De "camisa vieja" a chaqueta nueva

by Fernando Vizcaíno Casas

Ésta es una dura crítica, un alegato en ocasiones feroz contra cierta clase de personas que, después de lucrarse en todos los órdenes durante los casi cuarenta años de régimen franquista, se presentan como fervorosos adictos (de toda la vida) al régimen socialista y tratan de borrar su pasado.La obra es, al propio tiempo, como un repaso, tan esquematico como fidedigno, a la historia española que comienza el 18 de julio de 1936 y termina en los momentos trascendentales que estamos viviendo. En el relato, las figuras de ficción conviven con otras autenticas y la anécdota inventada discurre en escenarios y contornos nacionales absolutamente ciertos. Ello presta singular interés al libro, escrito por Vizcaino Casas con su conocido y tan celebrado estilo satirico, realista y, al mismo tiempo, abundante en notas de inmensa fortuna.

240 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1976

Reviews

[Jose Antonio · Rating 1 out of 5]

Libro muy del momento. Ahora sabe rancio. Retrato del chaquetero, personaje muy frecuente en la transición. Democrátas de toda la vida que habían vestido camisa azul. Tiene muy relativo interés, aunque se lee muy fácil y su estilo irónico ayuda.

[Fonch · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ladies and gentlemen we try again to rewrite this review again, it seemed that I was finally going to be able to write something after days of absence of reviews on my @instagram account . The few people who put up with me will know, as my admired @juan_manuel_de_prada Juan Manuel de Prada would say, that the main function of this account is to write reviews that will then be posted on @goodreads with some retouching. I was following the advice given to me by a friend seventeen or sixteen years ago who told me that Stephen King's mother Stephen King told her son to "write a little bit every day" and, that is what is intended. It was being told in case the books that had been read were never written. "The Grizzly King" by James Oliver Curwood The Grizzly King who had written one of the best novels of this year "The Valley of Silent Men|1835874] but messed up with the "Alaskan Man" The Alaskan (the last two are available on Goodreads) here he redeemed himself and, I was happy because I didn't want Curwood to close the year with a fail. We also read "Ten hours of hunting" Dix heures en chasse by Jules Verne that I loved his "Green Ray" Le Rayon vert but here in this satire of hunting it did not come out very well. Not to laugh at the hunt (it is sometimes necessary as shown in the novel "Happy Guilt" by Zofia Kossak Błogoslawiona wina Zofia Kossak @palabraes one of the best novels of this year). I read my first Salgari and, despite my suicide prevention "The Daughters of the Pharaohs" The Daughters of the Pharaohs (rather daughters) was quite good. I read the first two Merlin novels by T.A. Barron "The Lost Years" and, "The Seven Songs of Merlin" The Lost Years of MerlinThe Seven Songs of Merlin and especially the second one has been one of the books that I liked the most and, "Falcó" by Arturo Pérez Reverte Falcó (in the opinion of the great poet Luis Alberto de Cuenca Luis Alberto de Cuenca one of our most successful writers) must have something of Don Juan because he narrowly escaped. We will try to talk about all of them in due course, so with your permission we will talk about "Old shirt to new shirt".
