Spatiality in Nada.pdf

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Spatiality in "Nada"

Author(s): Mirella D'Amrbrosio ServodidioSource: Anales de la narrativa española contemporánea, Vol. 5 (1980), pp. 57-72Published by: Society of Spanish & Spanish-American Studies

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SPATIALITY INNADA

MIRELLA D'AMRBROSIO SERVODIDIOBarnard College, Columbia University

Within a certain sector of criticism, it has been fashionable to

dismiss Carmen Laforet's Nada as awork relatively innocent of

technique, its popular success as much an accident of fortuitous

timing as an index of artistic excellence.1 Yet, a good deal ofwhat has been written has simplified thework by seizing on

only parts of it and then in surface or biased ways. In fact, a

reconsideration of Nada reveals a structural scaffolding andintent that reach beyond immediate experience to provide a

spatial construct of considerable complexity. It is the premise ofthis study that the novel's fullestmeaning is unlocked throughan analysis of its spatial configurations which center primarilyon the dialectic between inner and outer spaces, and

secondarily, on elements of style. The space o?Nada, in turn, isinterwoven with time in objective and subjective ways, for boththe psycho-historic actuality of post-Civil War Spain and the

developmental evolution of the adolescent protagonist impingeupon theway that space is perceived and experienced.2

On the most obvious level, the adoption of a first-personpoint of view (the Jamesian "post of observation") creates asense of enclosure and containment, foronly those principles of

characterization, space and time that are attendant on it are

given entry. This single and exclusive perspective, quarriedfrom the author's personal experience, not only restricts space

but, given the high intensity of focus, may further act to deformit. In such instances, stylistic

excesses and imbalances?so longa target of criticism?are warranted by fidelity tonarrative voiceand vision, and the distortions these may impose.3 Always, thelocalization of emotions and intellectual attitudes in one

specific consciousness creates a closed universe bearing littlerelation to the inexhaustible relativity of Einsteinian space.4

57







58ANEC, 5 (1980)The tripartite division of the novel equally suggests the

spatialization of concepts which take on a particular design.

Specifically, the novel traces the protagonist's journey throughtime (one year) and space (a provincial town?> Barcelona ?>

Madrid =expansion) as well as movement along the crucial

point of a voyage of self-discovery. While advances and retreats

may be plotted in each of the book's three sections, togetherthey ultimately weave a pattern ofwidening concentric circles

which stretch the boundaries of the protagonist's world. The

events of the book are spatialized in that the factor constitutingtheir orientation to reality is the space where they occur.

Characters, too, are largely revealed or identified according to

the lieu they occupy. The novel, consequently, is punctuated byrepeated references to arrivals, departures, exits and entrances,

ascents and descents (of stairs), doors and windows (whether

open or closed) and the crossing of thresholds (whether comingin or

going out). Inner and outer architectural structures

represent "lived space," marked off by psychic boundaries as

well as rules of access and use, saturated with memories and

experiences and which bear no similarity to Euclidian laws.5 In

each section spaces are treated dynamically and with anawareness of their counterpointing effects and the refracted

relationships possible to each.

Throughout the course of the novel, the "outer" condition ofthe eighteen year old protagonist, Andrea, and her "inner"state meet in one focus. Orphaned, she has spent the war yearsfirst in a convent and then in a provincial town (enclosed

spaces), on the sufferance and charity of paternal relatives.

Psychologically Andrea is the "outsider," and her alienation isakin to themalaise sweeping the society at large. Yet she is not

paralyzed by it, forat

the book's start, evincing thedetermination to break with those restricted spaces, Andreasets out forBarcelona and the promise of personal expansion itholds: "me parec?a

una aventuraagradable y excitante aquella

profunda libertad en la noche . . .haber llegado por fin a una

ciudad grande, adorada en mis sue?os por desconocida . . . ."6

The euphoria she experiences upon her arrival keeps pace witha spatial expansion which is unmitigated until her arrival at herdestination: the house ofmaternal relatives on Aribau Street.The anachronistic vehicle taking her there from the station (ahorse and buggy), metaphorically suggest a backward

movement in time and the prospect of new constraints.







