SF-TH Inc

Review: An Introduction to Sf in Spanish

Author(s): Pedro Jorge Romero
Review by: Pedro Jorge Romero
Source: Science Fiction Studies, Vol. 30, No. 3, The British SF Boom (Nov., 2003), pp. 520-523
Published by: SF-TH Inc
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/4241214
Accessed: 04-04-2015 18:00 UTC

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520

30 (2003)
VOLUME
STUDIES,
FICTION
SCIENCE

editorshavedonea superbjob. Thisscholarlyeditionof TheYellowWaveis for

a specializedaudience,butwe shouldbe glad thatMackay'snovelis backin
by sound,meticulous
print,andthatour experienceof readingit is supported
scholarship.-RussellBlackford,MonashUniversity
An Introduction to Sf in Spanish. YolandaMolina-Gavilan.Ciencia Ficcion
En Espafiol: Una Mitologia Moderna Ante El Cambio. Lewiston, NY: Edwin
Mellen, 2002. x + 228 pp. $109.95 hc.
To initiate the exploration of a new territory is far more difficult than
writing the travelbook afterwards. Sf written in Spanish can be an arduous
terrainto explore indeed-usually relegatedto obscure magazinesand fanzines,
rarely collected in widely availablevolumes, critically misunderstood,and the
recipient of a great deal of scorn as a subliterature.Spanish (referring to the
language, not the country) sf is a vast, dark, submerged continent. Ciencia
Ficcion En Espafiol: Una Mitologia ModernaAnte El Cambio[Science Fiction
in Spanish:A ModernMythology Facing Change]by YolandaMolina-Gavilan
is a brave andambitious,perhapstoo ambitious,attemptto rectify thatsituation.
It builds a largely successful theoreticalmap to help us to understandsf written
in Spanish. In keeping with the geographicalmetaphor,it is a rough and initial
sketch of the terrain ratherthan a detailed map of every hill and grove. That
aim is explicit: "Estelibro se centraraen el analisisde variasnovelas y cuentos,
con la esperanzade que los mejores ejemplos poeticos, filmicos y graficos del
gcnero en espaniolsean convenientementeestudiados en ensayos venideros"
[This book will focus on the analysisof several novels and short stories, hoping
thatthe best poetic, film, and graphicexamples of the genre in Spanishwill be
adequatelystudied in future essays] (2).The book is an initial attemptto cast
light on some of the best examples of sf written in Spanish, leaving it to later
explorers to write deeper accounts of those same works.
The task that Molina-Gavilanhas set for herself is not easy. Since sf in
Spanish is difficult to study, it is always temptingto select a few mainstream
authors, like Borges or Cortazar,call them sf authors, and write accordingly.
CienciaFiccion en Espafiolavoids thatawful fate; the works discussedhere are
clearly sf and any sf readerwould readilyidentifythem as such, thoughthey are
probablythe easiest specimens of sf to find in a bookstore. Mining magazines
and fanzines is left to some other patientexplorer.
As an introductorybook, written for those scholars of Spanish literature
willing to try sf, Ciencia Ficcion en Espanol starts with a section devoted to
science fiction as a genre-covering themes such as the shaky statusof sf in the
world of high culture, the natureof Spanishsf (is there such a thing as Spanish
sf or are we dealing with a set of national literatures written in the same
language?This questionis disappointinglyansweredwith a Vorlon-like "yes").
Interestinglyenough, and refreshingly I may add, it does not propose a new
definition of sf, or any definition, for that matter. Actually, the authorrounds
up the usual suspects-Todorov, Suvin, Scholes, Aldiss, includingthe Spaniard
Cidoncha-and presents their definitionsafter declaring: "No entraremosaqui
en una discusion teorica que intentedelimitarde maneraprecisael concepto de