On Instagram, if my memory fails me, they only talked about "Daughters of Mary" Daughters of Mary and, I could not tell how Fernando Vizcaíno Casas entered my life. He became known thanks to the wonderful program of Lágrimas en la lluvia in which the "Autonosuyas" Las Autonosuyas: Novela de historia ficción (directed by the great Spanish director Rafael Gil) were broadcast, which seeing what is happening in the country have been prophetic in showing the errors of the Transitional Regime. Many films were seen in that program Tears in the Rain that advocated the disaster that is currently occurring in my country. Also the law of historical memory (hysterical revenge rather for left-wing and pro-independence parties to make money) that tried to rewrite our history and tell us who were the good guys and who were the bad guys also had an influence. The novels of Fernando Vizcaíno Casas are somewhat Berlanguian. Very popular at the time they were published, although no one now boasts of having read them with a lot of humor, hence the Berlanguian name. The ones I liked the most were "Las Autonosuyas", "La boda del señor cura"La boda del señor cura despite the lurid subject. But as we now have the Synod, Fernando Vizcaíno Casas has been prophetic when it comes to denouncing the progressive drift as a result of a misunderstanding of Vatican II and that are leading us to talk more about immigration, environmentalism and LGBTISM than about Jesus Christ and about teaching doctrine to Catholics. Not to mention that evangelizing is horrible and the Spanish Empire is a terrible genocide that ended the Pre-Columbian Eden so peaceful and tolerant. Apart from the edifying new friendships of the current Pontiff, among them with the creator of stimulating documentaries and interviewer of men of peace, Mr. Evole, or who receives in audience people like Mr. Pere Aragonés and, that any extreme right-wing regime is very bad, but those of the left are very good and, it must be carried out. As my admired Don Juan Manuel de Prada well recommended, the thing is not to run away from the bear on the right so that the bear on the left destroys you. The Church must be neither capitalist nor anarcho-social-communist, although currently it is millionaires who sponsor these harmful political solutions and have the left-wing and right-wing parties of the West bought. Of course, the rotten fruits of modernity that are Nazism and fascism are discarded. Perhaps one should turn to the Social Doctrine of the Church and, one last piece of advice, before continuing to analyze this well-understood book. If the Church wants to continue to exist, it must not move with the world, but it must be she who moves the world. What can be said about Fernando Vizcaíno Casas is that we are not dealing with a libertine enemy of religion. It would have been better for us to listen to people like Vizcaíno Casas than to the Morris L. West Morris L. West of the day, although some of their novels are entertaining. He is a man who is nostalgic for the times before the Second Vatican Council but, with a cheerful and sympathetic vision of the most sympathetic religion, cheerful fleeing from the snobbishness and the beatification. It seems that he was educated by the Jesuits and denounced that atmosphere of progression of the Society of Jesus that had previously been a pillar of orthodoxy. His hedonistic and carefree vision makes one look nostalgically at that time he describes and, together with @josejavieresparzaJosé Javier Esparza (don't miss his new novel "El jínete de la luz" soon to be released and whose theme will be the battle of Clavijo) I think I am my favorite Valencian writer. Despite being from the @realmadrid I love the city of Valencia and the @valenciacf very much and I hope there will be good relations between the two clubs again. I don't live in Madrid, but despite being a megapolis and having stolen some friends who were only looking for a better future and more possibilities to progress. However, Madrid, apart from being the richest city in Spain, is a cosmopolitan city and very open to everyone. I can only speak well of the city and, it can be said that the city of Valencia shares one thing with Madrid and with Malaga, and that is that they are cities with a great future and, probably either Malaga or Valencia if the latter widens the port and the Mediterranean corridor is created, they will become the second city in the country.