SERVODIDIO 59The house on Aribau becomes the novel's focal point around

which Laforet builds a spatio-temporal world. The boundariesof this world are marked by Andrea's arrival at and departurefrom the house, what she brings to it and what she takes away.In the book's beginning as in the end, it is the street and thehouse on which the eye seizes.7 Movement up the decrepitstairs toward an unknown space, in Chapter I, is paralleled at

the book's end by movement downward and away from thatselfsame precinct.8

The anatomy of the house, described in substantial detail, isof central importance to thework for it serves as them?tonymieexpression of Spain as well as the symbol of particular lives.9Andrea's grandparents arrived at Aribau Street fifty yearsearlier when the house was young and expectations high: "en

aquel tiempo elmundo era optimista y ellos se quer?an mucho"

(p. 21). Now, the decay and clutter, the "cargaz?n de trastos"

(p. 23) that greet Andrea in those dark and airless rooms, arebut the microcosmic emblem of the havoc wrought by Civil

War. The division of the spacious apartment of yore into two

smaller units, one sealed off from the other, is thespatialepitomization of a fractured nation, divided by unbreachable

differences.

The close definition of space in the apartment section now

held by the family gives special stress and focus to theinternecine tensions and conflicts that are symptomatic not onlyof the particular occupants but also of the society at large. Asense of alienation is fostered by the disposition of private and

public spaces. The six occupants live within the tightwalls of

separate rooms towhich only they have entrywithout trespass.The bedrooms face communally on an entrance hall which must

be crossed to leave the house or to reach the kitchen (itself the"exclusive" terrain of the repellent maid). The common rooms,

however, are nolonger

an inviolable area of peace, the site?as

in former times?of harmonious encounters.10 Instead, theyare

the locus of continued warfare, an "infernal" sphere like the

city without. The inhabitants, riddled by distrust and

animosity, leave their separate rooms to do battle or tomeet in

incompatible ways. It is in these public spaces that

psychological and physical skirmishes, punctuated by the

slamming of doors, the hurling of objects, and by piercing criesand screams, are carried out. Fraternal hatred, reenacted by the

two brothers, is also translated into spatial terms as theystruggle to hold or gain new "turf."11







60 ANEC, 5 (1980)It is to this realm that Andrea is introduced in Chapter I,

bearing witness thereafter to the grotesque incompatibilitiesand conflicts that sometimes lead to violence and hysteria,sometimes to lifeless neutrality or to new forms of life.Despitethe emotional and geographic distance she has alreadytravelled, Andrea's hopes of freedom are dashed upon her

arrival at Aribau Street. With the heightened sensitivity ofadolescence she reaches out to, and then recoils from, her new

environment, overcomeby the stale, close atmosphere, the

fetidness and decay ("el aire . . .estancado y podrido" [p. 14-15]"el hedor . . ." [p. 18] "un ambiente que la aglomeraci?n de las

cosas ensombrec?a . . ." [p. 16]). Andrea experiences assaults of

feeling of claustrophobia and apprehensions that deform and

distort her surroundings in nightmarish and bizarre ways("todo empezaba

a ser extra?o a miimaginaci?n

. . ." [p. 13]).

Inanimate objects are imbued with a dark life of their own, thebathroom towhich she retreats becomes a menacing sphereinvested with sinister powers and figures are elongated or

darken by fear. Consigned to a coffin-like bed in the "sal?n,"and with no "room of her own," Andrea is flanked bymutilated, lifeless forms that appear toherald the "death" of herown illusions.12 Yet the forces that impel Andrea from within

prove equal to those that constrain her fromwithout as she

struggles symbolically, in the first chapter, to keep open those

passageways to freedom: "Sent? que me ahogaba y trep? en

peligroso alpinismo sobre el respaldo de un sill?n para abriruna

puerta.. ." (p. 18).13

As an outsider to the household, Andrea's neutrality vis ? vis

the clashes of the family members serves as a convenient

passport to the sacred territory inhabited by each. She discovers

thatwhen they are situated within the protective borders oftheir own rooms, the characters are often affable and expansive,

seeking to win her to their "side." The manner inwhich eachone shapes the living space towhich he/she has been assignedis invariably revealing. The slovenly indolence of Gloria, for

example, is reflected in a room likened to the "cubil de una

fiera" (p. 34). The disposition of her quarters suggests that the

identity of this simple-minded, narcissistic creature is

exclusively yoked to her sexuality: "Era un cuarto interior

ocupado todo ?l por una cama de matrimonio y la cuna delni?o" (p. 34). Similarly, the clutter of Juan's studio mirrors the

disorder of his mind: the spaces of both are constricted and inneed of restoration. The hypocrisy and ambiguity ofAngustias'







