And I remember Spain;: A Spanish civil war anthology,

by Murray A. Sperber

An anthology from those who witnessed the war.

337 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1974

Reviews

[Alan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Imagine this scenario; it shouldn't be difficult: Bernie Sanders gets elected President, swept into office with his "we need a revolution in this country" by the 99-percenters, the Occupy Wall Streeters, and college-educated idealists fed up with endless war, grotesque wealth inequality, and corporate hijacking of democracy.

Then imagine a violent reaction by a loose-knit confederation of Christian fundamentalists, right-wing rednecks, Tea Partisans, military-industrial complex, and neocons. I mean really violent: generals launching artillery attacks on liberal college campuses, rounding-up of "progressives" and union leaders followed by mass executions, and thousands of terrified refugees, all in the name of saving the nation from socialism and defending traditional American values.

That pretty much sums up the Spanish Civil War of the 1930s and explains why a close reading of its history is so relevant for 2016 USA.

For me, the exploration began with a viewing of the Spanish movie Butterfly [http://articles.latimes.com/2000/jun/...], which gives the viewer a peek into the collaboration between the Catholic church and Franco's Nationalists as they waged war against the freely elected liberal government and anyone who dared speak favorably of freedom.

Next was Hotel Florida (see my review of that here at Goodreads), which described the parade of celebrity journalists to Spain to write about this symbolic struggle between capitalism and socialism (sort of), repressive institutions vs. democracy, fascism vs. freedom.

And I Remember Spain--a Spanish Civil War Anthology, compiled by Murray A. Sperber, presented itself in 1974 as a compendium of the best of that writing. It includes excerpts from writers we know and many we don't: W. H. Auden, Theodore Dreiser, Ernest Hemingway, John Dos Passos, T. S. Eliot, Ezra Pound, Evelyn Waugh, Aldous Huxley, George Bernard Shaw, W. B. Yeats, George Santayana, John Steinbeck, Simone Weil, and George Orwell.

Frankly, it is often the writers we don't commonly remember who tell the most poignant tales.

Maybe you won't react the way I did upon reading this.

I see so much of ourselves---our current political situation---in this book.

It's not pretty.

[Todd · Rating 4 out of 5]

A collection of letters, short stories, poems, and excerpts by various authors on the Spanish Civil War, compiled by a left-wing editor. The editor is up-front about his own point of view, but includes at least some pro-Franco works as well. The more polemical stuff doesn't age well, everyone now is aware that the world didn't end with the Spanish Civil War. Further, most contemporary readers realize that Communism and Fascism were merely twin evils of the time, Stalin's USSR being no more humane, free or democratic than Hitler's Germany or Mussolini's Italy. Like most accounts of the war, the narratives that referenced the fighting convinces one that neither side fought hard, but rather sat in trenches for months, taking occasional pot shots at one another. Arthur Koestler, one of the left-wing contributors, characterized this phenomenon: "Other wars consist of succession of battles; this one of a succession of tragedies." (p 107)

The accounts of the refugees, the civilians, and the effects of political turmoil and artillery and bombing, on the other hand, is very moving and graphic. One gets the distinct impression that if it had not been for the meddling of foreign powers and well-intentioned foreign volunteers on both sides, Spain's civil war would be have been far less terrible and long. Republican Theodore Dreiser gives a particularly hard-nosed account, to include how Western indifference to Spain left the door to Czechoslovakia open for Hitler. (p 162)

Left wing Hugh Slater gives a refreshingly critical look at his own side through his characters. The local Spaniard, Cordova, analyzing the cynicism of the Soviet Union: "combining Russian state diplomacy with Comintern politics--both pulling out themselves and saying, 'Fight on, comrades' to the Spanish people." (p 308) Trotskyite Communist George Orwell, typical of so many of his persuasion, sneers down his nose at all the bourgeois he sees, yet the first thing he does when he escapes Spain (pursued by his own side in the factional fighting) is to stuff his pockets with cigars and then off to a cup of tea. (p 332) Well, theories are good, in theory, I guess... Nonetheless, Homage to Catalonia is an outstanding account of the war, as well as a good indication as to what made Orwell fall out of love with Communism.

Full disclosure: I have always been a fan of Jacques Maritain, so I appreciate his contribution in this book. Modern-day jihadists and "Islamic" governments in places like Iran would do well to read this piece. As Maritain points out, trying to raise up the profane to the level of the holy (by declaring something like the Spanish Civil War a "holy war") "runs the risk of blaspheming the holy." (p 241) Maritain then clearly delineates between a just war and a holy war, showing how many a conflict might qualify for the former status without approaching the latter. "Just or unjust, a war against a foreign power or a civil war remains, then, necessarily what it is in itself and essentially, something profane and secular, and not sacred; moreover, not only something profane, but of easy access from the world of darkness and sin." (p 241) Maritain warns foreigners to refrain from imposing their preferences on Spain, but rather to act in favor of peace. He warns the partisans that "all the good is not on one side and all the evil on the other." (p 249)

Douglas Jerrold, one of the right-wing contributors, quoted General Franco speaking to a crowd from a balcony:

"Neither this," he said, raising the clenched fist, "nor this," giving the Fascist salute. "Viva Espana." And yet people say that soldiers are stupid. (p 12)

If only Franco had really so much sense, but then Fascists were always promising a "third way" (and one should remain cautious of politicians promising the same today). Evelyn Waugh also provided a good bit of sense here:

I know Spain only as a Tourist and a reader of newspapers. I am no more impressed by the "legality" of the Valencia Government than are English Communists by the legality of the Crown, Lords, and Commons. I believe it was a bad Government, rapidly deteriorating. If I were a Spaniard I should be fighting for General Franco. As an Englishman I am not in the predicament of choosing between two evils. I am not a Fascist nor shall I become one unless it were the only alternative to Marxism. It is mischievous to suggest that such a choice is imminent. (p 207)

Waugh then proceeds to tell us a political fable of "Ishmaelia," which is as hilarious as it is telling. It should be required reading today, and if one reads only one part of this book, read this! (pp 207-211)

So the parts of the book are mixed, but overall there are some outstanding contributions. One could read this for an understanding of the Spanish Civil War, or to better understand many of the contemporary issues, problems, and "solutions" today.

[Web Ruble · Rating 5 out of 5]

Perhaps no era had more fine literature than the 1930s and 1940s, and no war had so much written about it as the Spanish civil war which. 'Twas the precurson of WWII. Many great authors had things to say -- in books -- about that war that went from 1936 to 1939: Aldous Huxley, W.H. Auden, John Dos Passos, Ilya Ehrenburg, T.S. Eliot, Arthur Koestler, Louis MacNeice, Geroge Orwell, Ezra Pound, Antoine de Saint-Exupery, and others like, yes, even Ernest Hemingway and George Bernard Shaw. Murray A. Sperber collected the best of all of that in his Spanish Civil War anthology.
I re-learned what good literature is and that imagination and feeling really ruled in that almost now forgotten era. Like all wars, the Spanish Civil War was an apocalyptic moment. Louis MacNeice's piece set the mood: "And I remember Spain at Easter ripe as an egg for revolt and ruin."
I was particularly taken by Gustav Regler's "The Owl of Minerva"; George Orwell's The Journey Home from "Homage to Catalonia" and the selection from Hugh Slater's novella, "The Heretics."
Top flight, nearly immortal stuff -- all of it -- in one volume.

[Nicolas Garcia · Rating 5 out of 5]

Watching the spanish civil war unfold told by all sides. Beautifully human and very charged. how war brings out the worst in us.