The Face of Spain

by Gerald Brenan

The author recounts his travels through central and southern Spain on his return to his home after having left it for thirteen years during Spain's civil war

Genres: Travel, Spain, History, Nonfiction, Spanish Civil War

310 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1950

About the author

Edward FitzGerald "Gerald" Brenan, CBE was an Anglo-Irish writer and Hispanist who spent much of his life in Spain.

He is best known for The Spanish Labyrinth, a historical work on the background to the Spanish Civil War, and for South from Granada: Seven Years in an Andalusian Village.
He was awarded a CBE in the Diplomatic Service and Overseas List in 1982.


Librarian Note:
There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name.

Reviews

[John · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not an easy read by any means. This book describes a trip around Spain in 1949 by the author and his wife. They had lived in Spain before the civil war. Although it is over 10 years since the civil war ended, the people they met on the journey had very moving accounts of the horrors and atrocities that had occurred in the civil war and also of the corruption, greed and inhumanity of the entire system of government prevailing at the time of writing. It is difficult to believe that such hunger, deprivation and squalor could exist in Europe in the middle of the 20th Century in what must be one of the most civilized countries in the world. A lot of this was made more poignant for me as I have been to most of the places mentioned over the last 30 years or so and know some of them very well. I had read an earlier book of his - South From Granada - which describes his arrival in Spain in 1919 which is also a good read.

The author was obviously remarkably knowledgeable about all things Spanish and there are frequent diversions in the book where he goes into the art, architecture, history, culture and politics of Spain in a lot of what I would call very intellectual and philosophical detail. I found this difficult to follow at times. I would have given it 5 stars if it was a bit easier to read.

A real eye opener.

[Stephen Varcoe]

Reminded me a bit of Robert Byron, another mildly eccentric product of the English public school system. They both got to know the peoples of places that interested them.
In Brenan’s case the place was Spain, not somewhere that interests me much but nevertheless the place I now find myself living.
South of Granada I read in December before leaving. This one was left here in the house by the previous owner. Both the book and the country (or at least this bit of it) have a certain charm.

[Robert Dodds · Rating 4 out of 5]

(Note: this book is by Gerald Brenan, not Gerald Brennan!)
I enjoyed this more than his 'South from Granada' - although that was also interesting and insightful, it was rather disorganised. This book - written earlier but dealing with a later period of his time in Spain - mixes very knowledgeable observations on Spanish art and architecture with a thorough investigation into the state of the country under the government of General Franco. He shows great compassion and understanding for the poverty and despair that was to be found almost everywhere he went, and digs up reluctantly divulged information about the events of the civil war. Sometimes I feel he goes out on a limb rather in making sweeping observations on the Spanish character, but his long acquaintance with the country gives him his evidence. He also makes many pithy remarks, some of which might apply still to the Spain of 2016, such as this one: "The Spanish economic system is like a game of musical chairs, in which there are only half as many seats as there are performers". All in all, a great read for anyone interested in recent Spanish history.

[Ellie · Rating 2 out of 5]

This looked so promising as "the acclaimed record of travels in Spain under Franco", I looked forward to reading in-depth conversations with locals and a mix of real people talking about the state of life.

However, it was mostly the author's opinions intermingled with some fragments of speech and random encounters that didn't say a huge deal about Franco's connection with daily life. It made clear that there was a lot of poverty and people missed Rivera.

The diary style made the structure all over the place, one minute you're looking for Lorca's grave, next commenting on the washerwomen (a repeat theme) and describing the barren plains yet again.

His totally unnecessary comments comparing Italian women to Spanish women to French women at the end made me go down a star:

"But if Italian women have better figures and faces of a finer oval, they have decidedly less character and expression."

"In the hotel where we are staying there are a number of French girl students. They offer a strong contrast to the Spanish girls. Not one in seven of them is pretty, but they differ greatly among themselves."

Thanks for your authoritative information, Brenan.

I did like this quote, though:

"Spain is full of such rolling stones - men who have lost their foothold in the safe niches of society and wander about, gathering up the crumbs that fall from those who have had better luck than themselves.

One doesn't have to bring in the Arab past to see it as a land of nomads - ambulant lottery sellers and boot-blacks, street vendors and touts, contrabandistas and commission agents, cesantes now in jobs and now out of them.

And how else can people live?

The Spanish economic system is like a game of musical chairs, in which there are only half as many seats as there are performers."