SERVODIDIO 61

character are seen in the mixed symbols of her room: the largecrucifix nailed to the door, on the one hand, bespeakingsacrifice and renunciation; the balcony and the phone, on the

other, the escape-ways to a secret life marked byan unsavory

liaison with amarried man. When viewed through the prism ofFreudian thought, the tidy, orderly universe ofAngustias' roomconnotes the sublimation of these impure interests which, to

her chagrin, are later disclosed. Rom?n, themusician and artist

manqu?, the former student of engineering and medicine,

Rom?n, the "fondo inagotable de posibilidades" (p.41),inhabits a room which significantly has "insospechados cajonesen cualquier rinc?n de la librer?a, y todos encerraban peque?ascuriosidades . . ." (p. 38). The situation of Roman's room on a

higher spatial plane is also not accidental. Rom?n-god, the

morally repulsive and diabolic emissary of Nada, sets upquarters in the attic-Olympus fromwhere he rules the lives ofthe others, working their strings as he sees fit. In a conversation

with Andrea, he reveals toher the full range of his powers: "S?. . todo lo que pasa abajo

... Yo los manejoa todos. . .

dispongode sus

nervios,de sus

pensamientos" (p. 91).Roman's

identityis so tied to this space that his death seems real only when theroom is finally dismantled and emptied.

Despite the separateness of the cellular units occupied by the

family members, the spaces are not inviolable and

transgressions do occur. Rom?n invades Angustias' room inherabsence and rifles her desk formail; Gloria appropriatesAndrea's garments and naps in her bed; Angustias scans

Andrea's valise in search of damning evidence; the

grandmother creeps stealthily into the forbidden territory of thekitchen to appropriate lumps of sugar.

The violation of individual space comes into its fullestperspective, however, in the rocky relationship betweenAndrea and Angustias. While the family consists of

overlapping generations whose individual life-stages touch, itis at the hands ofAngustias, generationally once removed from

Andrea, that the young girl suffers the severest challenge toher

identity. Overbearing and harsh, Angustias' blind convictionsand uncompromising absolutes, her scruples and moral

punctilio crowd Andrea both physically and psychologically.Literally overpowered by Angustias when she arrives, Andrea

feels oppressed and repelled by the displays of affection her

aunt forces on her.14 Angustias circumscribes Andrea's

movement by defining permissible boundaries of both







62 ANEC, 5 (1980)intramural and extramural spaces and succeeds in sullying the

magic and promise of Barcelona itself when, during an

excursion, she invokes constricting codes of behavior ("Novuelvas la cabeza?dec?a Angustias?No mires as? a la gente"

[p. 32] ). Her pronouncements on the city and its dangers are

aimed at strait-jacketing independence ofmovement. They are

saturated with the judgments and value system of a culture in

which women's relation to public space is narrowly defined.15Herself the victim of a society which prescribes only two paths

for the woman of honor?matrimony or the life of theconvent?Angustias, in turn, acts as victimizer of the next

female generation. Her task, as she perceives it, is to curb her

high-spirited niece and to shape her in conformity to those

models of conduct that she herself has disregarded in

clandestine fashion.16

The psychological bullying and scorn Angustias heaps on the

adolescent Andrea, whose self-esteem is already fragile,create a

closed, negative field of potentially incalculable harm which

reinforces and perpetuates the inferiority and alienation the girl

alreadysuffers. Yet,

paradoxically,this self-same abuse affords

Andrea an important incentive for self-knowledge by testingher resolve to move purposefully toward actualization and

freedom. The outer pressures exerted upon Andrea by

Angustias elicit internal responses which are expressed bythree spatio-behavioral patterns: contraction, distancing and

expansion.The first of these, contraction, suggests dysfunction,

disintegration, and anomie as well as the immobility of

physical enclosure. Bending toAngustias' ironwill and makingher aunt's laws her own compulsions, the spatiotemporal

coordinates of Andrea's world ("Los l?mites estrechos deaquella vida" [p. 78] ) are narrowed and deformed as she

focuses neurotically and exclusively on the street, the house and

its occupants ("hab?a llegado a constituir el ?nico inter?s de mi

vida [p. 43] ). Through prolonged passivity, Andrea surrendersto the spell the house casts on all its occupants and about which

Rom?n alerts her: "Cuando vivas m?s tiempo aqu?, esta casa y

su olor, y sus cosas viejas... te

agarrar?n la vida" (p. 91). The

salvation or damnation of the characters is seemingly tied to

their will to break loose from the house. The reader learns, for

example, that Andrea's mother as well as two of her aunts used

marriage to "flee" from the house and its "dangers." Similarly,







SERVODIDIO 63

the love between Juan and Gloria which flourishes in other

spheres only fails with their forced return to the house on

Aribau.

The remaining two patterns, distancing and expansion act in

opposition to the first and are the direct expression of the

adolescent rebellion fanned by Angustias' oppressive rule.With distancing, Andrea effects a psychological separation from

those forces and people which encroach upon her territory in

dangerousor

threatening ways.17 By virtue of this mechanism,

she is able to carve out a spatial sanctuary, thereby protecting(and ultimately freeing) the healthy, living aspects of herselffrom the emotional tyranny of harmful relationships. In a

difficult moment with her aunt, she illustrates how this process

operates: "Yo le buscaba un detalle repugnante mientras ellacontinuaba sumon?logo de ?rdenes y consejos, y al fin, cuando

yame dejaba marchar, vi sus dientes de un color sucio" (p. 27).

