Cuarto de atrás (1978) - Carmen Martín Gaite

Sobre la autora y la obra

-          Martín Gaite

o   1925-2000

o   Married to writer Rafael Sánchez-Ferlosio

-          Genre of “novel of memory”

Comps ideas to consider

-          Las narradoras de la transición: Carmen Martín Gaite

Secondary source – Cambridge Companion to Spanish Novel, Chap. 11: Gonzalo Sebajano

-          One of the best examples of the “novel of memory” (184)

-          Creation of the figure of “the man dressed in black,” an intriguing example of an enigmatic being or the model of a phantom-like interlocutor (187)

-          Blends memory, metafiction and fantasy (189)

-          Idea of the loneliness that lies at the root of being and nurtures the desire for dialogical communication (190)

-          “Chapter I introduces the protagonist – Carmen Martín Gaite – in the solitude of insomnia; Chapter II to VI consist of dialogues; Chapter VII, the final one, returns to the protagonist, her solitude hardly interrupted” (190)

-          All the events of the novel happen in one night (190)

-          “the interlocutors of El cuarto de atrás do not occupy the same space (the world of fiction), but exist in two distinct realms: Carmen in her own lived reality, and her visitor in Carmen’s fantasy realm, each also existing in an intermediate zone between the bizarre and the marvelous” (190)

-          Woman receives an unexpected visit from a stranger (190)

-          The ‘man dressed in black’ represents an inner spirit or the hidden sounding board of Carmen’s own consciousness (190)

-          Man dressed in black helps Carmen to write this novel of memory (190)

Article: “War as a rite of passage in El cuarto de atras”

-          Book as

o   social commentary on Franco years

o   mystery story

o   -corpus of childhood memories

-          During night of insomnia, visited by man in black of ambiguous identity/questionable reality. Conversations with him reveal formative episodes from her past/sentiments/fears, etc. 

-          "nocturnal visitor personifies writer's sub-conscious"

-          civil war: disrupts childhood, loses hideaway (the "cuarto de atrás"), gains knowledge of deprivation, fear, death (rite of passage, childhood--> adulthood like Primera Memoria)

-          war as testing ground for child's survival instincts...finds "a room of her own" in literature, which becomes her new "cuarto de atrás"

-          As a child, C de A was a private realm, insulated from strictures of adult outside world, freedom, innocent pleasure, and fantasized romance were available.

-          Gaite excludes marriage from the novel, rejecting authoritarian imposition of marriage by the Franco regime as sole, predetermined path for women.

-          Carmen, protagonist, is able to foster inventive spirit kindled in her during the war and subvert some restrictions placed on females.

-          "Although her self-hood is achieved in her withdrawal from reality, in her refuge she assumes the active posture of the creator."

-          As a child, she is unable to understand or confront circumstances (related to the war)...Yet, innocence is shattered by knowledge of pain, injustice and the corruptability of society. Her playroom becomes a pantry.

-          As an adolescent, "brief but significant" escape in defiance of rules of proper female behavior...slept in a hotel room with her cousin, without parents, and go on a walk at night.

-          Writing becomes a refuge during the war.

Characters

-          Carmen – narrator and protagonist

-          “man dressed in black” (Alejandra) – Carmen’s dream interviewer

-          Carmencita Franco – Carmen’s daughter

Chapter-by-chapter summary 

Chapter 1: El hombre descalzo

     The narrator, named Carmen (appears to be the author herself), recalls the position in which she often sleeps and a dream that she often has of stars ascending up, and the sound of silence that accompanies them. However, she cannot sleep on this night and so she wanders around the house a bit. She goes out on the verandah and ends up in a room with a bunch of crap in it. She thinks about the pills that she could take to sleep. She looks at, and reflects on, some books (and how they temporarily inspired her to write), a painting (“Luther’s conference with the Devil”), the threadwork that her grandmother used to do, and a letter that she discovers that was written to her. Eventually she goes to sleep.

Chapter 2: El sombrero negro

     A man comes up to Carmen’s place to interview her. He has a black hat that she puts on a table that captures her attention for a moment. It’s a strange interview, as he doesn’t ask conventional questions or carry a recording device/pen and paper. Carmen is afraid of cockroaches because they are unpredictable and seem to be considering her as she considers them. As he asks her questions, the dialogue shifts to Carmen’s memories from the war period, when she was a young girl. The narration is difficult to follow because Carmen often shifts from one topic to another suddenly, moving from the present to the past to something mentioned earlier in the book, all without any sort of signposts of rhythm. She enjoyed the wartime years because she didn’t really understand what was going on: she thought it was all a game. They discuss the popular culture and hairstyles of the war years, and whether the young Carmen envied Franco’s daughter (which she only did for her hair. Otherwise, she felt bad for her because the girl seemed very bored).

