Remembering the Perpetrators: Nationalist Postmemory and Andrés Trapiello’s Ayer no más

Authors

Katherine O. Stafford, Lafayette CollegeFollow

Abstract / Resumen

In the last decade, much scholarly work has been dedicated to “postmemory,” a term coined by Holocaust scholar Marianne Hirsch and defined as “the response of the second generation to the trauma of the first.” This framework, originally applied to the creative work of the second generation of Holocaust victims, has also been used to treat the legacy of pain of Spanish Civil War victims. In literature, the majority of 21^st century Spanish Civil War novels center upon the Republican victim (see Bertrand de Muñoz “Tendencias”). Andrés Trapiello’s novel Ayer no más counters this trend, as the protagonist is the son of a Falangist who participated in the murder of innocents during the war. The main character’s journey is not one towards greater empathy with Franco’s victims and/or recuperation of the memory of the atrocities committed, but rather towards a more complete understanding of his father. This article analyzes the motifs of nostalgia, desencanto, and empathy in Trapiellos’ most recent novel within the larger context of late 20^th and 21^st century Spanish Civil War fiction. It also explores the ethical consequences of using a postmemorial framework for perpetrators.

Recommended Citation

Stafford, Katherine O. (2014) "Remembering the Perpetrators: Nationalist Postmemory and Andrés Trapiello’s Ayer no más," Dissidences: Vol. 5: Iss. 9, Article 13.
Available at: https://digitalcommons.bowdoin.edu/dissidences/vol5/iss9/13