Spatial expansion is yoked to independent action in defianceof rules and social sanctions. Rekindling the rebelliousness that

earlier caused her to take up smoking as an instrument of

emancipation,Andrea braces herself to

pither will

againstthat

of her aunt.18 The resolve to challenge Angustias' authority is

preceded by a bout of feverwhich, significantly, penetrates the

very "rincones" of her soul and appears to release her

psychologically from the "ambiente opresivo que me anulaba

desde mi llegada a la casa" (p. 57). Andrea counters Angustias'frontal attacks on her self-esteem ("?Ya te golpear? la vida, ya te

triturar?, ya te aplastar?!" [p. 103]) by moving out of her aunt's

orbit to that of the university (though at first she occupies a

"last-row" seat) and the new relationships it holds. The

gravitation towards her peers affords her the support she needs

to shape an independent identity.19Within the house itself, the clash ofwills between aunt andniece is also posited spatially through Andrea's occupation of,retreat from and final recovery ofAngustias' room. Angustias'

moral defeat is thus tied directly to the relinquishment of her

quarters, her accustomed habitat. With almost formulaic

precision, Laforet has her move along the selfsame pathtraveled earlier by her niece?but this time in reverse order:Barcelona ?>

provincial town ?> convent =contraction.

Angustias' departure is, then, the situational determinant of an

expanding spatialization which in the book's final sections

opens up the "there" of existence for Andrea (the "da" of"dasein").20 With her life now put into her charge, Andrea is







64 ANEC, 5 (1980)

obliged to scan both her inner and outer environments for

promises of identity. Because her responses to outer conditionsare largely determined by her inner state, Andrea's behavior isfluctuant and unpredictable, her spatiality often off-center.

The need formediation between inner and outer worldsbecomes the paramount challenge to the protagonist in thebook's final two sections. Her success or failure inmeeting this

challenge, in turn, conditions her responses to family,friendship and love.21 In each of these three contexts, progresstowards maturity is evinced when the exaggerated conflation ofinner and outer worlds is modulated in such a way as to

establish clearer boundaries and distinctions. In all three

spheres, the protagonist must travel from the outposts of

juvenile daydreams and distortions to a middle-ground of

compromise and accommodation to the world as it really is.At the start of the book's second section, Andrea's abrupt

swerve away from her family goes hand in hand withadolescent fantasies of independence which can be more fullyindulged in the wake of Angustias' departure. Separated

physically from her relatives, ina room

of her own, andemotionally detached from their lives and fortunes ("los sucesos

de la calle de Aribau . . .apenas influ?an ya en mi vida . . ." [p.

140]), Andrea's abrogation of Angustias' dicta is expressed

spatially by unchecked movement in the city ("Por primera vezme sent?a suelta y libre en la ciudad ..." [p. 113]), by theestablishment of new reference points (Layetana, Tallers, Plaza

de Catalu?a, Moneada, the country) and by entry into othercircles (bohemia, upper middle and monied classes).

In the opening chapter of Part II, the city?with its allure and

multiformity?is the symbol of the freedom she so ardentlydesires: "No sab?a si ten?a necesidad de caminar entre las casassilenciosas de alg?n barrio adormecido ... o de sentir las

oleadas de luces de los anuncios . . . del centro de la ciudad.

A?n no estaba segura de lo que podr?a calmar mejor aquella casi

angustiosa sed de belleza . . ." (p. 114). Yet the image of the cityas unrestricted space is immediately displaced by the

redirection of focus to Andrea's room which, actingas a

gravitational force, serves to check the girl's flights of fancy andto

ground her once more in reality. Her room, in fact, bears all

the visible signs of intrusion and encroachment by her relatives

(i.e.,by specific objects; by

Juan's written admonition that "En

todo momento debe estar libre tuhabitaci?n . . ." [p. 118]). For







SERVODIDIO 65

Andrea, the realization that uncompromised freedom is but an

illusion represents a crucial milestone. As her life and that ofher relatives touch and part in repeated encounters and

disjunctions, Andrea's awareness of her accountability evolves

and ripens and the "vagabundeo libre" (p. 125) of adolescence

begins to yield to discriminating choices and purposes.The transition from puerile narcissism to greater concern for

her family is illustrated spatially in several key episodes as

Andrea moves from a position of marginality to one of

increased centrality. In Chapter X, for example, though Andrea

begins as a passive witness of Juan's brutality, as he beatsGloria and then douses her in a tub ("Yo estaba encogida en un

rinc?n . . .No sab?a qu? hacer" [p. 129] ), she ends as an active

participant in the hapless girl's defense. By offering Gloriashelter in themuch guarded privacy of her own room, Andrea

tacitly acknowledges the bonds of a common humanity thatunite them.