Chapter 3: Ven pronto a Cúnigan

     As Carmen goes to the kitchen to prepare some iced tea, she mentally delves into some memories. The chapter focuses largely on Madrid, and how in Madrid her family would meet with many family friends (who didn’t have anything interesting to say to a young girl) and there was always a sewing apparatus in every house in those days. There is sort of a meditation on the modernization of industry for a minute. Then, she talks about “el cuarto de atrás” where, in Salamanca, she learned to read and write. There were other back rooms, but they were also sites of learning. Her mother was not a typical housewife, and she taught her daughter more about learning than about house maintenance. “Mujer que sabe latín no puede tener buen fin” (title of Rosario Castellanos’s collection of essays). In a propagandistic magazine of the day, Y, she read that she should aim to model herself after Queen Isabela, who was so self-sacrificing and religious. After her meditations, she takes the beverages and returns to the living room where the interviewer waits.

Chapter 4: El escondite inglés

     The chapter begins with Carmen being weirded out that the interviewer has changed seats: it appears that he has also messed with her room/a table full of papers. He claims he has not though. They drink their tea, and she admires his graceful movements. She explains to him about el escondite inglés (hide-and-seek) and then they go on to talk about her reactions to the death of Franco. She says that time moves like in el escondite inglés, where one is never sure how fast things are going to be counted off. When she saw the funeral procession of Franco on TV, she realized that her entire life, more or less, had transpired during his rule. He was the only sort of government that she had even known; she also sees how his daughter, Carmencita Franco, has aged. She was then inspired to write a book about her memories, although there were so many memoirs coming out at that time that she couldn’t bring herself to and, in spite of some early efforts, the project stalled. She wants her book of memories to be more than just a factual recounting, but something almost fantastic as well, something that captured the spirit of that age. She, thus, has returned to reading the romance novels of the time that occupied her as a young lady. The phone rings, and the interviewer says it might be for him and asks that Carmen say he is not around anymore.

Chapter 5: Una maleta de doble fondo

     This entire chapter consists of a conversation between Carmen and a woman named Carola (whose name is not revealed until the conversation is well along). Carola thinks that Carmen is someone that the interviewer in her house (whose name is revealed to be Alejandro) is having an affair with. While their conversation is going on, Carmen imagines how this would fit well into a story that she could have written when she was younger and in school. Her focuses wanders in and out of the conversation, and she wonders if that man really might have come into her room while she was making the tea. Carola thinks that Carmen has written love letters to Alejandro, and there are some crazy connections between the different situations, even though it becomes obvious that Carmen is not the mistress. Apparently, Alejandro is her man and he has been acting weird since he claimed to have received his inheritance from his father, which included a briefcase with a removable bottom (where he stowed the love letters that he received). Eventually, before being able to read Carmen one of the letters, Carola must go because a man named Rafael (whom she called for consolation before calling Carmen) has arrived.

Chapter 6: La isla de Bergai

     The whole phone conversation thing takes a backseat again once Alejandro and Carmen restart their discussion. Talking about her proposed book about her early years, Carmen mentions Bergai and begins to explain it. Also, there are hints dropped that Alejandro is no ordinary interviewer, but there is something supernatural to him. Bergai is an island born of the scarcity that followed the Civil War: it came from a friendship that a young Carmen had with a girl whose family strongly felt the boot of Franco’s repression. Carmen grew up with lots of toy and a room all to herself and her siblings where they could play as they wanted. However, that all changed after the war. So, after showing her friend a doll she wanted (thinking along the lines that she had as a young girl), Carmen is told about the benefits of inventing whole worlds (like in Robinson Crusoe). So, they create the island of Bergai (a combination of names) as an escape from the difficult world. They build the world up together by writing in notebooks about it. Then, Carmen is shocked by her deck door blowing open and Alejandro goes to shut it. After recovering from her shock, Carmen gets tired and falls asleep.

Chapter 7: La cajita dorada

     Her daughter comes in and finds Carmen asleep on her bed. She wakes her up (it’s 5 in the morning and she’s just come back from a party). Carmen doesn’t remember coming to her bed and so she’s kind of weirded out. Out on the table are a bunch of folders of writing and a decorated box (the one that Alejandro gave to her). Her daughter thinks she’s acting weird, but goes into the kitchen. She screams because she saw a huge cockroach, which she wants Carmen to kill so she can go to bed. Carmen doesn’t kill the roach, and her daughter is asleep by the time Carmen can bring her some water. On her bed, where earlier she had her book about writing fantastic fiction, there is a manuscript which is actually the text of this novel. She goes to sleep clutching la cajita dorada.

Themes/ideas

-          Novel of memory

-          Novela posguerra

-          Supernatural elements

-          Experimental style

General Plot Notes
I. El hombre descalzo
Talks about her little room, la cama turca, and how she liked to lay on it like the ladies in the magazines she read. She was independent there-could turn on the lights, take a bath, etc. without bothering anyone.
Black man, with camisa desabrochada, cuernos, pelo rizado, orejas puntiagudas (maybe an image on one of her books?) She's looking around in her room at stacks of books. General insomnia.