[Javier · Rating 5 out of 5]

España finales de los 40, cielos limpios y pobreza. ¿Quieres ir? Lee este libro

[Alberto · Rating 3 out of 5]

Libro de viajes que describe el recorrido de Gerald Brenan por el centro y sur de España a su vuelta en 1949. En este libro Gerald Brenan describe con una redacción muy cuidada los paisajes, personajes y forma de vida en la España de la posguerra. Sorprende el profundo conocimiento de Brenan tanto de geografía, como de historia, de arte e incluso de botánica. Profundiza en muchos de estos temas con gran acierto y demostrando un dominio pleno de los temas tratados. Es apasionante como alguien extranjero haya podido llegar a tener tal grado de profundidad en el conocimiento de la Historia, Arte y realidad sociológica y política de España. En el libro Brenand recorre: Madrid, Córdoba, Málaga, Churriana, Granada, La Mancha, Badajoz, Mérida, Ciudad Real, Talavera, Toledo y vuelta a Madrid antes de regresar a Londres.
El libro es interesante por el grado de descripción de la realidad física y política de la España de la posguerra, pero puede resultar algo pesado a quien no esté interesado en la materia.

[Mitch · Rating 3 out of 5]

In this book, Gerald Brenan travels around southern Spain with his wife and records his impressions of the countryside, the local architecture, a smallish amount of art and the opinions of people he met concerning the current living conditions (desperate) in Spain after the Civil War. This latter part leads to a more general picture of Spanish character which, according to others better informed, is quite accurate.

It may not sound like it from that description, but that makes this a pretty narrow niche of interest. Because it is so narrow, I give it only three stars. The writing definitely deserves more as it is good- though there are probably too many depictions of non-outstanding countryside. Still, Mr. Brenan made good use of colorful phrases to liven empty fields and dull landscapes up.

If your interests line up with the subjects I mentioned a paragraph or two ago, then this is a 5-star book- snatch it up and enjoy!

[Sharon Stine · Rating 5 out of 5]

This journey through Spain just 13 years after the Civil War with a skilled writer who is revisiting the country he loved and where he lived is penetrating and memorable. Brenan reacquaints himself with ordinary people trying survive oppressive poverty. His words like brush strokes in a painting are vividly critical and softly compassionate of both sides of the Civil War. Just when I felt disheartened with the views of hunger and past violence, Brenan paints a landscape drenched with heat, where rocks rise to form rugged mountains and open into wide vistas. A land were olive groves march across the red earth stretching grey green arms into the starched blue sky and almond trees carpet it with pink blossoms. The book is so rich in understanding of place, of people, of their history and culture that I will read it repeatedly.

[Barbara · Rating 5 out of 5]

Beautifully written by an intelligent and knowledgeable writer who loves and knows the country. Shocking to read about the depths of poverty in 1949 (and which continued for some considerable time) which some of our friends who were children back then must remember - but have never spoken about. The heart of the book for me was his quest to find the Lorca's grave, describing the sadness of Granada as the sadness of "a city that killed its poet". The poverty, the corruption, the harsh beauty of the country and the dilapidated state of its buildings, the contrasting aspects of the Spanish character - all make this an exceptional piece of writing.

[Ryan Kent · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very interesting insight into Spain post-civil war. Brenan was an accessible author who clearly loved Spain and Spanish culture but was not afraid to criticise the negative aspects of its society and politics, and to point out its abhorrent treatment of its own citizens. The most interesting aspect of the book is his detail of the changes that have occurred since the end of the war and his dialogue with various villagers and townspeople. Whilst his knowledge of flora is also particularly impressive it can seem a little inconsequential in the bigger picture.

[Jessica Davis · Rating 4 out of 5]

A beautifully descriptive book of a man's travels in Spain, with his wife, shortly after WWII. Vivid descriptions of the landscape, architecture, and customs are interwoven with insight into the national psyche. The book also provides a look at the dire political and economic situations, and poverty suffered by so many in the country at that time. Reading this took be to a place, at once sublime and tragic, in time that is long gone.

[Ian · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fantastic deep analysis of the poverty in post franco spain in the late 1940s

[John Samuel · Rating 4 out of 5]

Don Gerald returns to Spain in 1949 to find a country devastated by years of civil war, famine and brutal dictatorship.

[Bernie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Life in Spain after the Spanish Civil War under the brutal Franco regime.

[Pablo · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting to read about places in Spain that I have visited, and lear how things were 70 years ago. It is sad to read about postwar Spain.

