarity with the prevailing critical reading of various works enables her to elicit denial or confirmation, and at times fascinating illumination, of this reading from some writers. Others, of course, choose not to attempt to "explain" what they've written. In all cases, the discussion takes place at the critical level of theme, content; meaning, and style, and not at the technical theoretical level we've come to associate with such terms as deconstruction, poststructuralism, and so on. A valuable aspect of the book is the discussion by each author of the creative process. As we listen to each writer discuss the inspiration, perspiration , creativity, and planning that go into a work of literature, we acquire insight into a seldom explored perspective, the relationship between author and creative process. In spite of a great diversity in the final products, we see that all the writers interviewed participate in a set of factors common to the creative process itself. For both those familiar with...