Farewell Spain by Kate O’Brien
One of the triggers for me starting the Ramblings (six and a half years ago!!) was the discovery of a number of book blogs via the LibraryThing Virago Modern Classics group. It’s a wonderful community of booklovers, and they always have lovely reading challenges going on during the year – in fact, I was in the middle of taking part in their Elizabeth Taylor readalong when I started rambling… I don’t always participate in the various projects, but I do drop in when the mood is right, and this year the focus was on authors of the month. I’ve taken part in a few, and some were more successful than others (I abandoned a Stevie Smith re-read after a few pages when I hit some casual anti-semitism…) December’s author is Kate O’Brien, an Irish writer I’ve never read, and I wasn’t sure if I wanted to read her fiction at the moment. However, the bio of her posted on LT revealed that she’d written a kind of travel book about Spain in the 1930s, and that sounded irresistible. So I may have had to send off for a copy…
The book was published as part of the Virago Travellers imprint, and I have a *lot* of these on my shelves; pioneering works of women travellers, they make up an eclectic collection (and I by no means have all of them) and are worth a reading project of their own (if I did such things any more…) Many of these books focus on early journeys, with authors like Isabella Bird, Flora Tristan and Lady Montagu featuring. However, a number of the books are women travellers from the 20th century and O’Brien’s books sits in that category alongside luminaries such as Beryl Markham and Gamel Woolsey. Really, this *would* be such a good reading project. But I digress…
O’Brien (1897-1974) was an Irish author, known as a playwright and novelist, and a number of her works are published by Virago and set in Spain. This edition, from 1985, is illustrated and introduced by artist Mary O’Neill; the latter features in the book and from what I’ve picked up elsewhere was O’Brien’s life companion. You wouldn’t know it from here, and although I can understand the 1937 edition being discreet about such things, I’m surprised at a 1985 issue being that coy. That’s by the by, however – what we want to read about is Spain.
“Farewell Spain” was written over the period from October 1936 to February 1937, and is very much informed by the conflict that was taking place in space. In fact, although it’s described as a travel book, the blurb on the back comes closer when describing it as “a distinctly personal elegy”; although you could argue that it’s in fact a political book disguising itself as travel and memoir! The book was written at the height of the Spanish Civil War by someone who had lived in Spain, travelled through Spain and loved Spain. So whatever label you want to stick onto it, it’s a bracing, beautiful, poignant and sometimes problematic read.
O’Brien knew Spain well, having worked there as a governess and travelled extensively through it. Much of this book draws from events and visits in 1935, the year before the bloody conflict between the fascist General Franco and the communist Republican regime broke out and began to tear it apart. That conflict would be reflected in the coming World War, and indeed O’Brien recognises that this fundamental dissonance will tear Europe asunder. Hence, perhaps, the elegiac tone of the book, because she certainly seems to be lamenting a Spain (and a world) that is lost. O’Brien makes no bones about her grief at the loss of the Spain she knew; she bemoans the fracturing of the world which will descend into chaos and destroy the freedom to roam and travel through it; she laments the destruction of cities she knew and innocent lives; and I wonder how she would have reacted to the massacre of Guernica.The hotel at Covadongo is rather grand and very quiet. As I sat on it its flagged terrace and heard the soughing of the trees and the running of the water, as I admired for the millionth time the Spanish sky and tried to count the points of the coronet of mountain peaks which, because I was nearly as high as they, did not oppress but only stimulated me, as I watched the village drowsing in the sun, and drank the cool, thin air – I had a deep desire to stay where I was then. The peace of the place seemed impenetrable that morning.
However, the book is not all doom, despite an air of melancholy. O’Brien uses her pages to celebrate the villages, towns, cities, regions and peoples she’s known; she relates humorous tales of tourists and their disillusion when the reality of Spain doesn’t match up to the travel posters; and she writes lyrically about the architecture, the countryside and the Spaniards in prose that can be beautiful and sometimes haunting.
Nevertheless, the book is not without issues. On a purely practical front, I found O’Brien’s prose a little heavy-going in places and it took me a while to get going. When her prose soars, it really soars, but there were areas where it was perhaps a little dense for me. Then, as I should have expected, there were the bullfights. You’re not likely to have a book about Spain without them, and fortunately the coverage was brief, but I did skip those bits. More problematic is O’Brien’s attitude to what she calls the Moors and the Moorish influence on the country. She states quite baldly at one point:
I, for my part, detest all signs of the Moor in Spain.
