El olvido est? leno de memoria: Memory in Post-Franco Spain 
 
by 
 
Mathew J. Wild 
 
 
 
 
A thesis submited to the Graduate Faculty of 
Auburn University 
in partial fulfilment of the 
requirements for the Degre of 
Master of Arts 
 
Auburn, Alabama 
August 4, 2012 
 
 
 
 
Keywords: Historical Memory, Metatheater, History, Postmodernism, Franco  
 
 
Copyright 2012 by Mathew J. Wild 
 
 
Approved by 
 
Dr. Jorge Mu?oz, Chair, Asociate Profesor of Foreign Languages and Literatures 
 Dr. Jordi Olivar, Asistant Profesor of Foreign Languages and Literatures 
Dr. Lourdes Betanzos, Asociate Profesor of Foreign Languages and Literatures 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 ii 
 
 
 
 
 
Abstract 
 
 
 This thesis explores Jer?nimo L?pez Mozo?s play El olvido est? leno de memoria (2003) 
and its atempt to recuperate historical memory in post-Franco Spain. In continuing the trend of 
demystification of Franco and his dictatorship, the playwright comments the modern perspective 
towards Franco and the Spanish Civil War through his play as wel as modern memory and 
identity within the post-Franco social landscape. In addition, he atempts to recreate and 
represent history through a contemporary lens casting doubt on the Francoist regime. This thesis 
investigates the ways in which L?pez Mozo acomplishes this recuperation of historical memory 
by analyzing the playwright?s use of memory and trauma in the development of protagonist 
Edmundo Barbero, metatheater in connection to artistic and theatrical representation, and a 
postmodern analysis of history.  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
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Acknowledgments 
 
 
 I would first like to thank Auburn University and more specificaly, the departments of 
History and Foreign Languages in shaping both my undergraduate and graduate education. I 
would like to thank al profesors in helping develop the academic skils asociated with both 
disciplines. Furthermore, I would like to thank my commite members and chair, Dr. Jorge 
Mu?oz, for their help in coordinating this thesis.  
 Most importantly, I would like to thank my family and friends. Mom, Dad and Kristin- 
Thanks for al the support you have given me during my life. Al acomplishments are products 
of you being great parents and a great sister. I would not have been able to complete this without 
years of state capitals, Jeopardy and endles John Wild schools of?  Bil- Thanks for 
unknowingly (or knowingly) putting me on this path. To my friends- Thanks for many years of 
putting up with papers and reading. Mostly, thanks for showing interest in everything and 
listening. Last but not least, Mam?- Gracias por todo. Gracias por mostrarme Espa?a y su gente. 
Esta tesis es un testamento a su cari?o y las historias que me has contado. Siempre me inspiras. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
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Table of Contents 
 
 
Abstract...................................................................................................................................ii 
Acknowledgments..................................................................................................................iii 
Introduction  ............................................................................................................................1 
Chapter 1: Trauma and exile: Recuperation for Edmundo Barbero  ??????????..17 
Chapter 2: La vida es sue?o: Metatheater and Recuperation of Historical Memory  ????.30 
Chapter 3: Historical Drama: Myth-Making and Postmodern History  ....................................42 
Conclusion  ............................................................................................................................53 
Bibliography  .........................................................................................................................56 
 
