La narració de la Guerra Civil espanyola en els àlbums il•lustrats

Abstract

At a time when recovery of the historical memory of the Spanish Civil War and its consequences has been given a new impetus, both in public debate and at institutional level, we have addressed the question of how literature aimed at children and teenagers helps to convey these crucial and dramatic events in the history of Spain. Literature can play a major role in conveying emotions that help children and teenagers to share and understand what that war meant, through the experiences and first-hand memories of its protagonists. In this way they can learn about and appreciate this part of the past, in the hope that such events will never be repeated.

This article sets out, on the one hand, to present the current state of affairs in the publishing of picture books in Catalan and Spanish that deal with the Spanish Civil War (published from 1975 on, both translations and original works) and, on the other, to pinpoint the distinguishing features of this type of book when narrating the war's events and consequences, and how some of these operate. The succinct narrative style of the textual language and the illustrations in picture books are seen as an exponent of post-modern communication and, for this reason, can become a particularly useful medium for conveying events and experiences to children and teenagers.