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BOOKS IN REVIEW

521

cienciaficcioncomogenero"[Wewon'tgo intoa theoreticaldiscussiontrying

to definepreciselythe conceptof sciencefictionas a genre](33). Sucha lack
of interestin a precisedefinitionmightseem strangeto Englishscholarsbut
mayreflecta differentbiasin Spanishliterarystudies-aSpanishcriticmaynot
shyawayfromstudyingansf work,butmaywantto knowif thatworkis really
worthyof literaryattention.Maybethat'swhy afterpresentingdefinitionafter
the authoropts for linkingsf to mythology,a somewhathazardous
defimition
bindingthatweakenssomepartsof thebook.Sf is presentedas a multifaceted,
complex,modem,anddeepgenre(4546), butto studySpanishsf-acknowledging that it can deal with severalcultural,historical,and social issues like
pollutionor politicalcorruption-shechoosesto describeit as a translation
of
mythsinto modem scientificlanguage,with sf bridginga gap betweenpast
explanations
(myth)andpresentexplanations
(science).
Fortunately,the sectiondevotedto mythandsf does not reallymapmyth
ontosf. Rather,it uses the wordmythin a very loose way anddiscusseshow
sf may rework, subvert,or discuss specific "myths."It's an interesting
approachbut far fromconvincing.WhenconsideringAngelicaGorodischer's
"Lasensatezdel circulo"[Therationality
of the circle](1979),do we haveto
acceptthe sf clicheof never-ending
progressas a myth?Isn'tGorodischer
just
exchangingone cliche for anotherone: that savages are somehowmore
advancedthancivilizedpeople?Is copyingthe structureof an epic poem in
TomasSalvador'sLa nave[TheShip](1959)tantamount
to usinga myth?
On occasion,the strategyof linkingsf with mythservesMolina-Gavilan
well. Religionis an obviousthemein sf writtenin Spanish,and the word
"Dios"[God]is easy to spotin the worksof almostany Spanish-speaking
sf
writer.It also workswell in her brilliantdiscussionof MadagalenaMoujan
it as a subversion
of a mythicpast
Otanlo's"GuTaGutarrak"
(1970),presenting
thatwasneverreal.Butsometimesit fails,cloudingtherealnatureof thework.
RafaelMarinTrechera'sMundode dioses[Worldof Gods](1991)maybe seen
as a workingof severalreligiousmythsintoan sf narrative,butactuallyit is a
superherocomic book full of referencesto Superman,Batman,and other
creatures(it beganas a comicandwas reworkedintoa novelwhentheoriginal
projectfolded). The novel may be dressedin the clothingof religiousreferences, butit is actuallya writtencomicdeeplyimbuedby the conventionsof
thatgenre-maybestill mythicbuttwiceremoved.(RafaelMarn is a famous
writerforthecomics,havingcreatedsomeseriesmixingthesuperhero
tradition
withthe recenthistoryof Spain.He even managedto writein Englishfor the
famouscomic-bookseriesFantasticFour.)
Morerewardingarethe sectionsdevotedto ideologyandsf. The Spanishbeen subjectto a complexsocialbackspeakingcountrieshave traditionally
groundlimitingthe libertiesof womenandto somesocialregimeslimitingthe
libertiesof everybody,so naturallythose ideologicalandsocialconcernsfind
theirway intosf narratives.The firstpartof the sectiondiscussesthe scarcity
of womenwritingsf andhow sf servesas a liberatingliterature.It maybe a
in Spanishsf. Theuseof
tiredsubjectin theEnglishworldbutis stillimportant
sf themesto thinkaboutgender,sexuality,andnon-maleperceptionsof the

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522

SCIENCE FICTION STUDIES, VOLUME 30 (2003)

worldis quiterightlystressed.Molina-Gavilan
examinesworksby fourfemale
sf writers-AngelicaGorodischer,Daina Chaviano,Rosa Montero,andElia
Barcel6-andit is obviousthatshe is on stablefootingwithherclaimthatRosa
Montero'sTemblor[Tremor](1990)is an sf novel.
Thesectiondevotedto ideologypointsoutthatSpanishsf is usuallyopposed
to progressand looks firmlyto a betterpast. MuchSpanishsf tendsto be
pessimisticeven whenit dealswith a possiblydesirablesocialtransformation
to embracedemocracy.Butanother
-for instance,leavingbehinda dictatorship
interestingsituationis pointedout at the end of the sectionon ideology:the
differencesin attitudesbetweenfemaleandmalewriters.Thewomanwriters
tendto view the futureas a betterplaceof liberationandchange,while male
writersview thefutureas a threatening
andawfulplace.Thisis inevitablewhen
a groupsees itself in a superiorpositionand so resentsevery attemptat
change-Ciencia Ficcion en Espafiol shows that characteristic as far more