Andrea's quickening response to the tribulations of her

relatives is seen again in Chapter XV. When an enraged Juansets out in search ofGloria of whom he

suspectsfoul

play,the

distancing that typified Andrea's behavior in the earlier chaptersis notably absent. Acting as insider rather than outsider, she

makes common cause with the grandmother and Gloria and setsout after Juan, hoping to stay his hand. Her concern for herrelatives supersedes all considerations of personal safety as thechase takes her as far as the infamous "barrio chino." When

Juan is hurt in a street skirmish and is in danger of arrest,Andrea resists the impulse toberate him and, instead, is able to

call forth feelings of sympathy and compassion: "reaccion? de

pronto, saltando . . . hacia Juan. Le ayud?a ponerse

completamente de pie . . . ?Vamos a casa, Juan! . . . ?Vamos!"

(pp. 177-78). Seeing the chinks in Juan's armor with a new

clarity, Andrea realizes that he is pitiful as well as menacing,vulnerable as well as cruel. Though her mission of mercy is

rewarded with ingratitude (Juan slams the door in her face

upon arrival at his destination; Gloria is not even aware ofAndrea's intervention on her behalf), her humane response to

Juan's plight is the certification ofAndrea's growing ability to

register the complexities, ambiguities and paradoxes of humannature. The unexpected turns and revelations of this incident

prompt an accomodation of attitude toward her relatives

marked by increased tolerance and understanding?a change







66 ANEC, 5 (1980)which even Gloria perceives: "T? antes no le preguntabas nadaa nadie, Andrea . . .Ahora te has vuelto m?s buena" (p. 274).In time, Andrea even brings herself to forgiveness of theloathsome Rom?n and to a renewed appreciation of his bizarreand wasted talents ("Y no me parec?a ya tanmalo aquel hombre. . ." [p. 286]). Together, these various episodes suggest that

while Andrea's attitude toward her family is fluctuant, herreconciliation with theworld ofAribau is largely sustained. The

protagonist's voyage toward adulthood can therefore be said to

include both a "moving away" and a "coming back."The evolving status of Andrea's friendship with Ena may also

be measured spatially. In the book's second section, an

important shift of focus from the house on Aribau to Ena'shouse on Layetana is heralded in the opening chapter when,

having taken her leave of Ena's family, Andrea is virtuallyunable topull away: "Me detuve enmedio de laV?a Layetana ymir? hacia el alto edificio en cuyo ?ltimo piso viv?a mi amiga"(p. 113). The displacement of attention from one lieu to another

suggests the substitution of new dependencies for the old.Uncertain of her

personal identity

or worth, Andrea

placesundue reliance on the house on Layetana where she finds

shelter, nourishment (both figurative and real) and a set of

relationships which she idealizes and exalts. Moving within theorbit of friendship, Andrea is even content with themarginalspace assigned her during her outings with Ena and her beau,

Jaime. Later, when her painful sensitivity (exacerbated byhunger and privation) causes her tomagnify Ena's imagineddisdain, Andrea moves fretfully away from Layetana only to bedrawn back again: "Sal?a de su casa desesperada. Luegoregresaba sin decirle una

palabra y mepon?a

a estudiar juntoa

ella" (p. 140).It is Ena who, in fact, controls the space that separates or

unites them. Having literally stepped into the world ofAribau

through her discovery of Rom?n, Ena pulls back from her

friendship with Andrea, thereby banishing her from Layetana("No vengas esta tarde a casa, Andrea" [p. 148] ). The linkage ofemotion to place is highlighted by repeated and concentratedallusions to Ena's house following this rupture (i.e., five timesin a

single paragraph: "en casa de Ena ... en su casa . . . all?. . .

en casa de Ena ... a su casa" [p. 151]). Andrea is leftwith asense of rudderlessness, of "solitude" and "disorientation."

Yet, her forced release from the addiction of Layetana impels







SERVODIDIO 67Andrea to drift toward new relationships which are cultivatedin alternate spheres. While the university still largely shapes the

space and time of her days, through her friendship with Ponsshe is able to gain entry into the world of bohemia as well as

that of the upper-middle class. As she tests herself in thesecontexts and gains a firmer sense of self, Andrea is able toremove her blinders and to redirect her gaze to her friendwith

critical acuity: "Me parec?a que mi amistad con Ena hab?a

perdido mucho de su encanto con la ruptura. Al mismo tiempoyo quer?a ami amiga sinceramente" (p. 161).