It’s a view she reiterates at intervals throughout the book and frankly, it rankles. She’s entitled to her preferences when it comes to architecture and the like, but to dismiss the richness of a whole culture in this way seems breathtakingly arrogant and pretty unpleasant – I’m not even sure if it’s acceptable to use the term ‘Moorish’ nowadays and I wouldn’t wish to offend anyone. My knowledge of Spain and its history is limited so maybe I’m not qualified to comment, but from what I understand the influence of that culture is strong and respected, and an important part of what makes up its past. If she decries the colonisation of parts of Europe by the Arabic world that’s a heap of steaming hypocrisy from an author from a European world which colonised left, right and centre. I’ve read that O’Brien may have been influenced by the fact that Moroccan troops were fighting in support of Franco’s regime and she was very much pro the Republic. Additionally, as she came from an Irish Catholic background, she may have perceived that religion’s cultural influence as being more important (and certainly large portions of the book cover the religious buildings and St. Teresa of Avila). However, I was unhappy and uncomfortable at times with this aspect of the writing, even considering giving up at one point. I stuck with the book, however, as O’Brien’s pen portraits brought the country she knew to life, and I did find it fascinating to read a book, written as it was in a world in a state of flux, by an author who had no idea there was a cataclysmic upheaval to follow and that Spain’s democracy would be destroyed.
So an intriguing, sometimes enlightening, idiosyncratic and very personal book on Spain by Virago author of the month. I’m glad I read it, and it will definitely stay on the shelves with the rest of my Virago Travellers; although if I’m truly honest I’m not sure I will read any more of O’Brien’s work. “Farewell Spain” is perhaps a bit of a curio: a missive from a time gone by, from a world descending into conflict and an era when fiercely opposing viewpoints were threatening to destroy the world – so, hey, a time not so different from ours, really…. 😦
*****
Just for the hell of it, I went upstairs and checked my Virago Travellers after finishing this post; normally they lurk at the back of a double stacked shelf, but here they are revealed in all their glory:
Fact is, I had more than I thought, although I suspect I’ve read only a few (this, of course, needs checking). But ain’t they pretty??? 😀
Café Society
Dec 29, 2018 @ 09:25:27
I haven’t read the O’Brien, but I remember reading the Isabella Bird decades(!) ago and really enjoying it. A definite recommendation if you want to explore more of the series.
kaggsysbookishramblings
Dec 29, 2018 @ 11:54:48
Thank you – I wish I could actually remember which ones I’ve read but I *think* I read the Rocky Mountains. I wish I’d kept a list all my life! 😀
madamebibilophile
Dec 29, 2018 @ 11:48:23
Lovely collection Kaggsy! I also have a little stack of Virago Travellers, I must dig them out! This sounds an interesting read, even though it’s also a problematic one.
kaggsysbookishramblings
Dec 29, 2018 @ 11:53:59
They’re fascinating books, for sure. Trouble is, because they’re at the back of a double stacked shelf I often forget about them. This was certainly very interesting, although it did raise issues.
MarinaSofia
Dec 29, 2018 @ 12:06:59
Looks like you have a few to keep you occupied… I find this problematic attitude in quite a few contemporary travel blogs and books too, so it is by no means an isolated case or dead and buried.
kaggsysbookishramblings
Dec 29, 2018 @ 12:16:05
Yeah, just one or two… And interesting that the negative attitudes are still being encountered. I just find it incredibly arrogant to dismiss a whole culture; why do we have to presume that white Western is the only type worth anything? It’s daft; and not always the case that writers think this. I was reminded of The Hopkins Manuscript, where Western culture has crashed and it’s Eastern culture that survives.
Silvia
Dec 29, 2018 @ 14:03:02
THIS got me hooked. I must read. Loved everything you wrote about the book and author. As a Spaniard, I love everything others say about my country, and specially about her at the time of the civil war.
kaggsysbookishramblings
Dec 29, 2018 @ 20:17:01
I think you would find it interesting – she’s very strong on the history and the architecture, and sad about the conflict ripping the country apart. Hope you can track down a copy! 😀
Emma
Dec 29, 2018 @ 17:51:54
How does it compare to Homage to Catalonia by Orwell?