 
 1 
Introduction 
The purpose of this thesis is to demonstrate how and to what extent the work of theater El 
olvido est? leno de memoria (2002) by Spanish playwright Jer?nimo L?pez Mozo (Gerona, 
Spain, 1942) constitutes a recuperation of historical memory exploring the themes of trauma, 
memory and identity in post Civil War Spain. Furthermore, I intend to critique the necesity of 
historical memory and afirm the reasons of the author that the recuperation of historical memory 
is of the utmost importance and completely necesary in Spain today. This proces is integral to 
the continuation of debunking Francoist myth of which this play serves as a political vehicle. 
L?pez Mozo achieves a level of recuperation through the development of the protagonist 
Edmundo Barbero, his use of metatheater with the actor Barbero and the play La vida es sue?o, 
and postmodern techniques in positing work as a historical drama.  
 Jer?nimo L?pez Mozo was born in Gerona, Spain in 1942. Quickly, after moving to 
Madrid, L?pez Mozo discovered his pasion for theater. In his own words, his ?vocaci?n teatral 
surgi? despu?s de ver representada El diario de Ana Frank? (Cervantes Virtual). After this 
initial entrance in Spanish theater, L?pez Mozo has situated himself as one of the most 
interesting playwrights of contemporary Spain. Although he has yet to figure in the traditional 
canonical literature, his works have been wel received publicly as wel as criticaly during his 
more than forty-year activity as an author. During his tenure, L?pez Mozo has writen many 
works that symbolize the ever-changing landscape of contemporary Spanish theater and 
characterize the evolving tendencies found in twentieth- and twenty first-century theater.  
 His carer began in 1965 with the representation of his first play, Los novios o la teor?a 
de los n?meros combinatorios. He has published and premiered more than 45 works of theater 
as wel as a handful of narative works and works of criticism. His work has been widely 
 2 
awarded during his carer including but not limited to: the premio Sitges de Teatro, the Enrique 
Llovet, the Tirso de Molina, and the ?lvarez Quintero de la Real Academia Espa?ola (Cervantes 
Virtual). The work of L?pez Mozo has grown and adapted to the changing social environment in 
Spain. His works acurately reflect the period in which he lived and wrote, finding himself at 
the forefront of the experimentation of the generation known as the Nuevo Teatro Espa?ol. As 
he himself has observed, his carer has pased through thre distinct phases: during the first, 
L?pez Mozo utilized the works of Becket and Brecht as examples for his own dramaturgy, the 
second is marked by his own personal growth during the early 1970s, and his third has been 
greatly influenced by the death of Franco in 1975. In this last phase, the author questions Franco 
and his dictatorship as wel as the Spanish response to Francoism during the years of what is 
refered to as the Transition and the newly formed democracy. 
 Like the other playwrights of his generation and of the Nuevo Teatro Espa?ol, L?pez 
Mozo is continuously experimenting with forms and themes in order to expand Spanish theater. 
Eilen J. Doll cals his theater neorealist as wel as, much later, postmodern. As John P. Gabriele 
notes, his theater ?se caracteriza por una profunda integraci?n de lo social y lo art?stico? (Forma 
11). The playwright uses theater to reflect the social problems while not sacrificing the artist. 
Many of his plays revolve around aesthetic questions as wel as characters who are artists 
themselves.  
 Gabriele summarizes the canon of L?pez Mozo in thre preoccupations: ?uno, la 
din?mica de forma en la creaci?n del arte; dos, las fuerzas ideol?gicas que gobiernan e influyen 
la representaci?n de la realidad; y tres, el valor del propio teatro como el portador de un mensaje 
social y art?sticamente indagador y edificante? (11). Given the historical period in which L?pez 
Mozo developed his theater, there is no surprise that his work reflects Spanish ideology and its 
 3 
tumultuous twentieth century. As he begins his biographical blurb, L?pez Mozo identifies 
himself as ?hijo de un telegrafista destinado a Gerona en castigo por haber permanecido fiel a la 
R?publica durante la Guera Civil? (Cervantes Virtual). His plays are based in the human drama 
of personal experiences, in his life and the lives of many other Spaniards during this period of 
uncertainty. Although his plays are not realistic in the quotidian sense, he atacks social 
questions by employing a variety of techniques that at the same time explore theater as both art 
and life.  
 As the playwright self identifies in reference to the Civil War, one can observe how much 
Spanish society has influenced himself and his writing. His plays take the position of analyzing 
reality while forcing the public to doubt their own perspectives of contemporary Spain. His 
writing has converted into his personal political mesage, presenting his vision of Spain and its 
society. His works, while atempting to be realistic, convey his particular view in regards to how 
Spanish society should be. With the rise of interest in historical memory, his dramas represent 
the ?reconstrucci?n del pasado para comentar el presente? (Doll 29). As an author, he tries to 
(re)construct the past in a certain way so that today?s public can meditate his version of past 
events. His postmodern perspective intends to be realistic by deciphering the past and bringing 
to light the true history. Doll observes that his theater presents ?la intrahistoria y desenmascara 
las manipulaciones del pasado, subvirtiendo la gloria? (35).  
 His focus on the past creates in his theater a place of memory, a place where the past is 
always alive in our present. It is a place in which the past is not as clear as the historians or the 
official History of Francoism details, rather an entity that is continuously reconstructing itself in 
order to move closer towards the truth. His works present an alternative history in order to 
collapse the false notions of history presented by Franco. By presenting these alternate histories, 
 4 
L?pez Mozo aims to bring the audience closer to the truth while forcing the audience to 
reconstruct their own history and memory based on the reconstruction of history provided. 
 The play of which this thesis focuses, El olvido est? leno de memoria, fits within the 
third phase of his carer. This drama tels the fictitious history of the real life actor Edmundo 
Barbero and his flight to exile in Latin America at the beginnings of the Spanish Civil War. 
After his return to Spain, Barbero joins an acting company premiering La vida es sue?o. The 
entrance of a young journalist, Julia Ayuso, signals that Barbero must confront his past and his 
own history. Julia?s atempts to write a biographical piece regarding Barbero shows his inability 
or the lack of wilingnes to remember his past. Barbero is frozen betwen two identities: that of 
his former pre-exile self and this of his returned self. The lack of integration ilustrates the 
power forgeting has on the personal self. His sudden return to Spain also signals the return of 
his fragmented past which is not easily reconciled with his present self.  
 Despite his initial reluctance, Barbero agres to the interview ith Julia. The testimony 
that arises in the form Julia?s interviews function as Barbero?s atempt to remember his past, his 
own history. Through these interviews, one can view clearly the frustration that marks the 
protagonist and his inability to overcome the trauma of exile. He is no more than a character in 
his own play. The confrontation with his past forces Barbero to reintegrate his past into his 
present. The play culminates in the integration of Barbero?s fragmented self and the 
recuperation of memory for both the fictitious and real Barbero. 
 L?pez Mozo asaults the problem of historical memory in this play. Analyzing Barbero, 
the playwright confronts the incompatibility betwen the past and the present that exists today in 
Spain thanks to the incongruity of the dictatorship. Barbero, the character, represents the 
multiplicity of people that are not able to reconcile their past, that of the Civil War and of 
 5 
Francoism with their present. L?pez Mozo comments on the present situation of reality in Spain: 
a grave problem exists in how society views Franco and the period of dictatorship. With modern 
scholarship and rewriting of histories, the truth that once existed is now cast in doubt. The 
citizens of Spain, like Barbero, have to reconstruct their personal selves within a new historical 
context. 
 This work wel represents the dramaturgy of L?pez Mozo and his mision of reflecting 
reality in his writing. The themes found within the play miror the themes debated today within 
daily Spanish life. L?pez Mozo fuses history with fiction in order to provoke discussion of what 
realy constitutes a more acurate acount of Spanish history as wel as questioning the 
importance of history in itself.  
 The historical happenings of the twentieth century in Spain have defined the literature 
that exists today. The Civil War, and later Francoism, has the same if not more relevance today 
infiltrating al aspects of popular culture and national discussion. The Spanish Civil War and 
Franco created a rupture within Spain so divisive that it continues in today?s life. Historians, 
authors, politicians and the general Spanish population have not yet reconciled completely the 
events that occurred during this time period. The ghosts of war and of Franco pervade every 
facet of daily life, torturing the memory of many for whom Franco symbolizes an incomplete 
period, an open wound that stil dictates Spanish life.  
 The Spanish historical problem began with the methods Franco utilized to centralize and 
legitimize his power. Although Franco took power through force, he needed to exert his vision 
in the minds of al, not only his own supporters. In order to achieve his goal of absolute power, 
Franco intended to manipulate reality and truth to give legitimacy to his position of power. 
Manipulating the truth included manipulating memory. As theorist Tzvetan Todorov comments, 
 6 
?the totalitarian regimes of the twentieth century sought to achieve total control of memory? 
(113). The Franco regime did much the same. Todorov also notes the use of intimidation to 
achieve such goal (114). Utilizing intimidation and censorship, fear of diseminating the truth 
grew and the dictatorship relegated truth to a whisper. Todorov mentions, as wel, the use of 
propaganda as a tool to manipulate. Franco?s propaganda propagated a twisted truth that, 
combined with censorship and total control of information, slowly transformed Francoist half-
truths into a position of power and legitimacy. Instead of constructing memory based in truth, 
Franco constructed a truth based in myth and falsifications.  
 Henry Kamen explains that myths ?are an expresion of reality?even partial versions of 
a truth that lies behind them? (x). For Kamen, ?the main purpose of myth-making at a political 
level was to outline a common past that would explain the present and also define the future? 
(206). Franco utilized these myths to impose his memory on the people. Combined with his 
propaganda and control of information, myths of false Spanish history painting liberals and 
disenters as outcasts became a version of truth, a truth that did not have a legitimate opposition. 
The only opposition that did exist existed in the memories of the people. After forty years of 
dictatorial reign, the distortions of truth entered in to the collective memory and produced the 
desired efect. With the death of Franco, the Francoist history, the official ?History? created the 
need of a recuperation of historical memory, the necesity to recover the ?true? history. 
 After Franco?s death in 1975 and the beginning of the Transition, Spain entered a new 
phase of history. Sufering from forty years of false history and false memory, the transition to 
democracy fomented a hope that transcended the dark past of Francoism. The politicians in 
charge of the newly formed government compromised on a mutual agrement known as the Pact 
of Silence. This pact supposedly sought to leave Francoism in silence. For Antonio S?nchez, 
 7 
however, the pact symbolized the ?reluctance to confront the responsibilities of the traumas? 
(102). As Paloma Aguilar Fern?ndez observes, ?era Franco quien se empe?aba en recordar a 
todos la guera? (Memoria 498). In the absence of Franco and his manipulations of the truth, the 
pact was observed as forgeting the Civil War and of its asociated trauma. 
 Many historians, critics and sociologists view the pact as a condemnation of the war to 
the realm of oblivion. They argue that the politicians ignored the war in favor a political 
concesions. The forgeting of the war, the silence was vital for the continuation of democracy 
in Spain. The only way to form a democracy was to forget Franco. 
 By contrast, Stanley G. Payne quotes that the pact ?never existed? (251). The pact never 
existed how the critics described, a pact to actively and explicitly forget the war. Payne develops 
the idea that the politicians never agred to a silence in the form of an absolution of blame for 
Franco and the war. Payne observes that the politicians agred to a pact with an ?understanding 
that historical conflicts would be consigned to the labors of the historians and journalists? (251), 
not politicians. Payne is corect that the politicians only entered into the agrement in order to 
resign Francoism and its consequences to social discourse and academic research. The 
politicians of the Transition chose the Pact of Silence to preserve peace and democracy instead 
of the perpetuating old conflicts. The pact achieved a shift betwen governments without 
conflict. Supporters of Franco acepted the Transition. Without question, the pact was a 
necesary step in order to achieve democracy and acommodate the support of Franco?s 
supporters. 
 Although the pact never existed in the form described by historians, the choice to not 
confront Francoism directly formed the roots of modern Spanish society. Spain today has many 
histories al referencing the same events but with varying details. The lack of confrontation only 
 8 
guaranted the perpetuation of many of the Francoist manipulations that has created confusion as 
to what the true history of Spain is. Spain perfectly describes a postmodernist state, one in which 
an overarching truth does not exist. S?nchez notes that Spain also has ?quintesential 
postmodern elements such as?historical amnesia? (21). The pact can be defined as the end of 
the Francoist myth making, and also as the beginning of a society with multiple histories. The 
official History of Franco converted into something unreachable and intangible. 
 In the context of postmodern Spain, it is necesary to note the double entendre of the 
word history. History can mean both a simple story as wel as the overarching naration of 
events that occurred in the past. For postmodernists, History as a complete, absolute entity of 
truth does not and cannot exist. They reject a History that represents the only truthful version of 
events. Now, History has transformed into multiple histories, each representing the history of 
certain person, of their version of events. The dificulty that we encounter in the multiplicity of 
voices that characterizes postmodernism is how to decipher the absolute History from the 
multitude of histories of each person that deviates the truth. A complete and absolute truth does 
exist, but perhaps in unatainable due to the human condition and our own falibility.  
 In addition to that question, we must ask ourselves whether or not History maters. With 
the historical amnesia that characterizes postmodern societies, there exists a historical apathy as 
wel. In Spain, S?nchez explains a paradox: in a society that suffers from historical apathy, a 
great amount of atention is given to memory. The secrets and manipulations of the truth by the 
Franco regime have contributed to the distortion of History. Because of this, History, as 
described above, is unachievable. With the death of Franco supporters and without 
documentation, events delve into oblivion. S?nchez cals this the ?collapse of a specific modern 
perception of history? (101). An absolute History cannot exist in a post-Franco Spain due to 
 9 
forgeting on behalf of many people including actors on both sides. Today, there exists the 
historical problem of Francoism: a ?web of multiple realities? (S?nchez 101).  
 Recognizing this problem yields another: how to represent the history. The fragmentation 
of History into multiple mini-histories does not represent the full truth. The Spanish paradox of 
the 80?s and 90?s was that society had no history and had many histories at once. David K. 
Herzberger reminds us that ?writing the past [is]?a means to develop narations that alow (and 
even compel) the opening of history to divergence? (Narrating 2). Spain suffered from a 
distorted sense of history but also, within these distortions lays the truth: ?the representational 
underpinnings of the real (history) and the imaginary often share the same points of reference? 
(Narrating 4).  
 With the arival of democracy and the termination of censorship, Francoist manipulations 
are not being debated. The doubt created by the negation of Francoist history has exacerbated 
the problem. There are completely false histories, semi-false histories and true histories but al 
exist within the Spanish collective memory. Postmodernism has given birth to the idea of a fluid 
and dynamic history. ?Both fiction and history?mediate human perception? (Narrating 7). 
Within memory, history exists next to fiction as truth. With the plurality of history and lack of a 
finite distinction betwen history and fiction, for readers and writers alike, ?there is no single 
truth that lies at the end of naration? (Narrating 5-6).  
 History transforms from being linear and fixed into something that represents fiction. For 
Herzberger, historic representation is ?both a creative device and a critical perspective: it 
overextends the folds of one thing (fiction) into those of another (history) without eliminating 
entirely the discretnes of each? (Narrating 6). The definite boundary betwen history and 
fiction is now erased, replaced by an interweaving narative that contains representations of both. 
 10 
In postmodern society, historic representation and fiction are linked and cannot be separated. 
This confusion does not eliminate the necesity or the importance of history but rather makes the 
task of decoding the truth much harder. For many, there is no distinction betwen the history 
and memory. Within the realm of memory, there exists this plurality, a fragmentation of history 
where truth is maleable, influenced by fiction and the manipulations of a postmodern history. 
 From the current Spanish problem of postmodern history arises the debate of historical 
memory. Simply, the argument comes from the existence of multiple histories and the need, to 
expunge the manipulations of truth to uncover a true history. The proces to debunk Francoist 
myth is exactly this atempt: a need to uncover truth amongst many lies that have replaced the 
actual historical happenings. This demystification intends to place in doubt and refute the 
official History of the Franco regime by revealing the atrocities and exploitation of Spain while 
restablishing a new history. The work of many writers, historians and politicians is to uncover 
the undocumented events and give a voice to the voiceles. The complexity of this task does not 
lie in only the rewriting of books but in the dificulty to change one?s memory and Spanish 
collective memory after years of falsifications. 
 Scientificaly, memory is an individual function. Social science theories have alowed 
the viewing of the act of remembering as having a social function. Maurice Halbwachs, in his 
study on collective memory, constructed the idea of memory as a social proces. In his thesis, 
?individual memory is located in social frameworks, these frameworks determine how an 
individual remembers anything? (38). This context can be the space, time or a combination of 
the two including social factors asociated with the memory. 
 The key in collective memory is the social factor. Although memories can exist without 
context, the proces of remembering and perceiving said memory cannot function without a 
 11 
social context. Memory needs this context to create meaning for the individual. In order to 
create a context and make memory social, there is a need for a collective entity. The idea of a 
collective society plays of nationalistic ideas. Using Benedict Anderson?s theory, an imagined 
community is created by the shared and similar experiences that afect many people that may not 
necesarily personaly interact. Similarly, collective memory functions this way. The 
collectivity of a group, whether it is a defined nation, teritory or family, is branded by what is 
common to al. The group shares the context that Halbwachs cals les cadres sociaux. The 
context forms a point of sociohistoric reference in which collective memory is based.  
 Halbwachs reminds us that memory is not a fixed function within a singular context. One 
remembers the past through the present. ?What makes recent memories hang together is not that 
they are contiguous in time: it is rather that they are a part of a totality of thoughts common to a 
group, the group of people with whom we have a relation at this moment? (52). One can say that 
collective memory has a temporal and spatial function. The context, les cadres, dictates that we 
remember within the context of the specific group or time to which we belong at the time of 
remembering. ?Present factors tend to influence?our recollections of the past? says Paul 
Connerton (2). Also, ?la memoria individual y la memoria colectiva coexistan en el tiempo y se 
interelacionan e influyan mutuamente [pero]?no siempre coinciden? (Aguilar Fern?ndez 26). 
As we remember the past within our future, collective memory is a construction of each 
individual and each collective. For Paloma Aguilar Fern?ndez, colective memory is ?el 
recuerdo que tiene una comunidad de su propia historia? (25)
1
. Piere Nora summarizes 
                                                
