Bulletin of Hispanic Studies

The Absence of Tragedy in Ifigenia (1950) by Gonzalo Torrente Ballester

Bulletin of Hispanic Studies (2021), 98, (2), 123–141.

DOI
https://doi.org/10.3828/bhs.2021.8
Language
English
Pages
19

Abstract

Gonzalo Torrente Ballester’s novella, Ifigenia (1950) has been read consistently as a critique of the consolidating Francoist state of the 1940s and an early example of his ‘demythologizing’ technique. This article seeks to open discussion on aspects of the text that have not attracted critical attention to date. It traces the unacknowledged legacies of Euripides’ Iphigenia in Aulis in the text, most visible in both authors’ emphasis on the capacity of language for deceit. Drawing on Hannah Arendt’s The Origins of Totalitarianism, it argues that Torrente’s Ifigenia should be read not only in the context of post-Civil War Spain but also in the wider socio-political context of post-Second World War Europe. It argues that the consistent suppression of expression of emotion throughout the text produces an absence of tragedy in Torrente’s retelling of the myth, and outlines how this relates to the post-war contexts of Spain and Europe.

Ifigenia (1950), la novela corta de Gonzalo Torrente Ballester, se ha leído como crítica de la consolidación del régimen de Franco en los años 40, y como ejemplo temprano de su técnica de ‘desmitificación’. La intención de este artículo es abrir debates sobre aspectos del texto que hasta ahora han atraído atención crítica limitada al mismo tiempo que describe la influencia poco reconocida de la obra de Eurípides, Ifigenia en Aulis, centrándose especialmente en el énfasis que da el autor español a la capacidad de engañar de la retórica. Recurriendo a la obra de Hannah Arendt, Las orígenes del totalitarismo (1951), se propone una lectura del texto de Torrente no solo en el contexto de la posguerra española sino también el contexto socio-político más amplio de Europa después de la Segunda Guerra Mundial, queriendo analizar cómo la supresión repetida de las emociones en la obra de Torrente produce una ausencia de tragedia, y cómo esta supresión está vinculada a ambos contextos de posguerra - la española y la europea.

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SHAUGHNESSY, LORNA