I think I’d be irritated by her dismissal of Arabic culture as well.
kaggsysbookishramblings
Dec 29, 2018 @ 20:16:19
It’s MILES away from the Orwell; the politics are very general and although she’s obviously very anti Franco, much of the book is about the country itself and its history. Orwell is of course about the struggle, with which he was personally involved, whereas O’Brien was out of the country when the conflict began. And yes – I’m not happy with the attitude to Arab culture at all!
Silvia
Dec 30, 2018 @ 05:06:28
I have found a copy for next to nothing! Yay! And I’d have the same problem with the attitude towards the Arabic culture, -I do love the Arab foundations of my birth country-, but I think it’d still be worth reading.
kaggsysbookishramblings
Dec 30, 2018 @ 09:14:41
Excellent! It certainly is an interesting read and some of the writing about the architecture and history is quite beautiful!
BookerTalk
Dec 29, 2018 @ 18:15:15
I’d forgotten all about Library Thing. I used to participate in various groups but I just couldn’t get to grips with the mechanics of posting updates etc. Goodreads is much easier though the group discussions are not as in depth as those on Library Thing. I might give the latter another go this year though
kaggsysbookishramblings
Dec 29, 2018 @ 20:14:44
I prefer LT to Goodreads, tbh, but I only use it to interact with the groups I belong to – my library is woefully out of date, and in such a state of flux that until it settles I suspect I won’t do anything with it!
BookerTalk
Dec 31, 2018 @ 14:26:02
That’s given me food for thought. I gave up on cataloguing my books in LT years ago and don’t have any enthusiasm for starting back with it. But yes i could join in with some groups to get the most of the discussions
kaggsysbookishramblings
Dec 31, 2018 @ 15:58:02
Certainly you could. The groups are lovely (some more active than others). As for the cataloguing, it’s a great idea, but possibly not for me as I have so many ins and outs! ;D
heavenali
Dec 29, 2018 @ 19:18:36
Interesting, I have a couple of unread o’Brien novels tbr, it seems a shame that her attitudes to Moorish architecture is so off-putting. I think those things that irritated you might have the same effect on me. Still, a very interesting subject with plenty to recommend it I am sure. Your Virago travellers do look very pretty.
kaggsysbookishramblings
Dec 29, 2018 @ 20:13:42
I was trying very hard not to let the negative aspects annoy me, because there’s much to love about the book. Her description is evocative and she really captures the Spain she loves. So it’s worth reading, just bearing in mind you might have issues! 😀
Liz Dexter
Dec 30, 2018 @ 17:27:54
I do like Virago Travellers but I would not have been able to get past the comments about Moors – especially because I strongly suspect I am descended from the North Africans who colonised Spain (my gran’s grandfather was Spanish and my cousins and I are still very dark; when in Tunisia I was told I had an “aspecte Arabe” (hooray!); and when I had my Ancestry.com results I was 10% Iberian (which includes a bit of North Africa) and by percentages should be 1/64 rather than 1/10 so some strong genes there). So yah boo sucks to Ms O’Brien. Although obviously the book had positives!
kaggsysbookishramblings
Dec 30, 2018 @ 20:07:37
I did struggle with this aspect and I can well understand how you would have too. Your ancestry sounds fascinating and I would love to investigate mine. It makes me want to scream when people seem to think that there is some kind of ‘racial purity’ when as a human species we’ve been breeding about all over the place for centuries – it’s just stupid, because we are all part of the same humanity.
But yes, there *were* positives in the book, and her anti-Franco stance was a Good Thing.
Jane @ Beyond Eden Rock
Dec 30, 2018 @ 22:50:33
I’ve loved Kate O’Brien’s novels but I struggled with the writing in this one and sent ot back to the library’s reserve stock. I don’t rule out ordering it again, but it’s not a priority.
kaggsysbookishramblings
Dec 31, 2018 @ 16:03:54
I’m glad it wasn’t just me, Jane. I did find the writing hard going in places so I’m glad to hear the novels may not be like that!
Jane
Dec 31, 2018 @ 18:24:50
Thank you for this, I’ve lost track with Virago over the last couple of years but you’ve inspired me to look them up again!
kaggsysbookishramblings
Dec 31, 2018 @ 19:05:19
Very welcome! It might be worth your dropping into the LibraryThing Virago Modern Classics group – a lovely set of people and lots of chatter about Viragos!
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