Ankara Üniversitesi Dil ve Tarih-Coğrafya Fakültesi Dergisi (Jul 2016)
The Spanish Civil War Through The Novelists' Eyes
Abstract
The Spanish Civil War was fought between the Republicans, who were loyal to the Spanish Republic, and the Nationalists, a rebel group led by General Francisco Franco from 17th July 1936 to 1st April 1939. The war ended with the victory of the Nationalists, and Franco ruled Spain for the next 36 years, from 1939 until his death in 1975. There were a number of intellectuals and writers who went to Catalonia to back up the Republicans. Both George Orwell and Ernest Hemingway participated in the Spanish Civil War. Orwell wrote a retrospective text about his personal experience in Spain: Homage to Catalonia (1938), whereas Hemingway wrote his famous novel For Whom the Bell Tolls (1940) which takes place during the Spanish Civil War. The novel is set in the spring of 1937, a month after the German troops bombarded the Spanish town of Guernica. This paper work shows to what extent the above-mentioned works of art and literature reect and inform the readers about the truths and real circumstances of the Spanish Civil War.
