Collins, Journal Symposium, Carmen Laforet's Nada: Fictional Form and the Search for Identity, Vol. įernández-Lamarque and Fernández-Babineaux see metatextual references with Little Red Riding Hood and gender inversion in the novel depicting Andrea and Ena as androgynous beings. In 2007 an English translation of Nada was published. It is considered to be an important contribution to the school of Existentialist literature of post-Civil War Spain. However, the book became very popular when it finally cleared Franco’s censors. Since the Francoist State was suppressing the Catalan language and Catalan culture in Barcelona, the novel hardly mentions either. This book passed the censorship of the Francoist State and so it ignores the harshness of the government at the time. Nada won Laforet the first Premio Nadal literary prize in Spain. Nada was published in 1945 when LaForet was 23 and created a 'sensation' in Barcelona when it came out. In the final part of the novel, Andrea is picked up by the family’s fancy car and she leaves behind her unpleasant life on Aribau Street in Barcelona. Ena’s father offers to give her a job and subsidize her further education.

He commits suicide, in fear of arrest by the Francoist police.Įna and her family move to Madrid, and soon send for Andrea to join them. Roman becomes involved in the black market, but Gloria reports him to the authorities.

She pretends to care for him, but is really taking revenge for his poor treatment of her mother years before. The whole group regularly comes to blows throughout Andrea’s stay, and Angustias eventually escapes by entering a convent.Īt the university, Andrea befriends a rich girl, Ena, who begins a strange relationship with Andrea's Uncle Roman. Also living in the crumbling house is a strict, controlling aunt Angustias, a roguish, but musically talented uncle, Roman, another uncle, Juan, who abuses his beautiful wife Gloria.

Her frail, devoutly Catholic grandmother seems unaware of her miserable surroundings. She travels to Barcelona to the home of her grandmother, only to find it filthy and falling apart. The government has awarded Andrea a scholarship and a subsistence stipend so that she can attend university. The novel is narrated by its main character, Andrea, an orphan, who has fond memories of her well off family in Barcelona, and has been raised in a convent in provincial Spain. The novel is set in post Spanish Civil War Barcelona. Nada, which means 'nothing' in Spanish, is the first novel of Spanish author Carmen Laforet, published in 1945.

Nada by carmen laforet in english