II. El sombrero negro
Telephone rings. It's 12:30 am. Someone's at the door and she goes down to let them in. She talks to the man/visitor about her writing. Offers to tell him what she's writing about as long as he doesn't remember any of it.
Talks about her beca de estudios to study in Coimbra.
"La literatura de misterio tiene mucho que ver con las cartas que reaparecen." The man seems to already know about her books. "[la novela] empezaba prometiendo mucho, pero luego tuvo ud miedo, un miedo que no ha perdido nunca, ¿qué le paso?" (when she was there, she looked in a mirror and saw a reflection that wasn't hers...) Talks about hearing about Hitler, didn't understand why Spain let him in the country....yet, she didn't believe history.
Mentions literature as an attempted refuge. Sees Franco once, imagine the boredom his daughter must've suffered. Mentions she envied her a little because she had curly hair, but her family "no eran franquistas".
"La felicidad en los años de guerra y postguerra era inconcebible, que vivíamos rodeados de ignorancia y represión..." (censura/fusilamientos..) pero, a pesar de todo, tiene recuerdos felices de su infancia.

III. Ven pronto a Cúnigan
(her writing has bits of songs/poems of various types-fado, foxtrot, etc)
Goes to the kitchen to make a tea for her guest. "Me horrrorizan las cocinas de ahora, asépticas, lujosas e impersonales, donde nadie se sentarías a conversar..." "no hay que tenerle tando miedo a la huella del tiempo."
..."he venido asociando la literatura con las brechas en la costumbre."
Talks about the past, how things have been modernized. A little bit like a memoir..."Cuando venían a coser a las casa, traín dulces o caramelos para los niños" etc. "A mí ir al teatro era lo que más me gustaba de todo lo que hacíamos en Madrid." "Yo soñaba con vivir en una buhardilla donde siempre estuvieran los trajes sin colgar y los libros por el suelo, donde nadie persiguiera a los copos de polvo..."
-criticizes the stories they sell (e.g. of a girl at university studying who falls in love with a professor and gets married)-why do they all have to have happy ending? no one tells you what happens after the wedding! "La retórica de la postguerra se aplicaba a desprestigiar los conatos de femenismo que tomaron auge en los años de la República y volvía a poner el acento en el heroísmo abnegado de madres y esposas...." "Las dos virtudes más importantes eran la laboriosidad y la alegría"

IV. El escondite inglés.
Her drawing of Lutero becomes the subject of conversation.
They talk about fate & she remembers books about Isabel la católica (Spain's golden age) "donde cada paso, viaje, o decisión de la reina parecían marcados por un destino superior e inquebrantable."
Metafiction: "el libro sobre la postguerra tengo que empezarlo en un momento de iluminacion como el de ahora, relacionando el paso de la historia con el ritmo de los sueños>"
Hide and seek game: "uno, dos, tres, al escondite inglés."
She has notebooks, writes down lots of memories (but often misplaces her escrituras).
"quedarse, conformarse y aguantar era lo bueno...salir, escapar, y fugarse era lo malo" "yo pensaba que tambín podía ser heroico escaparse por gusto."
"Desde la muerte de Franco habrá notado cómo proliferan los libros de memorias, ya es una peste..."
Talks about her childhood-born during the time of Primo de Rivera. When she was 9, politics seemed like a game adults played. People in exile seemed like people in a deck of card (like the King of Hearts...) Yet, Franco era "unigénito, indiscutible....infiltraba en las casas, los cines" (he felt like a real Governor, and less like a romantic game piece).
Talks about books "rosas" she read- modernidad moderada "la protagonista podía ser no tan joven, era valiente y trabajadora, se había liberado económicaments, pero llevaba a cuestas un pasado secreto y tormentoso." Their convo continues. The phone rings.

V. Una maleta de doble fondo.
Talking on phone with a person. Saying "they're not here right now", yet the person wants to know the truth. Story about this guy, Alejandro... (I wasn't very engaged when I read this chapter...)


VI. La isla de Bergai

Going to go out with the hombre de negro. He advises her to put on a little makeup. Man tells her, re: book she's going to write, "creo que debe partir del tema de la escasez." "Está ud. hablando de las canciones de postguerra, de cómo todavía no se habían convertido en objetos de consumo." (because in times of escasez, you want to savor things, make them last as long as possible."  "Bergai fue mi primer refugio" (an invented name made by her friend and her.)
words like rationing, amortizar: tenían que ver con la necesidad y se oponían al placer.
Like article says, war divided her life into a before and after, childhood and adulthood.
Talks about the word "lesbiana"-how it never existed before. "expresiones como fornicar y desear la mujer de tu prójimo venían explicadas por medio de eufemismos que multiplicaban los rodeos."

VII. La cajita dorada
A young girl comes into her room. It's 5 pm. She's just waking up. She tells her, "Me preocupa que últimamente estoy perdiendo mucho la memoria, con la buena memoria que tenía yo." She's found the box with all of her notes. She begins to read a book (starts with the same words that were at the beginning of this book...circular, metafictive).