When I read the novels of Fernando Vizcaíno Casas, I really like to see what Valencia was like in the 40s and 80s. I have always thought that right-wing humour was undervalued and, that it is much funnier than left-wing humour, I think of Pedro Muñoz Seca Pedro Muñoz Seca , Enrique Jardiel Poncela Enrique Jardiel Poncela , Tono Antonio Lara de Gavilán , Miguel Mihura Miguel Mihura , Edgar Neville Edgar Neville (although he will start on the left, he was a great friend of the actor Charles Chaplin Charlie Chaplin and, apart from being a writer, a brilliant film director), Julio Camba Julio Camba and, Alfonso UssíaAlfonso Ussía can be cited as the continuator of these great writers until they reached television programs such as the clones in Intereconomía ahora @eltoro.tv humor with a British touch very much in the vein of P.G. Wodehouse P.G. Wodehouse . In an article written by the wife of my admired @jpearce_officialJoseph Pearce Susannah Pearce wrote one that I liked very much in which novels you would like to be in and, I would certainly not mind being in a novel by Fernando Vizcaíno Casas. Despite the satire, his humour is not cruel like that of Ramón María del Valle Inclán Ramón María del Valle-Inclán . Although Evelyn Waugh Evelyn Waugh is also cruel when she wants to, but even so Fernando Vizcaíno Casas reminds me of Evelyn Waugh and one of her most outstanding disciples, the cultural Catholic David Lodge David Lodge . The readers who read it showed themselves to have an enviable taste and literary palate. Like G.K. Chesterton G.K. Chesterton maybe it's a lot of gag and, wittiness and not much plot. But, unlike the other books that have been read to him, "On the third day he rose again" And on the third day he rose again, "Girls to the living room" Girls... to the living room! (a very human story of the women who practiced the old trade, he would say the word that begins with p, but my parents taught me not to say swear words, if I went wrong it was not because of the education they gave me. Quite the opposite). "The Reverse of the Law" The Reverse of the Law is not a novel, but it is a fun vision of the Law, although there is some criticism at the end of the Transition, then there are his two best works "Las Autonosuyas" and, "The Wedding of the Lord Priest". Narratively, this is the most novel and the most curdled, since it tells the story of an opportunist, the life of Manuel Díaz de Alvar, who goes from being slightly republican to being a militant in the Falange and, then, from there, to the PSOE (together with the PNV, the party that put the most obstacles in the way of the Transition at the time, but when he triumphed, he awarded it to him and passed it off as his own). This theme was denounced in "Me findará la muerte" by Juan Manuel de Prada Me encontrará la muerte where he criticizes the Falangists who joined the party when the war was already over. Manuel Díaz de Alvar is a man without ideology who adapts to the political trends of the moment. His references are Dionisio Ridruejo Dionisio Ridruejo , Laín Entralgo Pedro Laín Entralgo , José María de Areilza José María de Areilza , Calvo Serer Rafael Calvo Serer , Jiménez Ruiz. Manuel is a man who has been a man: he goes from going to the feasts of the Nazi consul with his daughter Marika to flirting with the allies and boasting of his Anglophilia. He leaves his girlfriend, and has as the hero of "Red and Black"Le Rouge Et Le Noir: Intermediate an adultery with a married woman and then marries a honeyed and affectionate Galician named Carmiña. Unlike Cervantes Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra the Galicians come out very well like Corceira, a man with few scruples and who only seeks to get money and succeeds. The publishing house is a business as the character joins Opus Dei or, sympathizes with it or becomes a member of Real Madrid. In a novel to show how things have changed, Fernando Vizcaíno Casas told us that one of the clubs most favourable to Real Madrid was Valencia. It is very interesting the vision he gives of writers such as Manuel's reference authors are Pemán José María Pemán , Marquina Eduardo Marquina, he gets sick because an unhealthy water in a banquet of Edgar Neville. Then Fernando Vizcaíno Casas unloads all his irony on leftist writers such as Rafael Alberti, the anarchist Ramón J. Sender Ramón J. Sender (the author of some historical novels and "Nancy's Thesis"Nancy's Thesis) of progressive Catholics such as Bergamín José Bergamín who, according to Fernando Vizcaíno Casas, writes blasphemous poems. We are not dealing with an amoral character like Antonio Expósito, although we are dealing with an opportunist who conforms to the dominant currents and who has no convictions or ideas of his own. As in "Gangrena" by Mercedes Salisachs La Gangrena it is seen that despite the Francoism that the author also criticizes for its corruption and the traps and shenanigans that the Regime made. The Republican Uncle exiled in France comes out very well in this novel. There is a criticism of the progressive priest, the Jesuit Pedraza, then there is the communist Fujardo, who then lives like a millionaire riding on the dollar (see when, led by the revolutionary component and, the inertia of the times, Díaz de Alvar wants to nationalize or socialize the company). Perhaps one of the defects of the novel is that there is no integral character. You like Corcheira, but in the end he is an opportunist who seeks to be an affable bachelor who likes the good life (although in the end he will end up as the misogynist in "Amor se escribe sin h" by Enrique Jardiel Poncela Amor se escribe sin hache). But, there is not a single upright character with whom you can empathize. It is a funny, but forceful satire.

