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ix u Introduction Contemporary Spanish Literatures: Enduring Plurality Luis Martín-Estudillo and Nicholas Spadaccini It is common knowledge that Spain’s transformation during the last several decades from an authoritarian, centralist State with a homogeneous population into a democratic , plurinational, and multicultural society has also been marked by a thriving cultural production, which highlights “difference” as a major asset. To a great extent, one might consider this shift a historical novelty, as the Spain of the 1930s also saw efforts to reaffirm its inherent plurality only to be undermined by institutional forces for whom the stability of the national project depended on the suppression of linguistic, religious, and ideological singularities. During the last few decades we have witnessed the opposite dynamic. While the Franco regime conceptualized the Spanish nation from rigid schemes of identity understood as sameness, which at best relegated internal differences to the role of folkloric manifestations, the discourse of a “plural” state based largely on its own linguistic and cultural diversity has been embraced by many in democratic Spain. The institutional modernity and flexible identity that have come to characterize the country have been facilitated by new social and political realities, as well as by new economies and organizations—the result of interconnected processes in recent history which have been reflected on, and influenced by, a vibrant cultural scene in which literature still plays a defining role. The present project is an attempt to describe and to analyze the dynamics of the lettered field in contemporary Spain, taking into account a period that is roughly identified with the post-Franco era. In one way or other, the literature of democratic Spain can be seen, at the same time, as the product of both old and new institutional practices and as a challenge to an established set of institutions, being perhaps first among them its own canonical status. Understanding this complex reality requires the raising of issues that are at the center of current debates in Spain and elsewhere. Among them are the emergence of minoritized literatures; the question of multilingualism and identity; the relationships between culture and institutions (including new ones, such as those being shaped by new technologies or those emerging from Spain’s regional governments); the negotiation of historical memories; the connec- x Luis MARTÍN-ESTUDILLO AND NICHOLAS SPADACCINI tions between migrations and the redefinition of nationhood; and the impact of global commercial and cultural trends on local symbolic systems. The very notion of “Spanish literature” has been altered by the redefinition of the political landscape that followed the end of the dictatorship, a conjunction which favored the growing recognition of the nation’s composite (and sometimes contradictory ) nature. The process of decentralization and devolution carried out since the approval of the 1978 Constitution has had a strong impact on cultural policies and practices. Functions formerly held by the State were transferred to the regional governments, which established new and wide nets of patronage. This is especially evident in the case of Catalonia, the Basque Country, and Galicia, three entities with their own languages and differentiated traditions, with strong nationalist movements . In those areas, the connections between history, language and identity, as well as their symbolic mediations through discourses such as literature, are common topics in public debates. While literature is still seen as an instrument of national affirmation , its resonance among the various nationalities shows that the project is no longer limited to that of a nation-state united around a predominant language and culture. The literary work of demystification of the so-called “eternal” or “sacred” Spain, which was at the core of the artistic projects of Spanish-language authors such as Luis Martín-Santos, a Basque, or Catalan writer Juan Goytisolo, has found a less virulent but probably more effective counterpart in the work of Catalan, Basque, and Galician-language writers for whom identitary issues are an important part of their reflections. Their ongoing questioning of national identities, which in many cases takes an internationalist turn, is also animated by the recent arrival of an unprecedented influx of immigrants from Latin America, Africa, and Eastern Europe who have brought along their own perspectives. At the same time, the State and other institutions such as the publishing industry have redefined their position in the cultural sphere through dynamics of centralization and diversification. The State has done so by launching projects and institutions conceptualized as an auxiliary branch of foreign policies. This kind of “cultural diplomacy” is aimed at propagating a...

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