RT info:eu-repo/semantics/bookPart
T1 Signs of intolerance to the reception of Iris Murdoch's literary work in Spain
A1 Olivares Leyva, Mónica
A2 HálfdanarsonGuðmundur
K1 Filología
K1 Philology
K1 Historia
K1 History
AB This chapter studies the general question of tolerance and discrimination from the particularexperience of recent Spanish history. At the present, Spain is a democratic country whereany religious belief, language or identity is respected. However, things were completely different three decades ago. Historians have explained how Francoist censorship (1939-1975)oppressed social and cultural life, so that individuals followed the path drawn by totalitarism.Franco's values were imposed on the population, which resulted in discrimination towards other religious beliefs than the Catholic, strong discrimination against other sexual orientations than heterosexuality and a clear suppression of women"s rights. Within this political and cultural framework, publishers attempted to introduce Iris Murdoch"s novels to Spanish readers. Her manner of exploring religion was quite different from that supported by the Catholic Church, which was in close relationship with the dictatorial regime. Would the censors tolerate the cracked image of Christianity she depicts in some of her novels? Besides, there is evidence of variety in sexual conduct in her narrative; above all, she came out in defence of homosexuality. What attitude would the censors adopt towards her natural way of describing all kinds of sexual behaviour? In order to find the answers, the censorship office"s files of her works have been examined. These documents can be found at theAGA (General Archive of the Administration) in Alcalá de Henares, Madrid. The study of the censors" reports on Iris Murdoch has provided many examples of intolerance relating to religious and sexual matters. According to the information retrieved, three of her novels had problems with censorship, namely, "The bell" (1958), "The nice and the good" (1968) and "A fairly honourable defeat" (1970). A further question is posed in relation to these literary works: was the writer"s language altered? The chapter gathers the most significant cases of linguistic alterations that will demonstrate to what extent the language was subordinated to political power. In the international panorama, when certain political systems still try to control what is said and written, this linguistic approach to the reception of Iris Murdoch in Spain can exemplify one of its dangers: the changes carried out on the literary texts pass unnoticed by future readers.
PB Edizioni Plus-Pisa University Press
SN 978-88-8492-558
YR 2008
FD 2008
LK http://hdl.handle.net/10017/40137
UL http://hdl.handle.net/10017/40137
LA eng
NO Directorate General for Research of the European Commission, by the Sixth Framework Network of Excellence CLIOHRES.net
DS MINDS@UW
RD 24-abr-2024