The evolving nature of the friendship between the girls ismarked by shifting spatial indicators. With the prospect of a

rapprochement with Ena, for example, the focus shifts back to

the hou^e on Layetana?the site of happier times where

friendship firstopened its doors toAndrea ("Ven a casa cuando

quieras. . .Perd?name por haberte dicho que no vinieras" [p.

166] ).When the shadow of Rom?n again falls between the

girls, besmirching both theirworlds, attention devolves oncemore to the house on Aribau where Ena enacts the eternal ritesof

youthfulrebellion in Roman's attic room. For both

girls,Layetana and Aribau are but the way stations on a road of

self-discovery. In undertaking her separate journey, Ena

displays the same petulance and self-indulgence as her once

admiring friend. Bruised by the girl's evasiveness, detachmentand disregard for Jaime and herself, Andrea witnesses Ena's"fall" from the pedestal on which her own exaggeratedexpectations had placed her: "Me era imposible creer en labelleza y la verdad de los sentimientos humanos . . ." (p. 196).

Andrea's response to this d?mythification of friendshipveers from static self-pity to themotility of comprehension and

accomodation. With Ena as with her family, the deflection ofself-consciousness into mature concern evolves slowly and

painfully. The impulse to protect Ena fromRom?n, in ChapterXVII, carries her to the gates of the house on Layetana and no

further. Immobilized by insecurity and fear of rejection, Andreacannot yet go the distance from self to other thatmature action

requires. Rather than suffer new hurt, she opts for retreat:"Ech? a correr . . . sin poderlo remediar, huyendo de all? ...

yano pensaba en saltar aquella distancia que ella misma hab?a

dejado abierto entre las dos" (p. 210). The final lap is travelled

by Andrea in the book's third and final section (Chapter XX)

when concern for her friend is finally translated into the

language of decisive action ("acostumbrada a dejar que la







68 ANEC, 5 (1980)corriente de los acontecimientos me arrastrase por s?misma, me

emocionaba un poco aquel actuar m?o. . ." [p. 255]). Mobilized

by Ena's mother's call for help, Andrea forces entry into

Roman's room where her friend is "cornered." Inresponding

to

the call of friendship, Andrea also succeeds in freeing herselffrom the marginal

and narrowpath of consuming self-concern.

She is able, too, for the first time, to accept Ena fully as she is

("Empec? a mirar a mi amiga, vi?ndola por primera vez talcomo realmente era" [p. 267] ).

Different though one be from the other, themen that touchAndrea's life act to constrict or expand her horizons in real or

imagined ways. With each relationship she has, the articulationof inner and outer realities continues to be an essential

requirement.

Space is experienced negatively by Andrea at the hands ofGerardo and Juan,who misinterpret the freedom ofmovementshe innocently enjoys after Angustias' departure. She is

debased and curbed by both men and negatively reinforced in

her incipient sexuality. Juan's twisted appraisal of her

wanderingsjolts Andrea into renewed awareness of restrictive

codes of social conduct as they pertain to the female sex: "-?Lasobrina! ?Valiente ejemplo!

. ..Cargada de amantes, suelta por

Barcelona como un perro" (p. 199). While Juan's words may be

shrugged off as demented ravings, Gerardo?the prototypicalmale?also confirms this negative image of Andrea by hisactions (his unwanted kiss) and his manner: "-?Hola, bonita!

Me dijo. Y luego, con un movimiento de cabeza como si yofuera un perro: "-?Vamos!" (p. 142). Seeking self-expression,Andrea is belittled and stifled, instead, by Gerardo'sinsufferable superiority and proprietary manner: "?No te da

miedo andar tan s?lita por las calles? ?Y si viene, el lobito y tecome?" (p. 117); "me fue dando paternales consejos sobre mi

conducta en lo sucesivo y sobre la conveniencia de no andar

suelta y loca y de no salir sola con los muchachos" (p. 146).

Feeling herself curtailed by the double standards of behaviorthe young man invokes, Andrea parts ways with Gerardo

permanently.With Rom?n, Jaime and Pons, Andrea's horizons seem to

expand, for in their varying appeals to her imagination, eachone offers her the prospect of escape from the stultifyingnarrowness of her life.

The influence Rom?n at firstwields on Andrea is largely tiedto the allure of his private realm. Inwending her way up the







SERVODIDIO 69

stairs tohis room, Andrea virtually rises above the grayness of

daily living and enters an hypnotic and bewitching spherewhere the senses are sharpened by music, coffee, and tobaccoand the mind can empty itself of its contents, unimpeded andfree. However, as Andrea comes to discover thewarpings ofRoman's soul, her deception and her faltering allegiance tohimarematched by awithdrawal from his world. She will only takethose stairs twice more: tohelp Ena, and afterRoman's death.