What counts happened to many Falangists who ended up in the PSOE or, in regionalist parties, we have the case of Revilla in Cantabria who, although he is not from the PSOE, makes a pact with the left to be in power and, cases such as José Bono, or Felipe González. It's sad, but at the end of reading this novel you end up with a smile. What Fernando Vizcaíno Casas criticizes more or less is that people choose to follow the mainstream and not their conscience (as is happening now, by the way) and that people seek their benefit and not what is right. In fact, one of the great failures of the Spaniards is to flatter the strong and to be cruel and merciless with the weak, or with those who used to do a lot for Spain and today find themselves in penury or, that is, ingratitude. As well as opportunism and always wanting to be on the winning horse without almost ever achieving it. I believe that this is what has led us to the current situation. Unlike "Falcó" I believe more this image of Francoism (which is the one my father told me about).
Literarily it is a more curdled novel than the others I have read by Fernando Vizcaíno Casas, funnier, more prophetic and quite entertaining. To be perfect, it lacks something of transcendence and a model because even the Falangist Carrasco is corrupted

[Fernando Pachón Cárdeno · Rating 3 out of 5]

Pues resulta que he estado leyendo una obra de un admirador de la obra de José Antonio. Algo sospechaba leyéndolo pero creí que se trataba de un recurso satírico, humorístico, por el cual el narrador le da bola a los personajes, sobre todo al protagonista. Pero no, resulta que simpatiza en cierto modo el autor con la Falange y con algunos o varios aspectos del franquismo. Lo que hace que tengan más sentidos varias afirmaciones contextuales que no encajarían bien del todo suponiendo que fuese un autor progresista contando esta historia.

De todos modos, sigue siendo una lectura amena y divertida que quiere ilustrar una situación bastante común durante los 39 años de dictadura y sobre todo en sus últimos años, proceso que se está desenvolviendo cuando el autor escribe y publica la obra. Sin estar de acuerdo con sus conclusiones, hay puntos certeros en su análisis sobre el chaqueterismo.

Y sobre este aspecto último hay algo interesante. Y es que aunque la mayoría de personajes son bastante tipo, el protagonista por momentos adquiere tintes trágicos: su chaqueterismo, aunque claramento azuzado por el interés, a veces parece que no es fruto de una interpretación cínica de las circustancias sino que se trata de la deriva de un hombre arrastrado por el paso de la historia. En varias ocasiones no es raro encontrarse con que uno siente algo de empatía y comprensión por el protagonista cuando parece querer rescatar su "verdadero" ser, o echa la vista atrás y recuerda... o simplemente cuando los hechos duros le hacen dudar entre su pasado y su futuro.

[Remo · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fernando Vizcaíno casas ejerció de puente cultural entre el antiguo régimen, la dictadura franquista, y el nuevo, la democracia recién estrenada tras cuarenta años. Su público objetivo, por lo que yo observaba, eran los lectores del Alcázar, nostálgicos no porque añoraran la dictadura, que alguno también habría, sino porque eran de la escuela de "la democracia así, no". De este modo, Vizcaíno Casas hacía críticas mordaces a los atropellos, los mangoneos, los nepotismos, las idas de olla de los indepes (entonces llamados nacionalistas), a menudo con gran acierto y con mucha finura. El problema era que lo contraponía todo a "lo otro". Según él, la alternativa a la democracia en ocasiones delictiva y superpoblada por arribistas que nos llegó no era otra democracia más madura y menos ladrona, era "lo otro". Y claro, el señor Vizcaíno Casas fue por supuesto engullido por la Historia.
El libro, en contexto, se deja leer. Vizcaíno Casas escribía muy bien. Su poso, sin embargo, es pequeño. Siempre que hay un cambio de régimen hay un porcentaje importante de miembros del Antiguo régimen que se declaran del Nuevo régimen "de toda la vida". Nada nuevo bajo el sol.

[José Luis Valenciano · Rating 5 out of 5]

Una descripción absolutamente desternillante de la carrera de un verdadero "homo politicus", que parte de falange en un puesto secundario y acaba de representante sindical de izquierdas; no por puro convencimiento ni coherencia ideológica, sino guiado por el instinto de supervivencia y una adecuada comprensión del cambio.
La novela juega con lo que algunos entienden como estructura cíclica de la historia (cuestión discutible), con resultados hilarantes.
Hay que contextualizar este, como otros títulos de Don Fernando, en los años finales del franquismo y la transición; un momento histórico en que se daba la circunstancia que los "demócratas de toda la vida" surgían como champiñones.
Muy entretenida y de gran valor politológico

[Teresa · Rating 4 out of 5]

Libro que se ambienta durante la etapa franquista hasta principios de la aparición democrática y que refleja de manera humorística pero muy realista el cambio ideológico de aquellos que quisieron mantenerse en el poder a pesar de los cambios politicos y sociales.

Libro muy recomendable porque aunque sea antiguo refleja un tipo de "personaje" muy extendido en nuestro país.

[Luiscv16 · Rating 5 out of 5]

Este libro me hizo llorar, pero también reír. Sinceramente este libro cambió mi forma de ver ciertas cosas.