Resumo de Yesterday In Vain

Yesterday in Vain stands out among
the novels written in the past five years concerned in one way or another with
the memory of the Spanish Civil War. It is noteworthy as much for its style as
its content. Isaac Rosa has a great interest in literary construction and here
he wanted to destroy the usual form of the novel. In Yesterday
in vain there is no plot in the usual sense. It is more a matter of a theme,
since the story of the protagonist is not unfolded chronologically, nor is the
mystery of what happened to him resolved. In 1965, a university professor disappears
from Madrid to reappear in what we presume to
be exile in France.
The author presents us with various explanations for this occurrence. There is
even a chapter where he gives us two simultaneous versions of the events,
dividing the page into two columns. Rosa
invites us to choose our own version of what happened.

The method of
constructing a novel which ?shows its skeleton? and seems to require the
cooperation of the reader is a device which Rosa uses to tell us things he
could not say in any other way. It has three functions (apart from that of
artistic rebellion). In the first place, it allows him to parody other authors.
In the second place, he can broach disagreeable subjects. And, most
importantly, with so many questions to the reader, he indicates that there are
not always answers and that not every problem has an easy solution.

To begin with
the first point: in Rosa?s hands, mockery of
other authors is not as trivial as it might appear. His convictions and belief
in the importance of writing ?a committed novel? make it impossible for him to
tolerate authors who use the Civil War as background, to give colour to their
novels. His hatred of trivialisation and banality lead him to fierce attacks
against other writers and, indirectly, against us, the readers, with no fear of
wounding our sensibilities.

Secondly,
whilst pretending to consult us on what we prefer to read in a novel, Rosa manages to talk about painful situations and events.
The false memorials, those presented by many authors and film producers who say
?We were all mad, but so very interesting!? are not the right way, Rosa feels, to show the real horror of the past and not
the road to follow if we wish to avoid repeating it. Like some Latin American
novelists, he knows that any work which is a memorial must include the crimes
(and they were crimes, not mistakes), in order to be able to reconstruct a
healthy society. Like Ariel Dorfman, he does not avoid the question of torture
and its exponents who still, he says, continue to lead their ?normal? life and
sometimes work for the police, unpunished. Like Eduardo Galeano, he offers us a
mixture of descriptions and anecdotes (although he says his are fictitious),
some light-hearted, some extremely sad. Like the Spaniard Juan Goytisolo, he is
the enemy of indifference. He talks of ?memories consigned to oblivion like
lost luggage? and comments that he was told from all sides that it would be
?better not to disturb old history?. Fortunately he took no notice of this
advice.

There is a
third advantage to suggesting various possibilities to the reader, explaining the
disappearance of Professor Denis. The latter could have been an informer, a
fascist, or the opposite, a sympathiser with the rebel movements or simply one
of the many who through fear had no wish to show an interest in politics, a
victim of a stupid police error. His removal to France could have been his reward,
his punishment or his flight. The important point is to know that all of these
things were possible. There were
cruel policemen. There were torturers
and there were those who wanted to disappear metaphorically or physically
through sheer terror. And today?s generation needs to understand that the war
and the interminable years of the Franco regime were not a glorious chapter of warriors
and valiant martyrs. The suffering of the people was not picturesque material
to make an interesting background for novels. Above all, it was not a ?mistake?,
far from it. And there are no solutions. We shall always need questions (in
other words, doubts) more than answers (in other words, the easy choice).

In this
disturbing novel, Isaac Rosa has used all in his power to ensure that
his readers think deeply about their history and do not accept everything which
goes by the name of 'truth'.

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