By vicariously sharingin the

relationshipbetween

Jaimeand

Ena, Andrea is able to stretch her horizons without personalrisk, and to establish bonds of trust with a member of the

opposite sex. During the frequent excursions the three friendstake to the country, it is Jaime's car that transports Andrea fromthe ugliness and constraints of reality to idyllic pastures ofdesire. Jaime's steadfast devotion to Ena, even during herdalliance with Rom?n, sustains Andrea's faith in the possibilityof selfless love. By acting as a positive role model at an

important juncture in her life, Jaime is instrumental in settingAndrea on the path tohealthy future relationships of her own.

Through her friendship with Pons, Andrea is visited by "unpresentimiento de otros horizontes" (p. 214). She need onlyreach out her hand, and the desultory solitude of her existence

will vanish ("Pons sac?ndome de lamano desde mi casa hacia la

alegr?a" [p. 221] ). However, her juvenile daydreams place an

undue burden on her young friend, who proves unequal toher

expectations of him. During Pons' party, which Andrea viewsas the crucial turning point of her life, the inevitable swing fromromantic hope to despair is portrayed in explicitly spatialterms.22 The shift from reality to fantasy ismarked by Andrea's

"escape" from the house on Aribau to her friend's "splendid

home" on Montaner Street. However, what awaits her in itsinterior is the crushing realization of her inadequacy and

foolishness and?with it?a sense of unbreachable solitude:"Pons hab?a desaparecido de mis horizontes visuales. . .No

conoc?a a nadie y estaba descentrada" (pp. 219-20). When, later,she exits in humiliation from Pons' house, Andrea's

exaggerated emotions of defeat are also spatialized as she"falls" from the heights of girlish illusion ("bajando en declive"

[p. 223]) and retreats from dreams of expanding vistas ("unavida nueva" [p. 221]) tonarrower truths ("Estaba caminando . .

el

propio

camino de mi vida, desierto"

[p.224] ).

Within the sphere of love, then, as in that of family and

friendship, Andrea's progress is not charted on an unbroken







70 ANEC, 5 (1980)path. With each relationship, she falters?thenrallies?constrained tomold again and again, in decision and

action, acomplementarity

of inner and outer structures.

The spatiality which provides the book with its central focusismagnified in its final chapters. Despite Andrea's incremental

progress along the path of self-discovery, Ena's sudden

departure forMadrid finds her seemingly caught in a web of

circularity which returns her toAribau with prospects of a bleakfuture. The house-prison of Part One becomes the house-tomb

of Part Three?the final resting place of adolescentillusions?where only morbid feelings stir: "La casa tansilenciosa que daba una extra?a y sepulcral sensaci?n" (p. 209);

"empec?a sentir la presencia de la muerte en la casa ..." (p.

288).With the advent of Ena's invitation to join her inMadrid, the

young heroine's fortunes suffer an abrupt and positive change.As important as the physical removal to another lieu is thelikelihood of leaving behind "el mismo camino cerrado denuestra personalidad" (p. 224). The possibility of freedom ofchoice and the chance to acquire a sense of "centrality" in time

and space is directly yoked to the new place that awaits her:

"Hay trabajo para ti en el despacho de mi padre, Andrea. Te

permitir? vivir independiente y adem?s asistir a las clases de laUniversidad. Por elmomento vivir?s en casa, pero luego podr?sescoger a tu gusto tu domicilio, ya que no se trata desecuestrarte" (pp. 293-94). The threat of circularity is therebydissipated with the promise of a new beginning. The cautious

optimism with which Andrea embarks on the next lap of her

journey finds its complement in the novel's structural design,for with the Aristotelian peripeteia of the last chapter, itbecomes

apparentthat the book's

representationalmodel

is,in

fact, linear and open-ended. With unflagging attention to detailand uncommon sensitivity to the interplay of inner and outer

landscapes, Laforet has succeeded in creating, with Nada, a

remarkable spatial construct?a Bildungsroman in whicheternal verities (the perennial "rites of passage") and historic

contingencies (social and individual circumstances) are

effectively conjoined.







SERVODIDIO 71

NOTES

1. See pages 125-27 of Juan Luis Alborg's, Hora actual de la novela espa?ola(Madrid: Taurus, 1958) for a full delineation of the "factores circunstanciales"

that are purported to have contributed to the success ofNada.2. See Sigfried Giedion's, Space, Time and Architecture: The Growth of aNew

Tradition (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1967) for a discussion of the

interrelationship of time and space. Also illuminating is Erik H. Erikson's

essay, "Psychological Reality and Historic Actuality," in Insight and

Responsibility (New York: W.W. Norton, 1964), pp. 159-216, which delvesdeeply into the question of psycho-historic actuality.

