Appearances are deceiving, especially in times of Civil War

What is it about?

Las máscaras del héroe portrays Spanish society from the Second Republic to the starting point of the Civil War. The novel shows how, at that historical moment, Spain was torn by poverty and immorality. This complex intertextual historical novel portrays many historical figures, such as Pedro Luis de Gálvez, the last of the bohemians and a failed writer. We get to know Gálvez through Navales, who deeply hates him. Therefore he presents Gálvez as a despicable man only concerned about himself. Nevertheless, Navales ends up proving to be an immoral person who tortures and kills just for fun. My purpose is to show that Navales is an unreliable narrator, according to Wayne Booth´s definition, and that Gálvez is really an anti-hero and, for that, I will mainly follow Carl Goldberg´s, Suzy C. Holstein´s and Pawlowsky´s approaches.

Featured Image

Photo by Neil Thomas on Unsplash

Photo by Neil Thomas on Unsplash

Why is it important?

The fact that the author chooses such an apparent untrustworthy character to show how people really were during the Civil War gives as the key to understand the novel. The clash of ideas and ideals is, according to this, more of a clash of masks and envies. The analysis of this polyphonic novel will help the reader to better comprehend the complexity of Las Mascaras del heroe and its protrait of the beginnings of the Spanish Civil War

Perspectives