1
 The idea of social memory is a simplification of Spanish social memory. Many diferent 
memories existed within many diferent groups. For this study, social memory wil be used to 
describe the protagonist?s situation. 
 12 
collective memory as ?what remains of the past in the lived reality of groups, or what these 
groups make of the past? (13).  
 Nora?s declaration reveals a very interesting facet of collective memory. It does not 
necesarily reflect actual history. Nora supports the idea of an aceleration of history that 
separates history in two: 1) real history that represents the social memory of primitive society 
and 2) history as an organization of the past that is going to be forgotten. Although, this thesis 
does not enter the debate of aceleration of history, Nora correctly afirms that collective 
memory and history are not bound together. He views history as ?a critical method whose 
purpose is to establish true memory? (4).  
 In today?s society, Nora?s idea of real history does not exist. With the creation of the 
printing pres, history and memory separated into two entities. Memory no longer caried the 
guarante of representing history acurately while the printing pres eliminated the ephemeral 
nature of real history in favor of the concrete longevity provided by reproduction. There is stil 
the dificulty of distinguishing betwen memory and history. Nora labels this problem, 
historicized memory. This problem refers to the confluence of memory and history that 
acurately describes the actual Spanish historical problem. 
 Due to Francoist distortion eforts, Spanish collective memory does not reflect true 
Spanish history. The manipulations of the regime pervaded and perverted collective memory. 
Upon Franco?s death, Spanish collective memory reflected the false history that Franco himself 
perpetuated. Franco succeded in controlling not only the flow of information, but to a certain 
extent the collective Spanish memory.  
 Recently writers, journalists and many more have focused on the task of recovering a 
historical memory that acurately represents Spain. Despite nearly forty years of democracy, the 
 13 
focus stil remains on how to recuperate the lost years. Newspapers such as El Pa?s and 
organizations like the ?Asociaci?n para la Recuperaci?n de la Memoria Hist?rica? intend to 
rewrite history based on newly investigated facts. 
 The idea of historical memory comes from the theories of Nora and refers to the 
confluence of memory and history. This term, however, is problematic. Aguilar Fern?ndez 
describes historical memory as ?una absrtraci?n y simplificaci?n de la pluralidad de memorias 
que se encuentran en una sociedad? (32). Jos? F. Colmeiro refers to historical memory as ?[un] 
ant?doto a la historia official, a la falsificaci?n de la memoria y falsificaci?n de la relidad por 
parte de franquismo, como un intento de una contra-memoria forcejada? (21). The historian 
Payne paints another idea of historical memory. As a historian, Payne subscribes to the idea of 
an absolute and completely objective history. His job is to clasify evidence to represent the past 
in an objective and truthful manner. Of historical memory, the historian notes the paradox of the 
terminology. Memory is ?strictly individual, and is subjective and very frequently 
falacious?[it] provides one version or interpretation? (252) while history is ?neither individual 
nor subjective? (252). Historical memory is, thus, an atempt to recuperate the personal 
memories of those afected by Francoism. It is a tool that aids to describe the history of Spain. 
 Again however, the tension betwen history and memory is apparent. Payne is correct in 
stating that history should sek to be objective with a fixed truth and that memory, scientificaly, 
is completely an individual proces. There is, however, a need to recover the History of Spain 
that was lost during Francoism. There exists the imperative to repudiate the falsifications of the 
dictatorship and represent society, as it truly was, not through the filter of censorship or any other 
partiality. The problem of historical memory is purely terminological. Personal recollections 
give clues as to how people viewed specific events. Memory, however, stil remains a falible 
 14 
human function. Its subjective nature inherently rejects an objective history. History, while 
objective, does not cary the emotional atachments to events that memory does. The 
combination of these two seks to provide the emotional background to these historic events. 
Halbwachs reminds us that one remembers the past within their present. Being that 
memory is subjective, historical memory does not adequately and cannot adequately represent an 
objective history. Recovering historical memory only recovers the subjective memories of the 
past. Historical memory is the recuperation of collective memory that ?incluye tanto el 
contenido de la memoria (recuerdo de acontecimientos hist?ricos espec?ficos) como los valores 
asociados a su evocaci?n (leciones y aprendizajes hist?ricos) modificados, frecuentemente por 
las vicisitudes del presente? (Aguilar Fern?ndez 25). Furthermore, the present has the ability to 
distort our view of the past. Memory is ever fluid and continuously dynamic based on present 
perception.  
The tension shifts with the idea of specific values asociated with certain historic events. 
One must note that the recuperation of historical memory goes much further than simple 
recovering of historical events. Adding and combining a value system to historical memory 
makes this memory les historical, les objective. It is imperative to recognize that historical 
memory has a subjective function. With that, there remains a susceptibility to manipulate and 
politicize memory. Just as with Franco, there is stil a need to decode truth from lies.  
With that said, the recuperation of historical memory is of the utmost importance. 
However, it cannot be sen as historical truth. Its value rests in the ability to represent how 
Spaniards fel and felt regarding themes of the war, Franco, etc. Each person?s memory is 
important in understanding the societal landscape but each memory does not guarante historical 
 15 
acuracy. Historical memory serves only as a tool, a stepping-stone in recreating an acurate 
picture of the past. 
The need for this recuperation comes from the trauma that stil exists in Spanish social 
conscience as wel as on a personal level of each individual. The Pact of Silence and the lack of 
a formal confronting of Francoism have contributed to the forgeting of many events. With the 
rise of the historical memory movement, Spain can finaly confront its own demons regarding 
the Civil War and Franco.  
While many believe that the Pact of Silence and the Transition silenced memory and 
fomented certain oblivion of events, there is juxtaposition now with the arival of the Law of 
Historical Memory. There is an imperative to remember, however remember is dificult. After 
years of silence, an influx of memory creates conflict within an individual and a society. 
Equaly, both must reconcile the discrepancies that exist betwen memories, past and present. 
Forgeting has created trauma. Many choose not to remember as ?el ejercicio de la memoria es 
siempre una tarea dolorosa? (?lvarez Fern?ndez 30). 
Based in psychoanalytical theory, Francoism represents, for some, a traumatic period. 
For Cathy Caruth trauma is ?an overwhelming experience of sudden or catastrophic events? 
(Caruth, Unclaimed 1). Caruth describes trauma using Sigmund Freud?s Moses and 
Monotheism. Freud observes that after a traumatic event, a person represes the memory, 
breaking the integration of the personal self. The experience does not require understanding of 
the event or the experience. The memory enters a type of forgeting that he cals latency. 
Latency acts as a waiting room where the memory is not forgoten completely, but not fuly 
comprehensible. It represents a complete or partial negation of the event. For Caruth latency 
 16 
?paradoxicaly explains the peculiar, temporal structure, the belatednes, of the?historical 
experience? (Unclaimed 17). 
In the period of represion, a person does not fel diferently. The key to latency is that 
the subject does not have any perception that the event symbolizes trauma. Latency ends in 
?insight,? the recognizing of the trauma (Caruth, Unclaimed). Caruth notes ?betwen?the 
acident, and the ?striking of the insight?is the force of a fal? (Unclaimed 22). This 
recognition of the trauma places the person in conflict. The perception of the trauma forces the 
subject to confront and reconcile the past and live with the traumatic experience and integrate the 
trauma with their personal self.  
In the case of Spain, the war and the subsequent dictatorship can be viewed as a traumatic 
event. The years of dictatorship can also be viewed as the latency period while the Transition 
and the choice to not confront this trauma perpetuated the latency period. The recent period of 
renewed interest in the war and Franco represents the insight and recognition of the trauma and 
its efects. The impetus now lies in integrating this trauma with the Spanish collective memory. 
In the following chapters, this thesis criticizes the work utilizing the said theories. The 
first chapter analyzes the trauma, memory and identity of the protagonist Edmundo Barbero. 
Focusing on his exile and subsequent return to Spain, this chapter explores the interplay betwen 
Barbero?s trauma, the external forces dictating collective memory and his sense of self in a new 
Spain. Chapter two analyzes L?pez Mozo?s use of metatheater and describes how this technique 
aids the recuperation of historical memory. Using theater as a background and the representation 
of La vida es sue?o, the playwright uses the protagonist Barbero as a vehicle for his political 
mesage. Finaly, chapter thre examines the work as a historical play and explores the use of 
 17 
postmodern techniques in framing the question and validity of history within modern Spanish 
society. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 18 
Chapter 1: Trauma and exile: Recuperation for Edmundo Barbero 
 It is easy to observe in Edmundo Barbero, the protagonist, many of the characteristics 
that dominate Spanish society. Barbero functions as an archetype that atempts to represent the 
collective memory during post-war Spain. After exiling to Latin America during the Franco 
dictatorship, he finds himself an unknown in a new country very diferent than the Spain he left. 
Searching for his niche in his new country, his plight for identity miics that of the Spanish 
society. Like many other exiles, the Francoist period created an identity gap betwen old and 
new Spain. His struggle to regain and reconcile these two identities represents not only his, but 
also mirors Spanish society?s arduous proces of recuperating historical memory. Barbero and 
his atempts to remember force the Spanish public to discuss and confront their own past traumas 
and experiences and relays the importance of recovering this lost history of the dictatorship. 
 Edmundo Barbero is the perfect example of Freudian and trauma theory. For him, the 
war and his subsequent exile create a traumatic moment in his life that he does not register 
immediately. His return to a Spain that does not correspond to his memory exacerbates the depth 
of the trauma and continues his latency period. As Freud describes, his latency refuses any 
understanding or confrontation with the said trauma. He cannot yet appreciate the severity of his 
problems. This period acts to completely negate any confrontation or understanding of the said 
trauma. It is characterized by blanks in his personal narative.  
 Julia?s first appearance gives the audience and the reader a sense of Barbero?s trauma. 
Interviewing Barbero, Julie urges that he speak, of himself and his past. The interview subject 
masks his reticence in a false modesty. He evades questions with casual jokes, deflecting any 
praise to other characters. Julia stops him saying, ?[y]o quiero saber qui?n es Edmundo 
Barbero? (136). Barbero ignores her, responding with another question, demonstrating a 
 19 
complete evasion of anything reflecting his personal past. Julia?s incesant questioning, 
however, reveals an angry and insecure Barbero. Unsure of his own past and his own identity, 
Barbero is unable to narate his life. His reticence is les a resistance to his past but an inability 
to conjure memories without reference. He sharply replies to Julia?s investigation, ?[s]in 
preguntas, no puede haber respuestas. As?, no hay di?logo possible? (137). In this statement, the 
protagonist unveils the key to begin his proces of recuperation: dialogue. He needs dialogue, 
testimony to initiate the proces. 
 Acording to scholar Jos? Ignacio ?lvarez Fern?ndez, testimony should contain thre 
elements: 1) a naration in first person, 2) a witnes and protagonist and 3) a journalistic element. 
For Spain and Barbero alike, ?la lucha entre memoria y el olvido es una constante en las 
sociedades que mantienen una relaci?n traumatica con su pasado? (?lvarez Fern?ndez 31). 
Trauma is always linked to silence; however, testimony provides a means to overcome said 
trauma. ?lvarez Fern?ndez notes the therapeutic power of testimony. Julia?s character is a key 
figure in this proces for Barbero. Her incesant questioning, while initialy annoying to 
Barbero, holds the key to revealing his trauma.  
 In the context of ?lvarez Fern?ndez?s formula for testimony, Julia corresponds to the 
journalistic element as wel as witnes. Barbero serves as protagonist supplying his own 
personal narative. Without Julia, the testimonial proces could not be fulfiled. In order to 
