Requiem for a Spanish Peasant

I've read this book twice, once in 2002 and again 10 years later. I discovered that while back in 2002, I knew something about the Spanish Civil War, the Second Republic, and the rise of Francisco Franco, I didn't know enough to appreciate the beauty and the overwhelming tragedy of "Requiem". Now, having expanded my knowledge, and taught courses dealing with the Civil War and having studied in further detail the conflicts of the 1930s, "Requiem" simply sings to me. The portrait that the book paints of loving betrayal is moving, disturbing, disquieting. The book is short, but resists being dense; the narrative style has an easy simplicity that contradicts its dark subject matter, much in the same way that a Requiem Mass wraps in musical show more beauty the hard realities of death. I highly recommend this book for those who have interest in 20th century literature, but with the caveat that, without the context of Spanish history, a *complete* reading of the text is impossible. However, even with a lack of context, the text is indeed beautiful, and Sender has been proven -- once again -- to be the master of postwar Spanish narrative. show less

I've read this book twice, once in 2002 and again 10 years later. I discovered that while back in 2002, I knew something about the Spanish Civil War, the Second Republic, and the rise of Francisco Franco, I didn't know enough to appreciate the beauty and the overwhelming tragedy of "Requiem". Now, having expanded my knowledge, and taught courses dealing with the Civil War and having studied in further detail the conflicts of the 1930s, "Requiem" simply sings to me. The portrait that the book paints of loving betrayal is moving, disturbing, disquieting. The book is short, but resists being dense; the narrative style has an easy simplicity that contradicts its dark subject matter, much in the same way that a Requiem Mass wraps in musical show more beauty the hard realities of death. I highly recommend this book for those who have interest in 20th century literature, but with the caveat that, without the context of Spanish history, a *complete* reading of the text is impossible. However, even with a lack of context, the text is indeed beautiful, and Sender has been proven -- once again -- to be the master of postwar Spanish narrative. show less

Réquiem por un campesino español recoge un dramático episodio de la guerra civil en un pueblecito aragonés. Mosén Millán se dispone a ofrecer una misa en sufragio del alma de un joven a quien había querido como a un hijo. Mientras aguarda a los asistentes, el cura reconstruye los hechos: el fracaso de su mediación, con la que creyó poder salvar al joven —refugiado en el monte durante los primeros días del levantamiento—, pero que no sirvió sino para entregarlo a sus ejecutores. El relato es de una perfecta sobriedad y de una sencillez profunda y estremecedora. La narración sobrecoge por su ajustado realismo, por la eficacia de sus símbolos y por el profundo conocimiento de los mecanismos de la conciencia, que se nos show more presenta a través de la evocación del sacerdote show less

Concisión en la exposición, sobriedad en la expresión, sencillez de estilo, fluidez narrativa. Estas son las armas de Sender en su “Réquiem...”. Una trama nada compleja, previsible. El costumbrismo, tan denostado, inteligentemente utilizado en forma de romances como elemento vehicular del relato. Interesante análisis de la conciencia humana y el concepto de culpa. Una excelente obra en la que la brevedad no es el menor de sus méritos. Tolle lege, tolle lege y convertíos todos con esta novela a Sender.

This short novel documents the life and death of Paco, a young Spaniard with a magnetic personality who briefly rose to political prominence in a small rural community. The town priest, Mosén Millán, was present at all the major events of Paco's life, and the story centers on him as he prepares a requiem to celebrate the one year anniversary of Paco's death. I actually read it a few months ago, but I was thinking the other day about the moral dilemma the priest faces when the Francoist opposition takes over. It's easy to hate him as you finish the story, but it's also easy to understand him and wonder if his behavior wasn't justifiable after all. I guess you have to decide whether anybody, even a man of the cloth, can stay above the show more fray when there's a war going on and people are being killed.

It's a well-structured book, not long, rather complicated but quite readable at the same time. The entire story takes place in about a 20 minute segment of time as the priest is slowly joined for the requiem by the triumvirate of local political power, don Valeriano, don Gumersindo and señor Cástulo. The altar boy drifts in and out of the story, singing a romance that the townspeople have created about Paco during the year since his death. The bulk of the novel is comprised of the priest's memories of Paco at different moments in his life, and through his reminiscences you get a good feel for the town and the locations where people congregated during the years before the Civil War: the homesteads where baptisms and weddings are held, the countryside, the caves where the least-fortunate sectors of society live in abject poverty, and the "Carasol" where the town gossips chat about what was going around around them. Lots of places, and also lots of people. You've got the two central characters, Paco and Mosén Millán, and a large cast of townspeople surrounding them. I especially enjoyed the Celestinesque Jerónima, who does most of the talking at the Carasol, and the communist cobbler, whose thoughts stand in interesting contrast with the rising and falling fortunes of the Republicans and the nationalists. Really, it's surprising to flip back through this book and think about how much happened in so few pages. It went by quickly, but the author had a nice touch in the arrangement of the different people and places as they are evoked by the priest as he thinks back on the life of his former helper.

I've been reading a lot of books from Spain the past few months and this one was a good introduction to fiction about the Spanish Civil War. I found myself looking up historical information to complement my relative ignorance of Spain's history (my knowledge of the war being based largely on George Orwell's Homage to Catalonia). This book would be a nice complement to that one, because while Orwell gives you a worldly, intellectual outsider's view of the later portion of the war, Sender's book gives you a rural community whose inhabitants are caught up in the rise and violent fall of the Republic. show less

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