The Family of Pascual Duarte

Pascual Duarte, a condemned prisoner, has been busy writing the story of his life. An engaging story, told politely, with frequent apologies for its occasional "bad" words, as it moves from one disastrous occurrence to another. The prisoner grows up in poverty, it's true, but he also makes a series of bad decisions, carried away by obsessive thoughts and unruly emotions. The glass is always half empty for Pascual Duarte, but then he spills what is left. As his life goes rapidly downhill, Pascual remembers only a few, fleeting days of happiness. The story is told simply, pictorially, with vivid descriptions of places, rooms, streets, the Spanish countryside, people, animals, and one horrific event after another. I won't tell you the plot--no need to--for this is a ahort book and you already know how it ends. Read it. I recommend Pascual Duarte highly. Reviewed by Louis N. Gruber.

I first came across Cela in a dual-language book of short stories and I found his description of everyday life in Spain quite entertaining and I loved his sense of humor. The life of Pascual Duarte is very different from that however, definitely not a light hearted read. Like another reviewer said there is no sense of redemption in it, it is very fatalistic and I guess if you are used to fairytale endings, you could consider it disappointing. What struck me about this book was the sense of futility that Pascual had when it came to dealing with situations around him. It was as if he had no part to play in his own life, that he was just a victim of fate. Cela's descriptions of the motivations that drove Pascual draws the reader in and makes him a witness to this man's demise. There are some parts in the book where you know he is going to do the wrong thing but you hope and hope that somehow he will come to his senses and avoid disaster. Although this is no "Crime and Punishment" it is an interesting study into the psychology of a killer. Unlike Crime and Punishment however, do not expect to come away from this with a sense of having being cleansed. Recommended to those who can put up with pain and disappointment, probably not for everyone.

I have read this book several times and make new discoveries every time I read it. This haunting, shocking novel was published shortly after the Spanish Civil War and reflects the atmosphere of tension, horror, fear and disapointment felt by Spain at that time. The graphic and inhumane actions of the protagonist reveal a deeper meaning to the novel and it must be read carefully.

Second only to the inestimable Don Quixote in the pantheon of Spanish Literature, Cela's Family of Pascual Duarte was published in the same year as The Stranger (Albert Camus) and, treating the same themes, is its superior. Cela was for many years denied the recognition he deserved due to his membership in the Falangist party and his service on Franco's side in the Spanish Civil War, but finally, in 1989, he was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature.Pascual Duarte is a brutal Spanish peasant, shaped by poverty, ignorance and hatred. The book recounts his mounting depravity as he goes from killing his dog to knifing a romantic rival to final horrific matricide. Duarte falls prey to the type of alienation and world weariness described by the Existentialists. He describes himself prior to killing his mother: The day I decided I would have to use my knife on her, I was so weary of it all, so convinced in my bones that bloodletting was the only cure, that the thought of her dying didn't even quicken my pulse. It was something fated, it had to be and would be.And even as he writes this account of his life as he sits in prison, awaiting death, he acknowledges: ...there are moments when the telling of my own story gives me the most honest of honest pleasures, perhaps because I feel so far removed from what I am telling that I seem to be repeating a story from hearsay about some unknown person.But Cela, unlike Camus, seems to trace Duarte's pathologies to his environment, to the circumstances of his life, rather than trying to make a universal statement about the human condition. Duarte is a distinct type, but one that has been all too familiar in the Century. His alienation, amorality and brutality are summed up in a chilling assertion of his own inhumanity: ...I'm not made to philosophize, I don't have the heart for it. My heart is more like a machine for making blood to be spilt in a knife fight....Nor does Cela offer much philosophical elaboration, neither to explain Duarte nor to offer a cure for the world's Duartes. Instead, what is really noticeable here is the absence of any institutions to inculcate values or venues in which to express individual aspirations. Missing are the Church, an open economy and participatory democratic structures, the triune basis of modern Western civil society. In this sense, the novel sounds a cautionary note about the sorts of men that arise in this kind of moral vacuum.The novel is raw and powerful and compulsively readable. It's outrageous that it is not currently in print in English translation, but it is available through used booksellers and many libraries may stock copies from when he won the Nobel. Either way, it is well worth your effort to track it down.GRADE: A-

This book was riveting. The plot is dark, and the main character nothing to be admired. But there is a struggle between his irredeemable, murderous ways, and an occasionally bulging (at best) conscience, and (at worst) paranoia that gives him a hint or whiff of something better than he is. The writing style is very vivid. Cela has a great command of expression, yet you can almost imagine this story being told to you orally on the front porch of a house in the evening. I highly recommend it.