CINEMA AND LITERATURE GO TO WAR: THE SPANISH CIVIL CONFLICT (1936-1939) IN GEORGE ORWELL'S AND KEN LOACH'S PERSPECTIVE

Abstract

The Spanish civil war (1936-1939), one of the most emblematic happenings of the 20th century, was responsible for clustering a generation of young writers, poets, and artists who looked at the conflict as being something central in their lives. This article seeks to analyze how some writers and filmmakers have been picturing the Spanish civil war in their work, illustrating in which ways authors interact with the political-historical context of the interwar period. Furthermore, another relevant part of our proposal consists in exploring cinema and literature as specific forms of knowledge of the social world. The presentation will have as its main axis the polemics and conflicts which separated the leftist political forces (socialists, communists, and anarchists) who fought for the Republic and were pictured in George Orwell's book Homage to Catalonia (1938) and Ken Loach's movie Land and Freedom (1995).

Keywords:
Spanish civil war; 1936-1939; Land and Freedom; Ken Loach; Homage to Catalonia; George Orwell