Uncertain Glory (Spanish Civil War novel set in Barcelona)

4th November 2014

Uncertain Glory by Joan Sales (translated by Peter Bush) – Spanish Civil War novel set in Barcelona.

Uncertain Glory is a major (if occasionally hard to follow…) novel set in and around Barcelona during the Spanish Civil War. It is highly unusual in that it is written from the point of view of the losing socialist / anarchist side in the War. The book was written by Joan Sales who fought in the war on the side of the Barcelona socialists. It was first published – in an abbreviated and highly censored version under the Franco regime – in 1956… the much fuller uncensored version was published in 1971. But it has taken until now, 21 years after Sales died, for the book to be translated from the Catalan original into English by Peter Bush – and it is a quite excellent translation.

The book is in three parts. The first describes how young lawyer Lluίs joins up and goes to war on the Aragonese front. Yes there are plenty of bloody battles, but also times of relaxation and quiet in the village of Olivel where Lluίs ignore much of the traditional soldier’s R&R routine and becomes infatuated with the widowed carlana of the village. The second part features Trini, ‘the girl that Lluίs left behind in Barcelona…’ (with Ramon, his baby son). The device used in this part is the letters she writes to Juli – a mysterious and devious friend of both hers and of Lluίs from their early student days. She explains her frustrations with Lluίs’ letter writing (or sometimes lack of it), and talks about her everyday life in besieged Barcelona. Juli confesses his love for Trini…(not a major surprise). He is on the Aragonese front with Lluίs, and eventually – as we hear later in the book – switches to the fascist side in the war. The final part features Cruells, the third man preoccupied with his feelings for Trini… Cruells is an assistant to Dr Puig, the brigade doctor – he is dispatched back to Barcelona to bring out Trini and Ramon and others to the quiet part of the front where the brigade is recuperating between battles – a part of the front where there is much more food and tranquillity than back in the city.

So this is the story of a bloody and confused civil War told through the eyes and ears of three actual and wished for lovers of one lady. At that level it works perfectly well, but – for me – the great merit of Uncertain Glory is the way it describes how communities and individuals came to be on one side or the other. It seemed to be very much a murky matter of chance, and exactly where you lived, rather than any more profound political input.

I have no doubt that Uncertain Glory is a major and significant work. But it is very much a Catalan / Spanish work. I confess I struggled a little with the history of this part of the Spanish Civil War until I took time out to visit Wikipedia – and I would urge anyone about to pick the book up to do the same unless they are familiar with the facts. It will make the story a lot more meaningful.

This is absolutely not a book for everyone, but I ended up finding it very thought provoking and worthwhile. You may well do so as well…

Tony for the TripFiction team

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