The Battle Over the Memory and the New Account of the Spanish Civil War

New analytical categories and memory studies have revitalized research on the Spanish Civil War and the Franco regime, but the obsession with post-truth presents challenges for historians. This book explores different times of memory in Spain and advocates for a space for historical interpretation that is less dependent on the demands of the present and seeks to construct a new account of Spain's traumatic past.

Format: Hardback
Length: 202 pages
Publication date: 27 February 2023
Publisher: Peter Lang AG

The advent of memory and the introduction of fresh analytical frameworks for examining violence have significantly revitalized research on the Spanish Civil War and the Franco regime. Nevertheless, the fixation with the presentism inherent in the post-truth era presents unsettling challenges for historians, as they have relinquished their role as the guardians of historical interpretation. In this book, an in-depth analysis is conducted on the various phases of memory that have unfolded in Spain since 1936, encompassing the challenges posed by the utilization of concepts associated with standardizing the transitional narrative of the violence unleashed in the areas under Nationalist and Republican control. Moreover, in contrast to the intention of imposing a singular, one-way public narrative of the past, it advocates for a designated space for historical interpretation that is less reliant on the imperatives and fickle demands of the present, as well as the necessity of constructing a new account of Spain's traumatic past that does not entail its dissipation in diverse forms of cultural memory.

Weight: 337g
Dimension: 210 x 148 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9783631868546
Edition number: New ed