Fictional Historical Narratives during the Spanish Civil War

The dissertation project deals with fictional historical narratives from the Spanish Civil War. In this conflict, which is also referred to as the first media war in history, spanish and international intellectuals of all political hues took part in different manners. A considerable part of these actors published narrations during or immediately after the war whose fictional plot took place against the background of the events of the civil war. Based on the hypothesis that historical narratives, according to their specific characteristics, have a special potential for communication, the goal is to examine how the political views of the authors at the centre of the study are communicated through the interplay of fictional and historical elements in their narratives.

The authors were selected to reflect the broadest possible political spectrum. With Gustav Regler, Agustín de Foxá, Ilse Barea-Kulcsar, Manuel Chaves Nogales, Robert Brasillach and Karl Otten, members or sympathisers of both warring parties are examined and the political heterogeneity within the respective camps is also represented to a certain extent.

Doctoral advisor: Prof. Dr. Korinna Schönhärl