Carlism in literature

[21] Some wartime episodes drew particular attention: the so-called Abrazo de Vergara attracted at least 5 works, by Jose Vicente Echegaray (1839), Juan Nicasio Gallego (1850), Marcial Busquets (1858) Martí Folguera (1869) and Emilio Olloqui (1869), while battle of Luchana was acknowledged by Antonio Martínez (1855) and Francisco Navarro Villoslada (1840).

[24] Some scholars refer to a minor Asturian poet Robustiana Armiño as “propagandista del carlismo”,[25] but in her literary works one might find merely endorsement of traditional social roles[26] and in 1864 she penned an exalted poem honoring Isabella II.

[30] The first work which might clearly be considered a novel was Eduardo o la guerra civil en las provincias de Aragón y Valencia by Francisco Brotons (1840); set in the last war, it offered the Cristino perspective.

[31] Other novels soon followed; Los solitarios (1843) by unidentified author presented the court of Carlos V from a highly sympathetic perspective,[32] Espartero by Ildefonso Bermejo (1845–1846) advanced vehemently anti-Carlist vision,[33] while Diario de un médico by Máximo López García (1847) was an adventure story written in a truly Romantic fashion.

[38] Ayguals de Izco, hugely successful as a novelist,[39] initiated the tone which would later turn dominant in terms of treatment of Carlists in the Spanish novel: they are presented as power-hungry hypocrites, ran by treacherous clergy[40] and their ranks populated by criminals, prostitutes, assassins, thieves[41] or simply mad cruel brutes.

The single personality which was enough to shift the balance was Galdós, the first of Spanish literary giants who placed Carlism in centre of their attention; it was his writings which set the tone for decades and it was his hideous Carlist protagonists who populated imagination of the Spaniards for generations to come.

[92] The genre championed by Jules Verne is followed in France by Alexandre de Lamothe in La Fille du Bandit (1875)[93] and in Italy by Luigi Previti in I diamanti della principessa di Beira (1875);[94] in England works of Edmund Randolph are formatted as a struggle with Catholic identity.

[97] Brutality was brought to even higher, naturalistic levels in La sima de Igúzquiza by Alejandro Sawa (1888); at times it might seem that the author was more concerned about dazzling the reader with horrors and atrocities rather than with denouncing the Carlists or telling the right from the wrong.

[104] Their novels, usually classified as costumbrismo or novela de tésis, steer clear of political themes, though in terms of the outlook advanced Pereda is by some considered one of few authors who pursue "Carlist thesis";[105] in this respect his key work is Peñas arriba (1895).

[108] A second-rate novelist who nurtured the very same longing for traditional values was Eva Canel; it was best expressed in Manolín (1891) and Oremus (1893);[109] the same can be said about Modesto H. Villaescusa, who in novels like La tórtola herida (1892) explored late Carlism-flavored costumbrista threads in the Murcian cultural ambience.

[118] Though clearly he demonstrated no sympathy for Carlism in volumes from the third and fourth Episodios Nacionales series, the movement is reportedly less and less pictured in Manichean and infernal terms;[119] at times it might even appear that some personalities, e.g. the title protagonist of Zumalacárregui (1898), are presented as role models.

[120] Also the Third Carlist War triggered popular cultural response, this time reduced almost entirely to the Basque linguistic realm and evading typical historical categories; this production is acknowledged in Karlisten Bigarren Gerrateko bertsoak, anthology edited by Antonio Zavala (1997).

[158] He considered re-writing Paz en la guerra, probably with much less understanding for Carlism; in the last document written before death Unamuno claimed that the emerging Nationalist regime was spiritually governed by a Carlism-inspired "Catholic Traditionalist paganism".

[180] Baroja, Valle-Inclán and Unamuno made Carlism the key protagonist of the greatest Modernist works; another of the noventayochistas, Vicente Blasco Ibañez, preferred to fight the Carlists on the streets[181] and only marginally allowed them presence in his novels.

The most explicit case is La catedral (1903); the work is resemblant of an old-style militant assault rather than of the Modernist ambiguous discourse, as the Carlists are portrayed typically as hypocrites, who in the name of God engage in most ungodly atrocities or simply indulge in most earthly pleasures.