remember, al thre elements must be present. Julia?s role as journalist relates and underscores 
the importance of journalism in furthering the discussion of historical memory in Spain today. 
This testimonial method represents the beginning of the dificult proces of recuperating memory 
and overcoming trauma.  
 20 
 The therapeutic nature of testimony also doubles as a tool in recovering identity. From 
memory, one can reconstruct their lost identity. Testimony creates the opportunity to recover 
these two personal functions. Despite Barbero?s preliminary cagines, Julia continues her 
journalistic duty returning with concrete dates and events forming a rough timeline. These 
reference points alow her and Barbero to recreate diferent happenings utilizing specific points 
in his life. This foundation creates not only confidence in Julia, as she does truly find his life 
interesting, but also alows Barbero to begin his personal naration.  
 Barbero, at the insistence of Julia, starts with his pre-war life. His naration of his time in 
the theater El Sol and his role as Jason founds the beginning of a solid personal recounting with 
himself as protagonist. In recovering his memory, Barbero does not jump straight to his trauma. 
The audience understands that this event, in the form of war and exile, is stil unknown to him. 
His beginning with his past pre-trauma commences to slowly build the road map that wil have a 
gap, forcing Barbero to confront his own traumatic past.  
 The framing of Julia?s character plays perfectly in this piece. Her inquisitive nature as a 
young journalist emulates the eforts by al journalists contributing to the demystification of 
Franco. Her job is to once again give these voiceles, memory-les Spaniards their identity and 
memory. In the context of Spain today, Barbero functions as an alegory for the modern Spanish 
society: lost in a new Spain searching for their own identity and memory. Subscribing to this 
idea, Julia?s role expands further to include al journalists as wel as historians, sociologists and 
al those working to uncover the lost identities and memories of Francoism.  
 These profesionals ask the appropriate questions, much like Julia, turning the Spanish 
public into Edmundo Barbero, a protagonist of his lost past, narating his memories. Each 
 21 
person plays the double role of protagonist teling their own stories and that of witnes listening 
to each story recovered. 
 With the testimonial proces already initiated, Barbero transforms as a character within 
his own drama. Barbero utilizes a tape recorder and old recordings of performances to fil the 
blanks in his own personal naration. The recorder symbolizes the bridge betwen his present 
and his past. As Halbwachs states, we remember our past from our present perspective. Barbero 
is able to play both protagonist, filing his void with memories, and witnes by listening to his 
own voice. The tape recorder creates a new testimonial proces where Barbero can have dual 
roles. His present self transforms into a witnes for his recorded tapes, forcing himself into his 
own past. These tapes serve as the link betwen the past and the present. While Barbero can 
now witnes his own past, he stil must create a flowing story incorporating these experiences 
into his grand personal narative.  
 In a similar fashion, the hanging photos on the wals of his dresing room provide 
reference points in his naration. Julia?s inquisition in regards to each photograph forces Barbero 
to incorporate these memories once again and move closer to becoming self aware of his own 
trauma. Moreover, the ability to use his performance tapes and photos to remember afirms that 
Barbero does not suffer from a physical deficiency of the ability to remember. As Andrew 
Kennedy states, ?it is easier to listen to a tape than to recal memories at wil? (104). The only 
thing that impedes the protagonist?s act of remembering is the unresolved trauma.  
 The decisive moment in his testimonial proces comes when his naration arives at the 
theme of the war. Barbero declares, ?Seguramente usted oy? hablar de la Guera. Yo la viv?. 
Quiero hablar de ela. Y de lo que vino despu?s? (150). The actor finaly fulfils his role as 
protagonist within his own testimony. Responding to Julia?s uncertainty, Barbero afirms, 
 22 
?necesisto que me escuche. De pronto, la cabeza se me ha lenado de recuerdos? (151). Ariving 
at the theme of his own trauma, the protagonist is able to give naration and remember his lost 
memories. The importance of having a witnes underscores one?s ability to narate their past. 
The witnes gives legitimacy to each personal naration and alows each recovered memory to be 
firmly cemented. Elizabeth Jelin notes that historic trauma represents ?the double void in the 
narative; the inability or impossibility of constructing a narative due to the dialogical void? 
(64). With the presence of dialogue and the testimonial proces, Edmundo Barbero is able to fil 
his narative with lost memories thus reconstructing his memory and identity.  
 At this point, the audience appreciates the easines and dificulty of remembering. While 
Barbero can recal any past role and in which theater he performed, L?pez Mozo places the war 
and Barbero?s asociated experience inside the intangible sphere of trauma. While the war for 
Barbero and Spanish society is a topic that can never be forgotten, it is oddly enough unable to 
be remembered. Despite the eforts of the dictatorship to erase and change history, individual 
memory and collective memory stil has fragments and traces of each experience that are slowly 
being reconstructed in a coherent naration. Barbero arives at his own mnemonic emptines as a 
result of Julia?s interogation of his past. Ariving chronologicaly at this void, Barbero must 
finaly face and remember his traumatic past.  
 Of traumatic past, Cathy Caruth describes: ?an overwhelming experience of sudden or 
catastrophic events in which the response to the event occurs in often delayed?appearance? 
(Unclaimed 11). As a result of this trauma and the subsequent void characterized by latency, 
Barbero?s personal self separates. Unable to recal these traumatic events, Barbero?s present self 
does not reflect his past. The separation of the self occurs when a subject is unable to 
incorporate al past experiences in their present identity. Equaly in the context of Spain, 
 23 
Franco?s atempts to distort the events of the war produced a similar efect in Spanish collective 
identity. Franco?s insistence in preserving his version of the war did coincide with neither 
collective memory nor individual memory. Like Barbero, present Spanish identity did not 
acurately reconcile past events causing a disintegration of the personal self.  
 The longevity of this period of disintegration, latency, can be atributed to the longevity 
of the Franco regime. The extension and depth of this period are caused by two facts. First, the 
latency period is strengthened by Franco?s manipulation of memory and history. Ironicaly, the 
glorification of the war by Franco perpetuated an inability of many to actualy remember the war. 
Second, the efect of exile contributed equaly to this period. Exile, as Edward Said defines, is 
?the unbearable rift forced betwen a human being and a native place, betwen the self and its 
true home? (173).  
This unbearable rift, manifested in Barbero as the loss of identity and memory, extended 
the latency efect. The rift betwen his Spanish identities persist the trauma by never alowing 
Barbero to reconcile his past and present. Exile, in efect, turns into another form of trauma for 
him. By separating Barbero from his true identity and forcing a new identity ungrounded in his 
own past, this separation impedes his ability to remember acurately. Without the appropriate 
Spanish context, his memories do not have meaning in his new location.  
While memory, as we have sen, pertains to an individual capacity, the context of 
collective memory gives individual memories meaning within a broader spectrum. As 
Halbwachs states, social contexts shape each memory?s individual meaning. As one remembers 
from a present perspective, the past is shaped by present social contexts. A change in context 
can alter memories by presenting a new perspective in order to view the past. 
 24 
In regards to Barbero, his exile shifts his social context thus shifting and reconstructing 
the way he views the past. Paul Connerton describes that one remembers by utilizing the 
perspective of ?our present in a context which is usualy connected with [the] past?hence with 
reference to events and objects? (2) of our past. In his new social construct of Latin America, his 
Spanish memories of the Civil War do not cary the same meaning. In his new Latin American 
context, his memories lack these reference points that give meaning to his past. The absence of 
these mnemonic roots strengthens the traumatic efect of latency. The presence of a non-
corresponding social context does not permit Barbero to place his own recollections within a 
context that wil provide a cohesive personal narative.  
For these reasons, exile inhibits the proper mnemonic proceses. Lacking proper context 
to give memories meaning, Barbero?s recollections are never fully formed and left for oblivion 
during his exile. Combined with the inability to remember, Barbero was left with no more than 
mere shreds of his own past. Furthermore, his exile guaranted an inability to overcome his 
trauma. Should he have been able to recal his past, his memories would not have had any 
meaning, exacerbating the traumatic efect.  
Upon return, the change in Spanish context from his social context of forty years prior 
produced the same efect. The recollections that he managed to remember had no meaning in a 
post-Franco society. In the testimonial structure, Julia, as witnes, plays an interesting role. As 
witnes, she has the ability to create a fragile environment that spans both the pre- and post-
Franco contexts.  With her, Barbero narates his wartime experience: ?Toca hablar de c?mo 
escap? de Sevila y legu? a Madrid. Una odisea. De d?a, me escond?a en cualquier sitio para no 
ser visto. De noche, viajero en el furg?n de cola en los trenes de mercanc?as. Espa?a empezaba 
a convertirse en un cementerio inmenso? (156).  
 25 
L?pez Mozo?s language in the words of Barbero expreses the emotional gravity of 
remembering. The audience can relate to the dificulty and pain of his past experiences. His 
narative reflects many similar stories of trauma. L?pez Mozo utilizes this to appeal to the 
audience?s emotions. The playwright must create a connection betwen his protagonist and the 
public in order to achieve his mision of advancing the cause of historical memory.  
Continuing his naration without Julia, Barbero ?va ordenando las ideas en voz alta y 
resolviendo sus dudas a trav?s de un di?logo que mantiene consigo mismo?Alguna idea le ha 
venido a la cabeza. Busca apresuradamente una cinta virgen y la coloca en el magnet?fono? 
(156). L?pez Mozo reveals his protagonist?s progres. Although Julia is not present, the tape 
recorder replaces her in the role of witnes. While he appears to be speaking with himself as the 
stage directions suggest, the apparatus serves as the listener Barbero needs to continue his 
personal narative. It continues having the ability to link Barbero with his past. Also, the tape 
recorder guarantes preservation of his reminiscing.  
This self-dialogue reveals an interesting change in the protagonist?s behavior. While 
Julia opened the line of communication betwen the past and present, Barbero has achieved a 
level of self-reflection that can be maintained in an artificial manner. The tape recorder only 
represents a mini-step betwen dialogue and the ability to fully remember without the testimonial 
proces and structure. Without a bodily witnes, the device maintains a sense of continuity of 
dialogue betwen protagonist and a witnes. No longer does Barbero need fixed reference 
points; he has achieved a level of autonomy in remembering in a fluid, abstract manner. This 
progres underlines the dificulty asociated with traumatic memory.  
This dificulty often manifests itself in setbacks for the subject. Despite his early 
breakthroughs, Barbero suffers a delay thanks to the absence of Julia at Caf? Dor?n for a 
 26 
prescribed interview. Although the setback is a symptom of the fragility of this proces, the 
episode with Julia and the subsequent episode with the director Alvar, are representative of the 
generation gap that disalows the memory conversation in Spain. While a litle forced, the 
interactions betwen the septuagenarian and his twenty-something counterparts stres the 
diferences that do exist betwen each generation. Each generation is equal in the blame of the 
lack of communication.  
L?pez Mozo, however, reveals that this specific gap goes much deeper than the normal 
prejudices that always exist betwen age groups. This generational incongruity is the result of 
two main factors. The first is the manner in which one remembers. Again, using the social 
context theory of Halbwachs, each generation wil remember diferently acording to their 
difering social contexts. While the old generation has both the explicit experience and the 
present memories of the war and dictatorship, the youthful generations do not view or share the 
same memories or asociated felings regarding these themes.   
Although they do share certain aspects within the post-Franco Spanish context, the two 
group?s perspectives of the war are not compatible. This incompatibility is due to the younger 
generation?s view of the war through the lens of forty years of distortion. In addition to this 
