Contraataque and Requiem por un campesino espanol: two Spanish Civil War novles by Ramon J. Sender

This thesis is a study of two Spanish Civil War (1936-1939) novels, Contraataque (1938) and Rquiem por un campesino espaol (1960), written by Ramn Sender in two distinct periods of his life. Although both novels share the objective of awakening the readers social awareness to the injustices committed by the conservative political Right prior to, and during civil conflict, Sender employs a distinct narrative style in each. While Contraataque is written in an unmistakably journalistic style, in Rquiem por un campesino espaol Sender makes use of aesthetic techniques belonging to the literary practices of objectivistic, socio-critical realism characteristic of the Spanish social novels of the Generation of 1954. The unique narrative style of the novel is described and contextualized within the literary history of the Spanish novel. The study also analyzes the effectiveness of each narrative style as the instrument of social awareness and change that the author intended each to be.