markedin sf writtenin Spanishthanin English-language

sf.
Thelastsectionof thebookis themostfascinating,devotedto languageand
sf. Spanishis a grammatically
moredifficultlanguagethanEnglishandwriting
the deliberatelyparadoxicalsentencesof sf is a difficultendeavor-Iknowthis
fromexperience:my one shortstory,"Eldia quehicimosla Transicion"
[The
Day We Went Throughthe Transition],writtenwith Ricardde la Casa, is
presentedas an examplein thetext. Evensomethingas simpleas creatingnew
words-eitherconjuringthem anew or combiningold ones-can turninto a
hopelesstask.Spanishis notas permissiveas English,andneologizingis nota
taskto tacklelightly.In thatregard,Molina-Gavilan
pointsoutthatreadingsf
is hard,requiringa deepknowledgenotonlyof theconventions
of thegenrebut
of the idiomin whichthegenreis writtenas well. Theauthordiscussesseveral
mechanisms
to createnewwords,presentingseveralexamples,buttheyarenot
entirelyuniqueto the Spanishlanguage.
CienciaFiccionen Espafiolconcludeswithanexpositionof the mainideas
of thebook.Thatexpositionofferstheminimalframework
neededtounderstand
Spanishsf, listing those characteristics-apreferencefor soft sciences, an
emphasison religiousinfluences-thatwouldwarrantthe effort of studying
Spanishsf as a concreteentity.Usinga quotefromMiquelBarcelo,MolinaGavilanexhortshercolleaguesto readsf writtenin Spanish:
El desafio que se presentaba a los primeros escritores hispanos que se
interesaron en la ciencia ficcion no estribabaen superar supuestas etapas de
imitacionde modelos extranjeros,sino en desarrollarsu tecnicay su imaginacion
hasta producirobras del geiero de calidad, obras que hablarande si mismos y
de la percepcion de su entorno, siempre dentro de las convenciones del genero
que el lector ya habia asimilado. Este libro quiere dejar constancia de que
muchos de nuestros escritores (ly escritoras!)ya lo han logrado y el generose
ha ganadoun espacio dentrodel marcode la narrativaen espaniol.Paraterminar,
nada mejor que repetir las palabrasde Miquel Barcel: "La ciencia ficci6n me
ha parecidosiempreesencial paraconfigurarmentesabiertas,dotadasde un gran
relativismo cultural. Posiblemente sea una de las mejores preparacionespara
vivir en el mundo de cambio vertiginoso de nuestros dias".... Sirva esta

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BOOKS IN REVIEW

523

reflexion para instara la lecturade nuestrospropios autoresde ciencia ficcion,

que tantotienen que decirnos sobre nuestraluchaante los retos del cambio. [The
challenge facing the first Hispanic writers interestedin science fiction wasn't to
overcome purportedphases of imitationof foreign models, but ratherto develop
their skills and imaginationto the point of producingqualitygenre works, works
that would speak about themselves and their perceptionof their own environment, always moving inside the convention of the genre learnedby the reader.
This book wants to reflect that many of our writers (and woman writers!) have
succeeded and that the genre has won its own space in the frameworkof the
narrative in Spanish. To recap, nothing is better than the words of Miquel
Barcel6: "I have always thought of science fiction as essential to create open
minds, imbuedwith a great sense of culturalrelativism.It may be one of the best
ways to prepareyourself to live in our world of dizzy change".... May this idea
encourageus to read our own science fiction authors,who have so much to tell
us about our struggle against the challenges of change.] (195)

Finally, the main weakness of Ciencia Ficcion en Espafiol is that it tries to

cover too much territory. But that is understandable.The lack of a rich critical
traditioninvites one to write a volume covering every possible corner, but the
cost is great-at least one section is only a tantalizingglimpse into a fascinating
problem.The book's main success consists in presentingthe study of sf to the
Spanish-speakingworld. Ciencia Ficcion en Espafiol is primarily written to
point out several interesting research projects into Spanish sf, naming them,
offering a minimaltheoreticalbackground-ariskypropositionwith such a small
sample of works to rely on-listing a basic bibliography,and discussingseveral
importantworks of Spanishsf. Given its aims, it is a good introductoryvolume.

-Pedro Jorge Romero, A Corunia,Spain

Fearing Nothingness. Teya Rosenberg,MarthaP. Hixon, SharonM. Scapple,
and Donna R. White, eds. Diana WynneJones: An Exciting and Exacting

Wisdom.STUDIESIN CHILDREN'SLITERATURE,Vol 1. New York:PeterLang,

2002. ix + 187 pp. $29.95 pbk.
As a writer, Diana Wynne Jones has existed in a peculiar state for many
years. Her work is adoredby her admirers, adult and child alike, and she has
many fans all over the world. At the same time, a more general public
awarenessof her work has been noticeablyabsent, for reasonsthatare not at all
clear to me, except perhaps that her novels have had a somewhat checkered
history in paperbackpublication. The Rowling-fuelledexplosion of interest in
children's fiction has changed this situation, however, and many of her older
titles are at last back in print, alongside more recent novels.
Similarly, althoughmany thoughtfulreviews of her novels have appearedin
various magazines, and a number of articles have been published about her
work (many are now available through two websites, "The Official Diana
Wynne Jones Website" at < http://www. leemaclfreeserve.co. uk/c12int.htm>
and "ChrestomanciCastle" at <http://suberic.net/dwj/>), up until now there
seems, somewhat surprisingly, to be little in the way of published scholarly
discussion of Jones's work. What there is has been convenientlylisted by the

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