skewed view, the younger generation lacks the emotional connection that the older generation 
stil maintains with these events. The younger generation cannot appreciate nor understand how 
Franco afects not only them, but also the larger social landscape. Julia, in her role as journalist, 
is able to span both generations due to the empathy required by her profesion. This general lack 
of empathy on behalf of the younger generation is the second factor. Her ability to connect on an 
emotional, trusting level with Barbero alows for the flow of dialogue. Alvar, at his best, can 
never understand Barbero due to these factors. The director?s inflexibility demonstrates why the 
 27 
proces of recovering historical memory is dificult. The majority of the population were not 
interested in hearing these stories. Their lack of interest intensified the problem by not simply 
listening and understanding. The younger generation is characterized by perpetuating this 
memory crisis that is described ?as a generalized inability to retain the historic past that is now 
being replaced by a continuous present, destroying in the proces al the traditions that previous 
social forms has tried to preserve? (S?nchez 98). S?nchez notes a young culture ?pointing 
towards a growing collective historical apathy, our culture has become more obsesed with 
practices of memory? (98).  
L?pez Mozo admonishes Spanish society for this historical apathy. Therein lies the 
paradox of post-Franco Spanish culture: a society so obsesed with memory but that cannot 
remember itself. The same generation of the Transition is now the generation in power. The 
playwright directs this criticism directly at this audience. While generations have pased, there 
stil exists this crisis of memory. Alvar atempts to shame the public, recognizing their own 
apathy and caling their atention to the necesity to listen and remember. Moreover, L?pez 
Mozo observes a lack of communication due to political diferences. Alvar cals Barbero, ?ese 
rojo? (169), underscoring the deep political divisions that stil influence Spanish society. This 
play borders on liberal propaganda creating binaries betwen Julia and Alvar, and Alvar and 
Barbero, exposing the generational and political rifts that perpetuate this memory crisis.  
Due to these problems, L?pez Mozo deftly delays the insight of Barbero until the final 
scene. The audience is able to finaly understand the profundity of the protagonist?s anguish. 
The weight of the trauma changes his behavior stresing him into forcing the audience to finaly 
listen. With a pistol in hand, Barbero gives his final monologue. In his desperate words, the 
 28 
audience understands the pleas and the efects of the painful proces. He can finaly vocalize his 
despair and anxiety atacking the audience and general society: 
?de lo que no se ha visto, no hay memoria. Es como si no hubiera existido. O como si el 
que lo cuenta, lo hubiera so?ado. Yo ten?a que haber vivido en Espa?a. No fue posible. 
?Saben que hubo una guera civil? ?La hubo! Esas caras? ?Acaso lo dudan? Disculpo a 
los m?s j?venes, aunque me sorprende su ignorancia. Alguien tendr?a que haberles 
hablado de ela. Alguno de ustedes ya estaba, entonces, en este mundo. ?Por qu? no le 
han dicho nada? ?Tal vez porque es algo remoto? ?O, simplemente, la han olvidado? 
Me extra?a? Los recuerdos perduran? (186).  
In this pasage, L?pez Mozo summarizes his argument. Airing his frustrations, the 
audience ses the manifestation of Barbero?s trauma and inability of memory. Through Barbero 
and the playwright?s eyes, Spain is destined, condemned, to forgeting. This also provides 
Barbero with an opportunity to confront his past. As Caruth observes, Barbero is feling ?the 
force of the fal, a faling that is transmited precisely in the unconscious act of leaving? 
(Unclaimed 22). His monologue doubles as his insight, his understanding of his trauma and the 
leaving of the latency period. He, himself, understands the weight of his fal, understanding that 
?the historical power of the trauma is not just that the experience is repeated after its forgeting, 
but that it is only in and through its inherent forgeting that it is first experienced at al. And it is 
the inherent latency of the event that paradoxicaly explains the peculiar temporal structure, the 
belatednes, of the?historical experience? (Caruth, Unclaimed 17). Fre of his traumatic 
bondage, Barbero can frely narate his past: 
?En esa guera yo estaba del lado de los que la perdieron. Me fue mejor que a otros. O 
eso cre? entonces. El precio que pagu? fue poner tiera por medio. Con la esperanza de 
 29 
volver pronto, claro. Visto as?, un castigo levadero. Con el paso del tiempo, una losa. 
Hice el viaje de ida en barco. Despacio, como quien se resiste a marcharse. Quer?a 
alejarme de la costa, pero que las amaras no estuvieran sueltas. Lo estaban. El regreso, 
en cambio, ha sido veloz? (186-87).  
Barbero reclaims his lost memories and his lost past. He directly confronts his exile and 
overcomes it. In his monologue, the audience can fel his emotional disilusion acompanied by 
the trauma. Now, he has the ability to remember but his payment was forty years of lost identity 
and history. Tied to memory, identity is ?una construcci?n individual? (Caste?eira 41). 
Suffering from a disconnected history, the reconstruction of his historical memory is 
acompanied by the reconstruction of identity through the construction of a new, inclusive 
narative that represents ?una identidad personal?una historia vital din?mica, un relato que 
vamos consrtuyendo, desplegando? (Caste?eira 46). The recovered memories fil the existential 
gaps as wel as give new meaning to his life. The reintegration of these memories, reconciles the 
disintegrated personal self.  
Barbero?s story serves as a warning of the polemic memory crisis. His life is an alegory 
for many lives forced to live in constant conflict with such a harowing event that many choose 
to forget completely. In equaly as many cases, forgeting was not a choice rather an imposition 
by circumstances dictated by Franco. For Barbero, his exile was a circumstance of his disenting 
beliefs. Persecuted for his actions, he broke with his life in Spain. This rupture caused his 
trauma, one that he did not completely understand until his return. With his personal self 
fragmented betwen his Spanish and Latin American identities, his return began his dificult 
proces to reintegrate his identity and memories while overcoming his trauma. 
 30 
While also recuperating the memory of the real Edmundo Barbero, the fictionalized play 
represents the playwrights? political mesage. The trajectory of Barbero?s life warants a 
recuperation of historical memory while serving as an alegory for modern Spain. Too many 
histories have been lost by not listening to each other?s and our own memories. Barbero 
personifies the memory-les Spain. Neither the individual nor the society wil overcome the 
trauma of the Civil War and of Franco without the recuperation of historical memories. This 
play and Barbero provide the cal to action of this work of social theater. L?pez Mozo forces the 
public to concentrate on these isues and take a stance while demonstrating the need to reconcile 
the collective Spanish trauma. In this way, the playwright is slowly debunking the myths of the 
dictatorship and righting the oppresion of al Spaniards.  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 31 
Chapter 2: La vida es sue?o: Metatheater and Recuperation of Historical Memory 
 Alegory, as sen in the first chapter, is a very strong and useful technique to aid in the 
recuperation of historical memory. The protagonist Barbero helps to create an alegorical drama 
by relating on a personal level with the audience and reader alike. As Jos? F. Colmeiro states, 
?la metateatralidad se constituye como un lenguaje aleg?rico? (125). He continues: ?el marco 
metateatral proporciona a su vez un mecanismo ideal para reconstituir secuencias del pasado por 
medio de escenas donde este es reconstruyendo y sometido a un proceso de manipulaciones por 
parte de la memoria?mostrando la fragilidad en la construcci?n? (125) of identity and memory. 
This observation defines the vision of L?pez Mozo. Known for his enthusiasm for artists and 
actors, the playwright uses theater as a seting and the actor as a character to achieve his social 
commentary.  
 Theater permits L?pez Mozo to create a situation that can reflect realistic ideas while also 
creating an alterable landscape to define a specific view of reality. The dynamic nature of 
theater alows the reflection of the ever-changing social ideologies, which the author critiques 
and recreates to benefit his social and political mesage. This work fits perfectly within the 
artistic concerns of L?pez Mozo. The playwright, as Gabriele notes, uses theater as an art and 
the artist, in the form of Barbero, in order to articulate and critique the social norms governing 
society while formulating his own mesage of hope for future society. 
 As the critic Wilifried Floeck observes, ?el tema de la b?squeda de la identidad es 
tambi?n una consecuencia de la deconstrucci?n creciente del individuo? (147).  As this theme is 
noteworthy in the development of Barbero as protagonist, Floeck also notes ?muchas veces, los 
dramaturgos reacionan frente a esta situaci?n con la puesta en escena de juegos metateatrales, 
mediante los cuales las figuras dram?ticas intentan volver a encontrar su identidad perdida? 
 32 
(148). Metatheater ?vuelve a contar una historia, pinta personajes que responden a la realidad y 
cuyos problemas el espectador conoce por su propia experiencia? (Floeck 155). This quote 
explains L?pez Mozo?s rationale in utilizing metatheater to aid in his pursuit to recuperate 
historical memory. The playwright utilizes this theatrical technique to investigate the themes of 
identity and memory through the development of Edmundo Barbero as protagonist while 
utilizing his ability to relate to the audience to convey the mesage of a need for the recuperation 
of historical memory. This chapter analyzes L?pez Mozo?s metatheater usage while framing it 
under the larger goal of recovering memory and identity.  
 The use of metatheater manifests in diferent ways in El olvido est? leno de memoria.  
First, the playwright utilizes the development of Barbero to further his social commentary. 
L?pez Mozo plays with the idea of Barbero as both protagonist and actor, erasing the distinction 
betwen the two in order to explore the efects of trauma. Also, the author utilizes traditional 
metatheater tropes like drama within drama to add symbolism and strengthen his argument. This 
usage of metatheater adds another symbolic literary place to reinforce his mesage by focusing 
the audience on the relationship betwen El olvido est? leno de memoria and La vida es sue?o.  
 John P. Gabriele confirms this usage: ?Desde el principio, El olvido est? leno de 
memoria se contextualiza por una confluencia operativa de arte y vida como reflejo de la crisis 
personal del protagonista?no se distingue entre el espacio propio de la representaci?n teatral (el 
dominio del personaje) y el espacio del teatro (el dominio del actor). No se diferencia entre lo 
real y lo ilusorio? (Metateatro 2). This idea is the basis of metatheatric manifestations in this 
work. The idea of a confluence betwen real and ilusory underlines the dificulty of memory 
within a fragmented self as wel as in a traumatized society. This binary also defines the basis of 
 33 
the recuperation of historical memory. Within this blend of real and ilusory, L?pez Mozo is 
searching, through his dramatic writing, for the ultimate truth.  
 To personify this idea, Barbero is portrayed as a character in a state of perpetual 
graynes. He confounds his past and present and relays them through the real and theatrical life. 
This confusion betwen real and artistic creates the first example of metatheater. In addition to 
his greater goal, L?pez Mozo exploits the confusion to give the audience a correct sense of 
Barbero?s trauma, of his own personal exile. Being an actor, Barbero?s profesion (playing 
many roles) lends itself to this complicated, intentional mixture of real and artistic life.  
 In explaining this phenomenon, Richard Hornby states that actors are the perfect 
characters to personify this uncertainty. He expounds the stereotype that exists by claiming 
actors, in themselves, are portraits of unstable personalities. This preconception comes from the 
many roles and identities that an actor must asume and adopt. The notion is that a good actor 
does not have a fixed identity, rather only adopts those of the characters they portray.  
 In addition, Barbero embodies what June Schlueter cals the ?fictive character.? For her, 
?the relationship betwen reality and ilusion is the fictive character? (6). As an actor, ?the 
fictive character is a multiplicity of selves? (6-7) highlighting the instability of identity in a 
metatheatrical character. Barbero is a creation of the playwright as much as of himself. The 
diferences in interpretation create ?a collective, comunal response? (Schlueter 7) that aids in 
making this type of theater eficient in delivering sociopolitical mesages.  
 During his ilustrious carer, the fictitious (as wel as the real) Barbero has depicted many 
of theater?s most storied characters. In his first encounter with Julia, the young journalist looks 
through the catalogue of roles as evidenced through photographs of Barbero in costume. He 
declaims, ?no me reconoce? (135) and Julia negates, ?vestido de esa guisa? (135). In this ironic 
 34 
interchange, the audience appreciates the confusion that has taken hold of Barbero. L?pez Mozo 