[217] Spanish literature of the 20th century poses a major problem in terms of periodisation, with many conflicting proposals offered; it seems close to impossible to single out an aesthetic literary trend generally accepted as prevailing or even to specify temporal borderlines for any given period, regardless of its would-be name.

His Pour don Carlos (1920) was marked by Benoit's trademark style: well-constructed adventurous plot combined with good historiographic research and somewhat simplified psychology; in terms of political sympathies it clearly hailed the legitimist cause.

[242] Benjamin Jarnés penned his Zumalacárregui, el caudillo romántico (1931) in a very peculiar way; his protagonist is presented as more than a military hero, a genius embodiment of individuality who could have been an icon of both the Carlists and the Liberals, "artista de la acción".

In El barrio maldito (1925) he portrays the province as held in reactionary grip of the Carlists, who themselves are traditionally presented as hyprocrytes;[246] in Centauros del Pirineo (1928) in a somewhat Barojian manner he hailed smugglers, who represent "sensibilidad fina, moderna, europea" as opposed to "elemento tradicionalista".

[262] The old orthodox party executive José Pascual de Liñán y Eguizábal also went on with poetic pieces, his classic verses praising traditional Spanish virtues, commenting ongoing events and honoring great men of Carlism.

[264] A poet from the younger generation, Manuel García-Sañudo, whose literary Carlist zeal carried him behind bars during the late Restoration years, moved from early lyrics of Sonetos provincianos (1915) and Romance de pobres almas (1916) to more belligerent strophes related to his assignment to Morocco.

[286] The Spanish Civil War triggered massive literary response abroad, yet most authors ignore Carlist threads; they are absent either in well-known works like The Confidential Agent by Graham Greene (1939) and L’Espoir by André Malraux (1945),[287] or in most minor pieces,[288] though there are exceptions.

A minor character lieutenant Paco Berrendo does not resemble a typical Carlist literary monster;[290] also an anonymous mounted requeté, shot by Robert Jordan, is portrayed with compassion, resulting perhaps not that much from Hemingway's idea of Carlism but because of his fascination with Navarre.

[321] A straightforward exaltation of Carlism is poetry of a religious, Antonio Sánchez Maurandi,[322] a requete combatant Germán Raguán, the author known for his single poetic collection Montejurra (1957),[323] and this of Maximo Gonzalez del Valle, whose poems – e.g. Elegía de los Requetés (1966) – are scattered across a few volumes.

However, he is best known as the moving spirit behind La Tertulia Literaria Hispanoamericana, weekly sessions of live poetry; the event was launched in 1952 and has been operating as part of various institutional frameworks; the project outlived Francoism and earned Montesinos prestigious standing especially among the younger generation.

[340] The novel of the "literatura juvenil" genre which stands out for clear Traditionalist zeal is Ignacio María Pérez, acérrimo carlista, y los suyos by Maria Luz Gomez (2017); it follows the history of 6 generations, from the First Carlist War to the post-Franco era.

El tigre rojo by Carlos Domingo (1990) is styled as unorthodox homage to a free man, always willing to pursue his convictions regardless of political circumstances; hailing late departure of Cabrera from the legitimist path, by no means can it be considered an orthodox Carlist lecture.

The only Spanish novelist awarded the Nobel Prize in literature, Camilo José Cela, set most of his Mazurca para dos muertos during the 1936–1939 civil war; the Carlist thread is almost absent, save for few comments and one marginally mentioned historical figure, María Rosa Urraca Pastor, who receives her share of ridicule no larger than that reserved for other protagonists.

[363] Not exactly the same scale yet not that different approach is demonstrated in Poliedroaren hostoak by Joan Mari Irigoien Aranberri (1983), a vision of recent history of the Basque region told as tale about two families, a Carlist and a Liberal one; written in Euskara, it was awarded a number of prizes.

[365] Verdes valles, colinas rojas by Ramiro Pinilla (2004–2005) advances the thesis that once commenced, the wars never end; the protagonist to prove the point is a Carlist priest padre Eulogio del Pesebre,[366] obsessed with visions of conflict and revenge.