[Sue Cleaver · Rating 3 out of 5]

Unfinished

[Reading · Rating 1 out of 5]

If one is in the mood for fetishized human suffering under a dictatorship, look no further

[Samuel Bosque · Rating 3 out of 5]

The chapters on Madrid were cool. Other than that, pretty boring and the writer is kind of an asshole. Spain was really, really poor under Franco.

[Ted Farrell · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is an interesting travel book of post-civil war Spain. The author was clear a prodigious reader and uses his knowledge to greatly enrich his description of the sites he and his wife visited.
Perhaps most significant is the time of his visit, the late 1940s. Also significant is the author’s deep knowledge of Spain from the period he lived there in the 1920s and ‘30s. For me, the most interesting parts of the book revolves around his accounts, based on his own experience and of his acquainted, of the Civil War its terrible consequences.

[Max Carmichael · Rating 2 out of 5]

A historically informative but uninspired travelogue by the author of the truly inspirational South From Granada, this book is still worth reading for the poignant story of his search for the grave of poet Federico Garcia Lorca, who was executed and effaced from regional memory during the Civil War.

[Fergal OBrien · Rating 3 out of 5]

A very interesting book, it give a great insight into the struggles and poverty within Spain in the late forty´s.
In many ways a travel book.
I did the first half of the book more interesting than the second half perhaps because I live in Andalucia.

[Michael · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good enough to be given as a gift, it's a good read, and remembrance of times past when it wasn't so good in Spain. It's good to know of the bad times to better enjoy the better times.

[Encarna Castillo · Rating 5 out of 5]

Un retrato realista e imparcial de una España aún herida por la guerra civil española. Muy buena lectura para entender el miedo y la desorientación de los españoles tras la contienda bélica.

[David W. · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very well written, and I found Brennan's account of his search for Garcia Lorca's grave to be quite touching - the center of gravity for the book, at least for me.

[Andrewh · Rating 4 out of 5]

Brenan is one of the great Anglophone writers on Spain, and this is a good little travel book, outlining his thoughts on post-Civil War Francoist Spain, when he returned in 1949 after a decade of exile (he had left his home in Andalucía once the war broke out). The work starts in the capital (where I was when I started reading the book), and he works his way down to Andalucía, Extremadura, La Mancha and back to Madrid.
The most interesting parts were when he talks to people in the south about how things are going, some 10 years after the end of the horrendous Guerra Civil. He himself was a Republican sympathiser, albeit a sceptical one (given the anti-clerical violence unleashed), and he tends to find himself talking to many former supporters of the Nationalist side on his travels, who mostly seem to feel betrayed by the Francoist state, which is wholly corrupt and which has done nothing for working people (as the 'Movement' had promised) and has simply reinforced the power of the landed rich, the Church and the state (often in the form of corrupt officials, from the Falangist right). The poverty recorded here is also noteworthy, with many people literally starving and dressed in rags - this just 60-odd years ago in a Western European country. The reasons for this were several - a drought, compounded by corruption and typical inefficiency, and the inability of the Franco regime to get foreign loans to modernise (owing to Franco's, admittedly half-hearted, support of Hitler in WWII).

On one occasion, he sets out to find the grave of the great writer Lorca, who was shot dead in Granada (here, it suggests, simply because there was a false rumour planted that the 'Reds' had killed Jacinto Benavente, a rightist playwright). This leads him into the bureaucracy of the Spanish 'holocaust', in which thousands of people were executed summarily and their bones buried in mass graves - of Lorca, however, he could find no official trace, though many hints were dropped to him of where the bones might be. This was a fairly brave act in 1949, given that Lorca's work was still banned in Spain and he attracts some attention as a result.

Generally, the book mixes this type of journalistic reportage with more travelogue-style impressions of Spanish life, literature, art and architecture (he was self-taught in all these, after moving to Spain in the post-WWI era) and this is all quite enjoyable, although the dated style can grate at times. Like most Hispanophiles, he is often awed by the Spanish 'don' for life, leisure and conversation, while also frustrated by the capacity for violent fanaticism that led to the Carlist Wars and then the Civil Wars, and their incredible death spirals. Worth reading.

[Michael Castro · Rating 3 out of 5]

Brenan's classic travel book gives a fascinating account of life in Spain under Franco in 1949 and the insights into Spain at the time and it's people and history. He also goes in search for Lorca's grave whom he had known before the outbreak of the dreadful civil war. Brenan understood clearly that no one in Spain wanted any more trouble. However bad conditions were and he shows that they were bad, but not as terrible as the preceding years before and during the Civil War.

A timeless and eternal classic.