Modes of the Tragic in Spanish Cinema

ISBN-13: 9783031193248 / Angielski / Twarda / 2023

Luis M. Gonzalez

Opis

This book, through a close reading of eleven films from the silent era to the present, analyzes filmic responses to the tragic and the enduring presence of forms, themes and motifs that belong to the tragic tradition in Spanish Cinema. It argues that a tragic aura permeates many of the films produced in Spain in the 20th and 21st centuries, and constitutes not only an essential element of these films but also a key factor in their aesthetic and ideological efficacy and commercial success. 

Spis treści

1. Introduction.- 2. “Poetics of Fall and Redemption”.- 3. “The Condemned Land”.- 4. “Tragedy, Power and Resistance”.- 5. “The Cursed Love”.- 6. “Reversals of Fortune”.

O autorze

Luis M. González is Professor in the Hispanic Studies Department at Connecticut College, where he teaches Spanish Film, Literature and Culture. His publications on Spanish theater and film include the following books: La escena madrileña durante la II República (1931–1939), El teatro español durante la II República y la crítica de su tiempo  (1931–1936), and Fascismo, kitsch y cine histórico en España (1939–1953). He also co-authored a translation of Valle Inclan´s Comedias Bárbaras into English, and he is the editor of Teatro: Revista de Estudios Escénicos .

Blurb

This book focuses on expressions of the tragic in Spanish cinema. Its main premise is that elements from the classical and modern tragic tradition persist and permeate many of the cultural works created in Spain, especially the films on which the book centers this study. The inscrutability and indolence of the gods, the mutability of fortune, the recurrent narratives of fall and redemption, the unavoidable clash between ethical forces, the tension between free will and fate, the violent resolution of both internal and external conflicts, and the overwhelming feelings of guilt that haunt the tragic heroine/hero are consistent aspects that traverse Spanish cinema as a response to universal queries about human suffering and death.

Luis M. González is Professor in the Hispanic Studies Department at Connecticut College, where he teaches Spanish Film, Literature and Culture. His publications on Spanish theater and film include the following books: La escena madrileña durante la II República (1931–1939), El teatro español durante la II República y la crítica de su tiempo  (1931–1936), and Fascismo, kitsch y cine histórico en España (1939–1953). He also co-authored a translation of Valle Inclan´s Comedias Bárbaras into English, and he is the editor of Teatro: Revista de Estudios Escénicos .