Or I'll Dress You in Mourning: Post-Civil War Spain, El Cordobes, and Social Realism's Reflections in the Novel

Abstract

Bullfighting as a tradition that dates back many centuries in Spanish history and during this time it has been identified with honour, pride and success - indeed, success in the arena was regarded as a gateway to fame and wealth by many young Spaniards in 20th century. One of the embodiments of this success is Manuel Benitez, better known as "El Cordobes". This bullfighter, whose reputation rivalled that of Francisco Franco in the 60s, was the subject of the novel Or I'll dress you in mourning by French and American journalists Dominique Lapierre and Larry Collins with his extraordinary life story. In this novel, in which the documentary technique is utilized, not only the journey of El Cordobes to success, but also the history, social structure and bullfighting tradition of Spain from the civil war to the end of the 60s are described in detail. In this study, the world of bullfighting and the meaning of this tradition for Spaniards are investigated, while the novel, Or I'll dress you in mourning, which reflects the post-civil war Spanish society through classes, is examined in the light of the norms of social realism. The social realism criteria defended by the Marxist literary critic and theorist Lucien Goldmann have been examined in this literary work, which is also the object of study, and as a result, it has been determined that many criteria such as the reflection of the collective consciousness of the society in the work, the presence of exceptional individuals in the narrative and the use of a plain narrative language are found in the novel and they are also presented by relevant examples. The novel, which favours fiction and narration elements, objectively reflects the Spain of that period with the values, cultural structure and approaches of different social classes. It also portrays the historical period it is subject to in a social realist style.