Reflections of Oneself: Reconciling Identity in Carmen Laforet’s Al volver la esquina

The Spanish author Carmen Laforet is recognized almost exclusively for her first and seminal novel Nada published in 1945. However, her posthumous Al volver la esquina (2004), the last of her five novels, is an indispensable example of the author’s achievement as a psychological novelist. Yet ten years following its release, this book still remains widely overlooked. Aimed at bolstering the merit of Al volver la esquina as an essential component of Laforet’s contributions as a psychological novelist, this article examines the protagonist Martín’s identity search as developed through his extended self-reflection via images prompted by memory, the mirror, and cinema.