Antagonía by Luis Goytisolo (review)

It has taken thirty-five years for a press to prepare a critical edition of Luis Goytisolo's Antagonia (1973–81). However, one has finally been released with Carlos Javier García's edition of Goytisolo's tetralogy for Cátedra. In the spirit of Catedra's Letras Hispánicas collection, García's edition compiles, annotates, and introduces the Antagonía's four novels. At the same time, the edition differs from other books in the Letras Hispánicas collection in that it includes a Gonzalo Sobejano's epilogue. Although there have been recent editions of Antagonía—the last one released in 2012 by the Spanish press Anagrama—, the complexity and length of the work requires certain assistance for readers, and this edition provides the information necessary for the general public to understand this very intricate group of novels. It is also necessary to underline that, in the spirit of Cátedra's mission of publishing the most relevant literary pieces in Spanish, this edition is also a vindication of Antagonía as one of the most important works written in Spanish during the twentieth century.

Carlos Javier García organizes this edition into three main parts. The first portion of the book is devoted to a prologue. In this introductory part, the critic approaches the recent history of the Antagonía and its reception, emphasizing its close relation with its historical context. Further, he introduces some key interpretative lines that facilitate the reader's first approach to the text. Finally, this section closes with an up-to-date critical bibliography that helps the reader to pursue further research.

The book's second part comprises the four novels that form Antagonía. Following the chronological order of publication, the first one is Recuento (1973), which centers its argument on Raúl Ferrer Gaminde's life, the city of Barcelona, and the history and culture of Catalonia during the early period of Francoism. This same character, Raúl, will appear, in one way or another, in the following novels, and is key to unify meaning across the tetralogy. In Los verdes de mayo hasta el mar (1976), the second of the novels, the plot centers on Raúl's literary creation process during summer vacation in Costa Brava. La cólera de Aquiles (1979), meanwhile, focuses on Raúl's cousin Matilda, a writer who revisits a novel of hers to reflect on her own writing. Finally, Teoría del conocimiento (1981) takes the external shape of a diary-novel and is an immersive reflection on the consciousness of authorship. To summarize, each of these works, according to Gonzalo Sobejano, is related and elaborates on, respectively, one of these intellectual activities: remembering, writing, reading, and thinking (1383). In order to facilitate understanding the work in this way, the text of each novel is accompanied by many footnotes that explain the vocabulary, dates, and historical references they each include. Finally, this literary section closes with a list, chapter by chapter, of lexical variations found among Antagonía's different editions.

The third, and last, main part is an epilogue written by Gonzalo Sobejano, one of the most recognized Hispanists in the United States and Spain, and specialist in Goytisolo's work. The epilogue itself is an essay that studies the main topics touched on in the novels. Therein, Sobejano discusses the symbols and cultural references that unify Antagonía, at the same time providing lines along which to understand the full work. This epilogue and García's introduction supplement each other, and, in conjunction, further comprehension of how the different parts articulate to make Antagonía a unitary entity.

Above all else, it has to be emphasized that Antagonía is an extremely difficult work. In the first place, the novel's length forces the readers to prolong their reading for several weeks (13). Second, its style—built upon continuous juxtapositions, cultural references, and apparent digressions—does not invite careless...