transmits his protagonist?s disintegrating self through these many roles he asumes. Each one 
represents a certain facet of his own shredded personality and at the same time, no role realy 
represents Barbero as his true self. This actor?s paradox confounds his true identity and memory.  
 These choices are not arbitrary. L?pez Mozo atempts to create this confusion amongst 
the audience and reader. Schlueter notes, ?the playwright is constantly and overtly sustaining the 
dialectic which exists betwen reality and ilusion? (13). This idea, acording to Schlueter, 
arises the theme of a loss of identity of the character-actor. The audience?s recognition of this 
tool cements the metatheatric protagonist. The spectators must recognize this in order to give 
this character meaning within the larger alegorical mesage. The confusion that fades the 
identity of the protagonist also vanishes the spectator?s perspective alowing character and 
audience to develop equaly during the representation. 
 During the drama, L?pez Mozo plays on Barbero?s fragmented identity through his past 
roles. Although it appears Barbero cannot define his emotions, the playwright uses the tape 
recorder to locate his protagonist?s emotions. As explained in the previous chapter, the apparatus 
is the link betwen past and present. Also, it has a metatheatrical quality, containing various 
declamations of the many characters Barbero has portrayed.  
 Imediately following the initial confrontation with Julia, Barbero plays his monologue 
as Segismundo in La vida es sue?o. ??Ay m?sero de m?, ay, infelice!? (139) recites Barbero. 
Segismundo?s soliloquy reveals and expreses the felings of unhappines that plague Barbero. 
His multiple roles demonstrate what Hornby explains that character?s roles within the larger 
work show ?not only who the character is, but who he wants to be? (67). The multiplicity of 
 35 
roles contained on his old tapes as wel as the characters themselves reveal more to the audience 
about Barbero?s identity.  
 In addition, Barbero is the consummate actor, always in character. He becomes self-
absorbed in theater, always reciting and declaiming lines from his favorite characters. He is 
quick to tel an anecdote of his storied theatrical history much to the chagrin of others. His 
director, Alvar, tires quickly of Barbero?s behavior. In one heated exchange, Alvar interestingly 
exclaims, ?deja, en cambio, de ser tu propio personaje? (167). The confluence betwen real and 
artistic life is obvious to everyone except Barbero.  
 Nevertheles, for the protagonist, ?ser actor es [su] oficio? (167). His ignorance to his 
own disilusion is only a symptom of his trauma. Barbero, in an ironic way of describing his 
craft, notes that ?la personalidad de los actores tambi?n cuenta?Las experiencias, los 
recuerdos?? (174). In his own words, the audience comes to understand the duality that actors 
demonstrate. He continues: ?los actores tienen la habilidad de mostrar lo falso como verdadero, 
de dar gato por liebre, de levarnos al personal al huerto? (167). Again, Barbero ironicaly 
defines his own condition. As his confluence of reality and ilusions grows, he becomes 
detached from reality, only portraying his own character. The ability to demonstrate ?lo falso 
como verdadero? exemplifies his traumatic condition. Unable to perceive the truth, he only has 
the ability to portray the false nature of his fragmented self.  
 Barbero, however, enjoys the idea of being the other. Describing the thril of acting, he 
states, ?vivimos en el mundo de lo fant?stico y de lo original?Porque actuamos para mentir, 
para desmentirnos, para ser diferente de lo que somos?? (167). Barbero almost understands the 
irony of his situation. He acts to lie to himself, to create an alternative persona but he does not 
understand the pity his ignorance creates in the spectator. In his penchant for role play, Hornby 
 36 
notes of Barbero: ?ironicaly, the role is closer to the character?s true self than his everyday ?real 
personality?? (67). Not only does he confuse betwen his roles and his self, he prefers to act as 
himself. Acting provides the escape that continues the latency of his trauma. In the realm of 
theater, he does not have to confront his own self.  
 To connect himself with these past roles, Barbero employs his tape recorder to recreate 
his old performances. In contrast to the general plane of this work, the tape recorder creates a 
second level of theater. Giving background to his character, L?pez Mozo uses the apparatus to 
display Barbero as unstable, highlighting his loss of memory and identity.  
 Corresponding to this second level of theater, the tape recorder is an alusion to Krapp?s 
Last Tapes by Samuel Becket. In this work, Becket?s protagonist similarly remembers his past 
with the aid of technology. While already mentioned in the first chapter, the tape recorder 
creates a testimonial proces betwen Barbero and himself. In his critique of Becket, Andrew 
Kennedy notes that Krapp?s monologues convert into dialogues with the projection of himself. 
This critique can be extended to this present work.  In this use of metatheater, the Barbero of the 
tapes converts into protagonist of this mini-drama to the witnes/spectator of the present-day 
Barbero. 
 The dialogue betwen manifestations of distinct epochs of a singular protagonist 
proposes, however, certain problems. Acording to Paul Lawley, ?the face can hardly recognize 
its own reflection? (90). Although the declamations are in Barbero?s own voice, as wil Krapp, 
the present day spectator cannot identify with the past protagonist as himself. The tapes are ?a 
dialogue betwen living and remembrance, present and past? (Malkin 27). Moreover, this type 
of dialogue represents ?a briliant way to theatricalize dual consciousnes? (Malkin 27).  
 37 
 In El olvido est? leno de memoria, L?pez Mozo engages this same technique to stres the 
duality of Barbero. The tapes provide the audience with multiple versions of Barbero. In 
Krapp?s, the protagonist atends directly and explicitly with his memories. L?pez Mozo, 
however, decides to force Barbero to use the apparatus as a way to reconnect with his past. The 
tapes reflect the many stages of his life. The diferent Barberos achieve and cement the 
instability of the Barbero of the grand work. His dependence on the tapes in order to remember 
exemplifies the depth of his trauma and the extension of its efects to hinder memory-making 
proceses.  
 Also, the Barbero of the tapes becomes a tangible character in the drama. Fulfiling the 
idea of a dialogue betwen man and machine, the interaction of the grand protagonist Barbero 
and the projections of himself in the past create ?a semblance of dialogue?a self addresing 
speaker absorbed in?his former self? (Kennedy 103). To recover lost memory, the character of 
the tape recorder is key in the development of this theme and Barbero. This technological object 
is the connection that alows metatheater in this work. The instrument provides the pretext so 
that the present day Barbero can develop and remember through interactions with himself. 
 The monologues on the tapes are representations by Barbero for Barbero. In his dresing 
room, the protagonist ceases to be. Instead, he transforms into a spectator of himself, of his own 
projected voice. Although the tapes only contain declamations of past roles, its function has 
more utility to Barbero and the play. In order to connect the past to the present, the tape recorder 
functions in a similar fashion to that of Becket?s. Barbero listens to his own voice in order to 
regain his past. The old roles serve to construct a context to his past. The tapes conjure 
memories, forcing Barbero to enter into the context(s) of each tape, thus entering his own past. 
For him, ?it is easier to listen to a tape than to recal memories at wil? (Kennedy 104).  
 38 
 The action of listening is equivalent to the action of remembering. The tapes are like 
photographs or home movies resurfacing things lost and hidden. Like Krapp, Barbero ?is fre to 
shape or reshape these fragments of unpublished biography? (Kennedy 104). The position of 
spectator to his own life fils the gap of his past with memories that Barbero can now confront or 
refuse.  
 Nevertheles, these tapes are tantamount to Barbero?s personal history. Through them, 
he can ?separate the grain from the husk? (Lawley 90), separate reality from ilusion amongst 
memories and represion. This interaction betwen his many selves acts to reconstruct his 
identity by reintegrating and reconciling memories of his past with the personality of his present.  
 Barbero uses the tapes in order to be a witnes to his own history providing the ability 
and opportunity to remember and make memories. The transformation from actor to audience 
offers the ability to acomplish this communication betwen present and past. In this way, the 
tape recorder has two primary functions: confirm the depth of his duality and fragmentation 
while also giving him the power to remember and confront his trauma.  
 L?pez Mozo is able to fulfil these tasks by playing on the idea of testimony. Julia and 
Barbero create the first level of testimony in this work. The second level, or metatheatrical level, 
occurs within the act of recording and listening. Julia may initiate this proces, but Barbero 
becomes, once again, protagonist of his own life with the act of recording his memories. 
 Instead of listening, of being spectator to his life, Barbero reconstructs and narates his 
history. He remembers, makes memories signaling the crucial moment in his confrontation with 
his personal trauma. Now, the tape recorder does not only symbolize a connection with the past, 
it symbolizes the reintegration of this past with the present. It is the instrument that integrates 
Barbero?s fragmented self. As both protagonist and spectator to his life, Barbero?s catharsis is 
 39 
complete. The creation of a new narative signals the end of the second plane of metatheater 
within this work.  
 The third metatheatrical level is a symbolic and abstract level. This plane encompases 
the seting of the theater of the greater work. To frame the seting, L?pez Mozo chooses to 
include the efect of theater within theater. The action of the play takes place during the 
representation of La vida es sue?o by Pedro Calder?n de la Barca. While Lionel Abel recognizes 
this drama as one of the first examples of metatheater, L?pez Mozo takes advantage of the 
inherent metatheatrical nature of the former work to comment on a similar context.  
 In the case of the present work, La vida es sue?o represents what Hornby would cal ?the 
inner play? (33) that is secondary to the principal action. Nevertheles, in this type of drama, 
Lionel Abel observes that ?ilusion becomes inseparable from reality? (153). The playwright 
uses this tool to add to the confluence of roles as wel as construct the alegorical element of the 
play.  
 Similar to the discussion of the confluence amongst roles, Barbero?s role within the inner 
play symbolicaly reveals the influence of his trauma. In his first declamation to Julia, Barbero 
?(?recita, algo modificado, parte de un parlamento de Segismundo.) Decir que sue?o es 
enga?o?? (134). The exchange yet again places emphasis on the symbolism that exists betwen 
Barbero and Segismundo. Both, unsure of reality and ilusion, create an obvious connection 
betwen the inner and outer plays, as wel as correspond Barbero?s trauma to the lack of liberty 
Segismundo suffers at the hand of his father. As with Segismundo, Barbero lives the ilusion 
that becomes reality. For him, the inability to remember and distinguish betwen ilusion and 
reality is his tower prison.  
 40 
 Soon, however, Barbero takes the role of Basilio. Gabriele observes that this signals ?un 
momento crucial en el desarollo del actor-protagonista de L?pez Mozo? (Metateatro 4). His 
portrayal of Basilio changes his perspective. If Segismundo represents the inability to overcome 
the ilusory efects of trauma, as Gabriele explains, ?Barbero, como Basilio?, es el responsible 
de su propio enciero metaf?rico, es decir de su inhabilidad de confrontarse con su pasado 
traum?tico. Cualquier escape de dicha prisi?n metaf?rica del olvido y reconciliaci?n con su 
pasado residen ?ltimamente con ?l? (Metateatro 4).  
 Adding to that idea, Gabriele states that Barbero?s transformation to a character of power 
represents ?la oportunidad de integrar las distintas realidades de su existencia, las distintas 
facetas de su ?yo? fracturado? (Metateatro 4). The power to control the ilusion of life is the 
power to decipher reality and confront and overcome his trauma. The conversion from a 
character identifying with Segismundo to that of Basilio occurs correspondingly with the 
testimonial proces with Julia and the tape recorder. The role of Basilio opens the possibility of 
having a dialogue and beginning the proces of recovering memory and identity. It is ironic, 
though, that Barbero finds the ability to overcome his trauma by relating yet again with another 
role. As Hornby afirms, ?there must be some integration[?]the outer play must in some way 
acknowledge the inner play?s existence? (34). His identification with Basilio or the integration 
of Barbero and his role as Basilio, gives him the power to fre himself from the ilusions, 
metaphorical and real, that scar his past and present. Metatheater alows the opportunity to 
develop Barbero in a way to demonstrate the fragility of his traumatic self as wel as develop his 
catharsis with his own past. For him, theater is ?a la vez un remedio y una enfermedad de la 
memoria? (Colmeiro, Memoria 156).  
 41 
