Contra el olvido: El exilio español en Estados Unidos (review)

The collection of twelve essays in Contra el olvido: El exilio español en Estados Unidos suggests that the experience of both voluntary and forced exile of Spanish intellectuals to the United States in the twentieth century was not homogeneous. The editors, Sebastian Faber and Cristina Martínez-Carazo, put it well when they write, "Los ensayos aquí reunidos reflejan la pluralidad de acercamiento a la experiencia del exilio republicano en Estados Unidos y la dificultad que entraña formular una definición coherente a la hora de evaluar un fenómeno tan complejo e inaprensible como éste" (20).

The wide variety of essays included in this collection attempts to redefine the experiences of twentieth-century Spanish scholars in the United States, including Pedro Salinas, Luis Cernuda, Juan Ramón Jiménez, América Castro, and José Rubia Barcia. As the editors remind us in the introduction, entitled "Problemas y paradojas del exilio español en Estados Unidos," the reasons for leaving Spain and their experiences once established in the United States affected the written works of the scholars in different ways. However, the editors begin by noting the similarities of the circumstances of exiled Spanish authors. Most worked in Spanish departments at the university level, which, according to the editors, forced them into a position of cultural marginalization because of the geographic isolation of North American universities. In turn, this isolation allowed them to concentrate their efforts on writing and publishing. Furthermore, most exiles were not involved in Spanish politics, which the editors highlight by quoting Joan Ramon Resina's assertion that this common point was also reflected in the United States's neutral position towards Spain during the years leading up to the war, the Spanish Civil War itself, and the years after (19). Even though these strict generalizations affected the exiles' scholarly production, the essays in this collection successfully defend the attempt to redefine each exile's experience as an individual, particular one.

One paradigm through which several of the authors in this collection craft their arguments is the dichotomy between the experience of the exile and the intensification of a sense of Spanish nationalism. The distance that exile granted the Spanish authors examined in these essays allowed them a unique perspective from which they were able to conceive of their country in a new way; yet, they perpetually longed for their homeland (which is particularly true in the poetry of Salinas and Jiménez).

The collection is divided into four sections: 1) "Escribir desde el exilio: Poesía y novela," 2) "Américo Castro y su entorno," 3) José Rubia y su entorno," and 4) "Reflexiones y memorias." The authors of the twelve essays contribute in different ways to the study of the Spanish exile in the United States; some examine the general situation of exile, while others focus on the experience of specific scholars. The first section is by far the most encompassing. Four of the five essays examine the effect of exile on the life and works of Pedro Salinas, Luis Cernuda, and Juan Ramón Jiménez. The last essay in this section, written by Ricardo F. Vivancos Pérez, takes an especially unique approach. He redefines works on Hispanic cultural and literary studies by advocating for a global and integrated definition of Spanish-language literary production. He suggests creating a literary canon that ignores geographic and political boundaries, which fittingly reflects the situation of exile as paradoxically belonging nowhere, yet being in two places at the same time (physically and nostalgically).

The second section, which focuses on Américo Castro, is composed of three essays. Perhaps the most intriguing essay is Samuel Armistead's well written "Américo Castro en América." Armistead offers a complete picture of Castro's experience in the United States and praises Castro's influence on current scholarship.

The third section includes two essays devoted to José Rubia Barcia, one...