Yasımı Tutacaksın: İç Savaş Sonrası İspanya, El Cordobés ve Toplumsal Gerçekçiliğin Romandaki Yansımaları
Fethiye Kabataş Keskin, Ebru Yener Gökşenliİspanya tarihinde yüzyıllar öncesine dayanan bir gelenek olan boğa güreşi, zaman içinde onur, gurur ve başarı olgularıyla özdeşleşmiş ve arenadaki başarı, XX. yüzyılda çoğu genç İspanyol için üne ve zenginliğe açılan bir kapı olarak kabul edilmiştir. Bu başarının canlı örneklerinden biri ise Manuel Benítez, nam-ı diğer El Cordobés’dir. Benítez, iç savaş sonrasında, azmi ve cesaretiyle kendi başarı öyküsünü yazmış ve pek çok yoksul gence örnek olmuştur. 60’lı yıllarda ünü dünyada Francisco Franco’nunkiyle yarışan bu boğa güreşçisi, sıra dışı yaşam öyküsüyle Fransız ve Amerikalı gazeteciler Dominique Lapierre ve Larry Collins’in Yasımı Tutacaksın adlı romanına konu olmuştur. Belgesel tekniğinin kullanıldığı bu romanda sadece El Cordobés’in başarıya uzanan yolculuğuna değil, İspanya’nın iç savaştan 60’lı yılların sonuna dek uzanan tarihine, toplumsal yapısına ve boğa güreşi geleneğine de detaylı bir biçimde değinilmektedir. Bu çalışmada boğa güreşi dünyası ve bu geleneğin İspanyollar için anlamı irdelenirken, iç savaş sonrası İspanyol toplumunu farklı sınıflar aracılığıyla yansıtan Yasımı Tutacaksın adlı roman toplumsal gerçekçilik ölçütleri ışığında incelenmektedir. Marksist edebiyat eleştirmeni ve kuramcı Lucien Goldmann’ın savunduğu toplumsal gerçekçilik ölçütleri inceleme nesnesi olan eserde aranmış olup, sonuç olarak esere toplumun kolektif bilincinin yansıması, istisnai bireylerin anlatıdaki varlığı ve yalın bir anlatı dil kullanımı gibi daha pek çok ölçütün adı geçen romanda yerine getirildiği tespit edilmiş ve ilgili örneklerle sunulmuştur. Roman, kurgusu ve anlatıcı tercihleriyle dönemin İspanyasını farklı sosyal sınıfların değerleri, kültürel yapısı ve olaylara yaklaşımlarıyla birlikte nesnel bir biçimde yansıtmaktadır. Konu aldığı tarihsel dönemi toplumsal gerçekçi bir üslupla betimlemektedir.
Or I’ll Dress You in Mourning: Post-Civil War Spain, El Cordobés, and Social Realism’s Reflections in the Novel
Fethiye Kabataş Keskin, Ebru Yener GökşenliBullfighting 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 Benítez, better known as “El Cordobés”. 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 Cordobés 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.
The existence of the bull as a symbol of power in the Iberian Peninsula goes back ten thousand years. Although the history of bullfighting is much more recent in the history of the peninsula, this tradition is identified with the honour, fame, and success by Spaniards. This life-or-death fight against the bull became a career goal for many young Spaniards in the 20th century and a gateway to fame and wealth. One of the embodiments of this success is Manuel Benítez, better known as “El Cordobés”. He set an example to all young Spaniards who were involved in bullfighting in Spain through his life story and succeeded in reaching the top in this field. El Cordobés, as a representative of the lower social class, was the subject of French and American journalists Dominique Lapierre and Larry Collins’ Or I’ll dress you in mourning, with his exciting life and the narratives of those who surround him. Translated into many languages to date, this novel, although built on the documentary technique, takes the reader on a journey that sheds light on the recent history of Spain among different classes of society through fictional features. The selection of the narrators by the authors and their subjective comments that make up most of the chapters allow the readers to witness the postcivil war Spain through their own eyes. The narrators reflect the views of the classes they belong to, and convey their thoughts on society, war and post-war through their common past with El Cordobés. Those thoughts reflect the ideologies of the social classes they represent. The inclusion of all these different perspectives strengthened the social realist style of the narrative. The selection and witnessing of people such as a clergyman, a war opportunist businessman, the son of a rich Andalusian landlord and some lower social class people also allow a dialectic to be established between different classes of society. The main purpose of the study is to reveal what bullfighting has meant to Spanish society throughout history, and then to indicate which classes of Spanish society are depicted in the novel. While doing this, the narrator and narrative features in the novel are also revealed. In this study, we focus on how the ideologies of the classes seen in Spanish society during and after the civil war are reflected in the novel. The literary theory to be used for this purpose is the social realism criteria, which is defended by the Marxist literary theorist Lucien Goldmann. Goldmann is one of the most well-known and respected Marxist literary theorists and the principles that he defends determine the realistic approach in literary works. It can be observed that the principle of “reflection of collective consciousness”, which is among the social realist narrative principles defended by Goldmann, has been realized in the novel. It is seen that the views of certain social classes and people who reflect their thoughts are included in the narrative. For example, the approach of the manager nicknamed “El Pipo”, who is a war opportunist, and Angelita, who makes sacrifices for her brothers, are very different from each other. This difference offers the reader a variety of perspectives and in this way increases the realism of the narrative. Furthermore, it is observed that the novel reflected the “exceptional individuals”, other criteria of social realism defended by Goldmann. The journeys of the exceptional individuals in the narrative are conveyed to the readers through their own voices. One of these individuals is El Cordobés. Structurally, we can conclude that experimental narrative features are not included in the novel, and the narrative is conveyed in plain language. With this feature, the novel also fulfils the condition of “having a plain narrative language”, which is one of the principles of Goldmann’s social realism theory. In summary, in Or I’ll dress you in mourning, it is focused on contemporary Spanish history, social class conflicts, facts about the world of bullfighting, and social problems through El Cordobés’ life. Dominique Lapierre and Larry Collins have impressively told how the story of the particular is actually intertwined with the social. This biographical novel, written as a result of a number of interviews, has become a historical narrative and a social realist fiction due to its fictional features. In all its aspects, the work also meets the principles of social realism put forward by Lucien Goldmann, one of the leading figures of Marxist literary theory who focused his studies on social classes.