 Moreover, La vida es sue?o serves as a symbol for the purpose of this work. The 
imprisonment of Segismundo corresponds directly to the atmosphere created by Francoism. 
Spanish society under Franco was no more than Segismundo, confined to this realm of 
uncertainty. Eventualy, as with both protagonists, society could not distinguish the diferences 
betwen reality and ilusion. L?pez Mozo applies the theme of ilusion to critique the 
dictatorship. The period of Franco?s rule can be observed as a stage where ilusion and reality 
mixed into one shade of gray. 
 Segismundo and Barbero?s escape from the confusion of exile yields the idea of a need to 
demystify Franco. Hornby states that metatheater is ?both reflective and expresive of its 
society?s deep cynicism about life[?] When the prevalent view is that the world is in some way 
ilusory or false, then the play within the play becomes a metaphor for life itself? (45). La vida 
es sue?o transforms into a metaphor for the outer play as wel as reality. L?pez Mozo laments 
the present situation of society?s confluence of real and ilusion. He searches, just as 
Segismundo and Barbero, for the truth, for identity. He searches for lost memories and lost years 
due to represion and exile. The metaphor is easily extended to the audience. The use of 
metatheater achieves L?pez Mozo?s goal of diseminating his ideologies.  
 Through the technique of metatheater, L?pez Mozo develops his drama and protagonist 
Edmundo Barbero. The many roles that Barbero has portrayed represent the confining 
confluence of personalities that confounds Barbero?s personal history and identity. Ironicaly, 
the playwright plays on this idea of an unstable actor to establish the lack of identity as wel as 
the basis of the proces to recuperate historical memory. Through alusions to and technique of 
Krapp?s Last Tape, L?pez Mozo demonstrates the importance of dialogue betwen past and 
present. The dialogue aids in the testimonial proces that eventualy liberates Barbero from his 
 42 
traumatic history. Equaly, the usage of an inner play in the form of La vida es sue?o streses the 
confluence of roles but also shows the power of theater in helping Barbero once again identity 
with himself. While ultimately Barbero achieves a level of recuperation, L?pez Mozo reminds 
the audience that they had ?el privilegio de verle actuar en el papel m?s dif?cil: el suyo? (190).  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 43 
Chapter 3: Historical Drama: Myth-Making and Postmodern History 
During the action of the play, the protagonist is continualy reconstructing his past. 
Reincorporating forgotten memories into an already established set of remembrances, Edmundo 
Barbero achieves a certain level of reconciliation of his trauma and fragmented identity. 
Tantamount to Barbero, L?pez Mozo atempts to reconstruct the past and recuperate the 
historical memories of the real Edmundo Barbero as wel as the many forgotten people afected 
by the Civil War and Francoism. In his drama, the playwright rewrites the past from his present 
day perspective. His work atempts to reclaim that which is lost by reintroducing Barbero, the 
already forgotten actor. Moreover, this play is the author?s personal argument to reclaim the 
forgotten in the face of forgeting.  
In framing this work as a historical drama, L?pez Mozo seks to recuperate of historical 
memory. This chapter discusses the ways in which L?pez Mozo creates his historical drama and 
the efect this structure has on the construction of memory. Also, this section critiques this genre 
and explores the unintended consequences of recreating history.  
In describing the work of L?pez Mozo, Eilen J. Dolls observes that his work is a 
?reconstrucci?n del pasado para comentar el presente? (29). In positioning this work as a 
historical drama, L?pez Mozo does not only comment on the present, but also shapes history. 
While one of his main objectives is to bring light to the current crisis of memory, the recreation 
of history alows him to rebuke and correct the falacies propagated by years of dictatorship. 
Instead of focusing on famous historical moments or wel known figures, L?pez Mozo 
?[presenta] la intrahistoria y desemascara las manipulaciones del pasado, subvirtiendo la gloria? 
(Doll 33).  
 44 
While the interhistories of semingly insignificant figures of Spanish history may sem 
les useful in rejecting years of historical deviations, the opposite is true. L?pez Mozo?s choice 
of Edmundo Barbero as protagonist has equal if not more power in his mision to recuperate 
historical memory; Barbero?s utility is two-fold.  
Using an unknown person, the playwright is able to beter connect with the audience. 
Barbero?s plight to find his own identity and recover his own personal memory reflects reality. 
As in the previous chapter, in regards to metatheater, the historical drama ?vuelve a contra una 
historia, pinta personajes que responden a la realidad y cuyos problemas el espectador conoce 
por su propia experiencia? (Floeck 155). Edmundo Barbero?s semingly insignificant life is now 
his best atribute. His everyman quality alows L?pez Mozo to connect with the audience by 
presenting a humble protagonist whose story is not very far from reality. Moreover, his story 
reflects that of many Spaniards creating an easily relatable situation for the audience. In fact, 
Barbero as a person is as much responsible for this connection as his story. The playwright uses 
these quotidian, mundane qualities to best exemplify the personal, human experience that afects 
the mnemonic crisis.  
Secondly, Edmundo Barbero is a real figure. He lived and died. He was an actor. These 
are facts that permeate into this work of fiction. The author, in the preface to this work, is quick 
to clarify this coincidence stating that the intention of this character is not be real but to tel the 
similar story of many Spaniards and ?rendirle su personal homenaje? (133). His real existence 
helps, even if by seducing the audience to believe a falsified history, to give this work a 
historical fel. Both these qualities help L?pez Mozo create the active relationship necesary to a 
historical drama. Edmundo Barbero, the protagonist, is esential to the succes of this work and 
the playwright?s goals for it.  
 45 
In order to analyze the efectivenes of this genre on historical memory, there must be 
clarifications to what qualifies it as historical drama. Samuel Coleridge quipped: ?in order that a 
drama may be properly historical, it is necesary that is should be the history of the people to 
whom it is addresed? (Lindenberger 6). As a basis of the genre, L?pez Mozo ensures that his 
play is completely Spanish. While the themes of war, exile, identity, etc. are universal in some 
ways, this play is unique to the Spanish context. Relating it exclusively to the Spanish audience 
creates and reinforces the active relationship required to support a historical drama. This 
relationship needs to create, as stated earlier, situations in which the spectator can relate 
personaly. This personal aspect of themes, situations and characters intertwines the underlying 
mesage of the play with the personal life of the audience. Lindenberger also suggests that there 
must be some amount of fusion betwen theatrical and historical reality. Moreover, the 
relationship betwen fiction and history must support the overal goal of catharsis and criticism 
of the past and present.  
In regards to the action of the play, these characteristics are easily observed. In atempt 
to recuperate not only Barbero?s but also many Spaniard?s historical memory, L?pez Mozo 
quickly sets the scene stating that many ?ignoraba[n] todo de un actor lamado Edmundo 
Barbero? (146). The playwright creates the need to remember and to not ignore or forget people 
and events. L?pez Mozo fuses both history and reality including specific theaters and actors 
such as El Teatro Espa?ol and Margarita Xirgu that creates the necesary confusion betwen fact 
and fiction esential to this play. This fusion is what makes this drama so efective in 
recuperating the historical memory of Edmundo Barbero. 
Admitedly, L?pez Mozo knows his rethinking of Barbero?s return from exile is fictional. 
His inclusion of these historical events and people gives the audience the sense of factual history. 
 46 
The audience is transformed by the power of Barbero?s testimony and history. His story is equal 
to the many exiles that fled Spain at the same time. In this way, L?pez Mozo?s representation of 
Barbero is as good as history.  
Captivated by the story, the audience does fulfil the playwright?s goals for this play. 
Firstly, the author does fulfil his homage to a great, forgotten actor. While fictionalizing his life, 
the playwright brings the real Edmundo Barbero back from the realm of oblivion. His personal 
homage to a great past actor is fulfiled by the mere resurgence of his likenes in theater. In this 
way, this work recuperates, even on a smal scale, a certain level of historical memory. L?pez 
Mozo uses his personal homage, however, as a stepping-stone the recuperation of historical 
memory on a large scale. 
In trying to achieve the goal need, Barbero, the character, does make the spectator think 
about the dificulties that Spain and its people are facing in regards to traumatic memory. They 
can appreciate the hardship of exile and remembering such a dificult period.  By this definition, 
L?pez Mozo does create and acomplish a work that conveys this need to recuperate historical 
memory. It is hard to not fel some sort of emotional response and connect this to the present 
isues. The way in which the playwright transforms history to his benefit and recovers history 
and memory is interesting.  
In order to understand L?pez Mozo?s technique to recuperate historical memory, one 
must first understand from where the need came. As discussed earlier, Franco sought to 
legitimize his power by creating myths that supported his position as dictator. These myths, 
perpetuated endlesly, were comprised of a combination of historical and fictional acounts that 
benefited his view of Spain. Furthermore, these myths were created in order to propagate a 
certain Spanish history that reflected his conservative perspective and denigrated liberal causes. 
 47 
To substantiate these myths, the Franco regime played on common past events to give an amount 
of authenticity to his deviated truths. These true referential points made his myths more 
believable and made it dificult to refute his claims. 
In using true reference points, Franco was able to slowly skew the truthful meaning and 
eventualy create new meaning by achieving control of memory. His new facts were irefutable 
as it was the regime that controlled al disemination of al information. Slowly, truth and fiction 
were no longer relevant. Memory contained what one person knew to be. Whether or not these 
facts were true, the Spanish people believed in these myths. Franco blured the line betwen fact 
and fiction by using known facts to his advantage. As Herzberger observes, ?the representational 
underpinnings of the real (history) and the imaginary often share the same points of reference? 
(Narrating 4). In doing this, Franco guaranted that ?no single truth [lie] at the end? 
(Herzberger, Narrating 5-6) of his historical representations. The ability of fiction to become 
history created the longevity of his historical myths. The inclusion of Franco?s version of history 
in the social and collective memory of Spanish society guaranted Francoist legitimacy as wel 
as further widening the rift betwen truth and fiction and the gap betwen truth and memory. 
Franco?s achievement precipitated the historical crisis in Spain during this time.  
His ability to manipulate historical thought and memory by a combination of oppresive 
censorship and blatant fictions has created this historical uncertainty in contemporary Spain. In 
addition, these changes developed concurrently into an evolving postmodern society. This 
fragmentation, this loss of a sense of History, left only one thing: memory. This memory, 
however, was left corrupted by the same fragmentations of true and false. The deviations of 
official history left each memory, considered historicaly acurate, to flood History; contributing 
to the rejection of an absolute, objective idea in favor of a plural, subjective world. Georg 
 48 
Iggers, paraphrasing many postmodern scholars, definitively states that there is ?no distinction 
betwen fact and fiction, history and poetry? (100).  
As a consequence of this convergence, Spain suffered from a historical crisis that 
corresponded to this shifting postmodern society. With Franco?s intent not on veracity but 
instead on control of knowledge, truth no longer matered. While officialy touted as truth, the 
facts offered by the dictatorship were not widely believed. Spanish society acepted an 
?imposibilidad de realismo? (Lozano Mijares). As with postmodern societies, Spain experienced 
a fragmentation of the truth where no History, in the objective sense, is atainable. The many 
manipulations of Franco, crafted with truthful reference points, reflected the truth and at the 
same time, reflected nothing of it. 
In the past decade, Spanish writers have become obsesed with Francoist myths and their 
afect on Spanish society. Searching for a way to not only correct these lies, but to also recreate 
and recuperate lost voices, writers have begun to represent history within their works. To 
combat Francoist false impresions, authors, including L?pez Mozo, have atempted to right 
wrongs by uncovering the buried truth. In addition to proper historical research, these authors 
have atempted to restore historical truth by presenting and casting doubt on Francoist myths. As 
