Spanish SciFi and Its Ghosts
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seem subversive to the heirs of Franco’s dictatorship is often a simple exercise
in free speech within any Occidental democracy. When it comes to subversion,
Spanish authors are far from matching the likes of James Graham Ballard, and
as always, of Philip K. Dick, for Spaniards are still fighting the ghosts of their
recent political past. The shadows of Franco’s long dictatorship still linger in the
collective consciousness and Spanish authors are still in the process of
discovering the naturally subversive aspects of dystopian science fiction as they
painfully attempt to resurrect and structure the genre according to their own
cultural parameters to build a credible identity.
(4) Cultural Tradition: Consequently, we find in Spanish science fiction
an abundance of classical literary references for, as authors attempt to enter the
realm of science fiction and to accommodate their ambition to their own frame
of reference, they often borrow and blend textual paradigms from two very
specific established literary traditions: classical Spanish literature and American
modem science fiction. We thus find seventeenth century literary styles applied
to Space Opera, as in the aforementioned The Smile o f the Cat by Martinez as
well as in Marin’s Tears o f Light (Lagrimas de luzy1982) and in Sainz
Cidoncha’s Memories o f an Stellar Vagabond, (Memorias de un merodeador
estelar, 1995), two very popular and representative works of the genre in
contemporary Spain. Spanish science fiction authors, having been culturally
alienated by their recent past from the rest of Europe and the United States, do
not seem to be able to shake the weight of their own canonical tradition, which
in the case of the genre of science fiction is indeed a paradoxical position. Since
science fiction was considered in Spain during Franco’s time as among the
lowest manifestations of popular literature, it appears natural that Spanish
modem science fiction authors would attempt to elevate the status of the genre
they cultivate by directly referring to highly respectable and authoritative works
and authors from the national tradition; however, by doing so, they compromise
the modernity which characterizes the genre by using a stylistic register that
refers to a very determined cultural and historical period, hence defeating the
very object of science fiction—from the dystopian variety to space opera—
which, very simply put, consists in creating new, either futuristic or un-historical
universes. It must be noted, however, that with the turn of the new century, the
direct references to classical Spanish literature tend to disappear, as the
difference between high and low art becomes increasingly elusive and
challenged by most cultural critics, and science fiction is more and more
accepted as a legitimate artistic corpus within academic circles.8
(5) Catholicism: The cultural tradition that weights so heavily upon
Spanish science fiction is most of all informed by the Catholic religion, and the
importance of this particular influence remains one of the most determining yet
underestimated traits of contemporary Spanish cultural manifestations, literary
or otherwise. National-Catholicism, Spain’s very own brand of metaphysical
national socialism, has left a very deep imprint in contemporary Spanish
consciousness, and, consequently, any noteworthy contemporary Spanish