Todorov observes, a proces of constructing new meaning based on truths created these myths. 
The proces to correct these myths reflects, however, the dificulty in perceiving history 
and memory within a postmodern landscape. As David K. Herzberger states, ?writing the past 
[is]?a means to develop narations that alow (and even compel) the opening of history to 
divergence? (Narrating 2). L?pez Mozo does exactly this by creating his historical drama. He 
rewrites the past in order to reopen the present ideas of history. He does this to subvert the 
Francoist historical perspective and to reclaim the lost history. In recreating history, however, 
 49 
the playwright takes his own liberties and admitedly writes a fictional play based on true 
historical figures and events. This begs the question: Does L?pez Mozo?s atempt to recuperate 
historical memory by producing a fictional historical narative constitute as yet another historical 
divergence, confusing even more the line betwen history and fiction? 
As an answer that question, L?pez Mozo does blur even more the line betwen history 
and fiction. He does this, however, as an adept tool in debunking Francoist myth and 
recuperating historical memory. In subverting the ninetenth century idea of objective History 
and introducing his own myths, Franco succeded in creating a new official idea of History. In 
his Spain, this History was completely objective and in acordance with the notions of modernist 
historical thought. In reality, Franco laid the groundwork for Spanish postmodern loss of 
History. His use of History (real) and fiction (myths) to create his idea of an official History 
succeded in infiltrating social memory and changing perspective. His failure, however, is that 
he did not create an official History (objective and irefutable) as he intended. His myth filed 
history reflects more of the postmodern view of a fragmented history, real combined with fiction 
than his idea of an overarching History. Franco himself created the blueprint on how to subvert 
official History to not only contest the facts that are uncooperative to the new perspective, 
shrouding these in doubt but also use history itself to create new historical thought.  
Ironicaly, writers, L?pez Mozo included, use this blueprint to demystify Francoist 
mythical History. By following the same proces of utilizing historical reference points and 
shaping them to reflect a new meaning, L?pez Mozo has cast doubt upon Franco. This play 
manipulates history by using true historical references to maintain the idea of historical (truthful) 
representation while inhabiting it with fiction to shape the meaning to reflect the playwright?s 
goals. As Franco used postmodern loss of history to permeate social memory, so does L?pez 
 50 
Mozo, playing on the idea of this blended fictional history to gain control of the discussion 
within the Spanish social memory and shift the present view of Franco to reflect his present 
perspective.  
His present perspective is sen in his choice of framing his play as a historical drama. In 
describing historical dramas, Floeck contends that a ?reconstrucci?n objetiva del pasado no es 
posible?Cada reconstrucci?n es fragmentaria, incoherente y provisiona? (169). This play is a 
complex example of the relationship betwen historical truth and fictional, artistic esthetics that 
Floeck claims describes the genre today. As Kurt Spang notes, the author?s job ?[no] consiste en 
introducir ?mentiras? entre los datos hist?ricos comprobados, sino es transformar y ?relenar? los 
acontecimientos hist?ricos de tal forma que destaque la ejemplaridad? (14). L?pez Mozo 
follows this doctrine as wel as Buero Valejo?s idea of presenting historical drama by 
reinventing history without destroying it. His drama reshapes history in a manner that does bring 
to light the prevailing Francoist ideas of history and replaces them with his own present day 
view. By reshaping from a modern perspective, L?pez Mozo continues to contend Francoist 
myths and alter social memory.  
By rewriting history and fusing truth with fiction to fil the forgotten gaps, L?pez Mozo, 
as a result, does develop a new trend of historical thought. His play fits what Spang titles the 
ilusionist historical drama where the playwright atempts to create a situation where the 
spectator ?se indentifique con las figuras [hist?ricas] y su problem?tica?que el espectador viva 
el conflicto como si fuera el suyo? (30). This idea is exactly what L?pez Mozo intends. He does 
this so that the audience does connect with Barbero?s struggles and reflects upon them as they 
reshape the post-Franco sociohistorical landscape.  
 51 
As Franco did, this work, while appearing to be historic, does not appeal to historical 
thought, but instead to the audience?s memory. This work acomplishes its goals of recuperating 
historical memory by appealing to the spectator?s present day viewpoint. As Maurice Halbwachs 
states, we remember our past through our present. This idea is never more prevalent than in this 
work. By reshaping the present day atitudes and memories of Edmundo Barbero and 
consequently Franco and the Civil War, L?pez Mozo, in turn, changes the modern perspective 
regarding these isues. By doing this, the playwright changes the modern historical outlook. 
While L?pez Mozo exploits the loss of a traditional sense of history that has become increasingly 
evident in the postmodern Spanish society, he blurs history (fact) and fiction to rewrite his own 
version of events.  
By using Franco?s template, authors can renounce Francoist history by engaging in the 
same manipulations. This act, however, caries unintended consequences. Lindenberger states 
that ?in a fictive action the only reality is the one enacted before us; the actor, instead of being 
?only? an actor, is much more likely to ?become? the personage whom he claims to represent? 
(24). In this way, fictional historical drama becomes tantamount to history. While this fulfils 
L?pez Mozo?s goals, his mistake is that his manipulations, while undermining Francoist myths, 
stil deviate Spain and the modern Spanish social memory further from historical truth. Scholars 
wil endlesly debate the existence or importance of a traditional History within the postmodern 
society. Postmodern theorists wil point to the confluence of history and fiction, as sen in this 
play, as the cause of this dilema.  
As stated earlier in the introduction, however, History does stil exist and is stil 
important. While Franco?s manipulations must be righted, replacing one myth for a more 
acurate myth is not the answer. History is not unatainable, only dificult to acurately decipher 
 52 
in the postmodern condition. Spain, while efectively moving toward a recuperation of historical 
memory and thus, reconciling its own traumatic history, is stil entrenching itself deeply in this 
historical crisis. Historical dramas, while acurately portraying some information, should not be 
equal to Historical thought. This is by no means a criticism of recuperation of historical memory 
and/or this play. It is, however, a criticism of the lack of emphasis on History. In order to finaly 
end the myth-making and historical crisis, one must finaly fil in the gaps with as much 
verifiable evidence and somehow learn to live with the existence of certain gaps.  
This dilema brings to mind a quote from Cervantes? Don Quijote: 
?As? es ? replic? Sans?n -, pero uno es escribir como poeta, y otro como historiador: el poeta 
puede contar o cantar las cosas, no como fueron, sino como deb?an ser; y el historiador las ha de 
escribir, no como deb?an ser, sino como fueron, sin a?adir ni quitar a la verdad cosa alguna? 
(569). 
In the vein of this quote, L?pez Mozo is both the poet and historian in this play. Combining 
both, his historical drama?s task is two-fold. He atempts to recreate history while 
simultaneously playing the role of poet (or dramaturge). In recreating (fictitiously in his own 
words) the return from exile of Edmundo Barbero, L?pez Mozo atempts to recuperate historical 
memory not only for an admired actor, but for al those with similar tales as wel. In writing this 
play as a historical drama, the work?s action is taken as history, fusing together both truth and 
fiction. 
 By doing this, Edmundo Barbero is once again remembered; acomplishing the personal 
homage set forth by the playwright. More importantly, this work utilizes the same proces of 
manipulating history used by Franco to shift meaning based in history to conform to L?pez 
 53 
Mozo?s desire. By reshaping modern perspective on past events, the playwright does achieve a 
recuperation of historical memory and a certain level of demystification of Francoist myth.  
In fusing history and fiction, Jer?nimo L?pez Mozo is both playwrught and historian. He 
can, in one work, recreate history as it was and as it should be. Therein, however, lies a paradox. 
Historical drama is neither history nor fiction. It is a new recreation, a manipulation of both and 
a representation of neither. It gives fiction more legitimacy and history new meaning. In this 
way, it takes Spain further from finding an absolute historical truth and deeper in this historical 
crisis.  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 54 
Conclusion 
 The Spanish Civil War has not yet entered the realm of past events. Throughout Spain, 
there are constant reminders of the war and of its lasting protagonist, Francisco Franco. In 
political rhetoric and in the words of its citizens, Spain is stil struggling with the divisivenes 
that separated and forced the nation to its former bloody standoff. In many ways, the Civil War 
is stil dictating daily life. With the great cross of El Vale de los Ca?dos standing firm, public 
discourse is searching for the answers that lay buried beneath its soaring arms. Across the nation 
politicians, journalists and ordinary people are searching for the answers that were denied to 
them during forty years of dictatorial rule.  
 Franco, ruthles in his struggle for power, efectively changed the social landscape that 
stil persists long after his death. By modifying history to represent his crusade, Franco 
introduced many lies to the Spanish people who internalized them in their memory. Withholding 
and controlling information, the Franco regime solidified its legitimacy by dominating Spanish 
social memory. His changing of historical thought has precipitated the historical and memory 
crises that plague Spain today. 
 In their final acts of rebelion to the ceaseles represion, contemporary Spanish writers 
are remolding the same afected social memories in order to portray Franco as the oppresive 
dictator he was. Jer?nimo L?pez Mozo is such a writer. Influenced by a personal life marked by 
this ever present struggle betwen fredom and oppresion, the playwright is now reclaiming the 
lost voices of this era. In his play El olvido est? leno de memoria, the author sets out to not only 
reclaim the actor Edmundo Barbero from oblivion but to force the Spanish public to face their 
own skewed views regarding Franco and his manipulations.  
 55 
 This play adds to the growing genre dedicated to recuperating historical memory. 
Fulfiling its goal, this work acomplishes in reclaiming and reshaping the way the present 
society views its own past. In protagonist Barbero, L?pez Mozo paints a fictional character 
plagued by his own demons of exile. Upon return, the protagonist struggles to find his place in a 
Spain that no longer resembles what he left. Trying to find his position in this new, almost 
foreign place, the playwright highlights the traumatic struggles facing many as they atempt to 
reconcile years lost to Franco. The author makes great use of metatheatrical techniques 
demonstrating the prison of trauma to the audience. These same techniques force the audience to 
identify with the main character, creating an emotional bond that eventualy leads the audience to 
understand his plight and pity his situation. In this sympathy, L?pez Mozo reveals the need to 
remember and reclaim these memories and to correct the past traumas.  
 This drama, however, culminates its mision in recreating history miicking the same 
proces Franco used to create his new historical thought. By working within the historical 
framework provided by Franco, the playwright is able to create doubt and cement his view of 
Franco in the words of his drama. Succeding in demystifying Franco, L?pez Mozo, however, 
substitutes one myth for a more suitable myth. The lasting efects of Franco are a complete 
disilusionment of history. History as an objective discourse is undistinguishable within 
memories filed with equal parts fact and fiction. These two antagonistic ideas have combined to 
constitute the present notion of history, a representation that is neither historicaly acurate nor 
inacurate. This confluence, continuously dynamic as it is, only shapes the manner in which 
present contexts permit the viewing of history. With the influence of future representations, 
historical notions wil continue to change.  
 56 
 While acomplishing in recuperating historical memory and adding to the demystification 
of Franco, this work leaves many questions unanswered. Truth stil needs to be addresed. 
Incomplete representations of history only add to the deepening trench that separates truth and 
falsehood. Among the vastnes of converging fictions and histories, History as an objective truth 
to the Franco era must be found. In this truth, the Spanish people must finaly face their own 
traumas and learn to live with what has been lost. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 57 
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