3. See Juan Carlos Curutchet, Introducci?n a la novela espa?ola de postguerra(Montevideo: Editorial Alfa, 1967), pp. 49-55; Eugenio G. de Nora, La novela

espa?ola contempor?nea, II (Madrid: Gredos, 1962), pp. 149-55; M. Garc?a Vi??,Novela espa?ola actual (Madrid: Ediciones Guadarrama, 1967), pp. 77-95 for

criticism which falls short of a probing examination of the relationship between

narrative point of view and style.4. See Sharon Spencer's essay, "Closed Structures," in Space, Time, and

Structure in theModern Novel (New York: New York University Press, 1971), pp.25-50. Also worth consulting is Joseph Frank's essay, "Spatial Form in the

Modern Novel," in Critiques and Essays onModern Fiction, 1920-51, ed. JohnW.

Aldridge (New York: Ronald Press Co., 1952), pp. 43-66.

5. O.T. Bollnow's essay, "Lived Space,' in Readings in ExistentialPhenomenology, ed. Lawrence O'Connor (New York: Prentice Hall, 1967), pp.178-86, clarifies the difference between the homogeneity ofmathematical spaceand the heterogeneity and discontinuity of lived space.

6. Nada, 16 ed. (Barcelona: Ediciones Destine, 1965), p. 11. Subsequentreferences will be placed in the textwithin parentheses.

7. The first chapter?her arrival: "Enfilamos la calle de Aribau . . .Levant? la

cabeza hacia la casa . . ." (pp. 12-13).The final chapter ?her departure: "Antes de entrar en el auto alc? los ojos hacia

la casa ... la calle de Aribau y Barcelona entera quedaban detr?s de m?" (p. 295).

8. The first chapter: "Los estrechos y desgastados escalones . . .Ante la

puerta del piso me acometi? un s?bito temor . . ." (p. 13).The final chapter: "Baj? la escalera despacio. Sent?a un?. viva emoci?n" (p. 294).

9. "Lo que suced?a entre las paredes de aquel hogar destemplado suced?a almismo tiempo en miles de casas espa?olas

. . .Era el riesgo de la guerra, el

espectro de la libertad humana manumitida, el eco dolorido de las almas

contristadas" (Domingo P?rez Minik, Novelistas espa?oles de los siglos XIX y XX

[Madrid: Guadarrama, 1957], p. 273). The reader may also wish to consult David

William Foster's article, "Nada de Carmen Laforet," Revista Hispanic-Modern a,

32 (1966), pp. 43-55, for further insights on the significance of the house.

10. "?D?nde se ha ido . . .aquella familia que se reun?a en las veladas

alrededor del piano, protegida del fr?o de fuera por feas y confortables cortina.3

de pa?o verde?" (p. 101).11. The author does not simplify this relationship; in fact, the brothers'

obsession with one another and Juan's abject grief at Roman's death suggest the

ambivalence and complexity of lived experience.

12. Virginia Woolf's famous pamphlet, A Room of One's Own (London:Hogarth Press, 1921), constitutes one of the clearest dialectics between publicand private space.







72ANEC, 5 (1980)13. "(MAN) needs a link between the spaces within and without, an

opening in the wall of the house which surrounds him," Bollnow, p. 182.14. "Me buscaba si yo me hab?a escondido en alg?n rinc?n ... Se sentaba a

mi lado y apoyaba a la fuerza mi cabeza contra su pecho. A m? me dol?a el

cuello, pero sujeta por su mano, as? ten?a que permanecer .. ." (p. 31).15. See "Inner and Outer Space: Reflections on Womanhood" by Erik H.

Erikson in The Woman inAmerica, ed. Robert Jay Lifton (New York: HoughtonMifflin, 1953), pp. 1-26, for information regarding the relationship of spatial

configurations to stages of the life cycle: In "Woman, Culture and Society: A

Theoretical Overview" by Michelle Zimbalist Rosaldo fromWoman, Culture and

Society, ed. Michelle Zimbalist Rosaldo and Louise Lamphere (Stanford:

Stanford University Press, 1974), pp. 17-42, the author proposes a structuralmodel which illustrates woman's relationship to public and private domains.16. For insights regarding the influence of social conventions on "female

passivity" see Sigmund Freud's essay, "Femininity," in New IntroductoryLectures on Psychoanalysis, trans, and ed. by James Strachey (New York: W.W.

Norton, 1964), pp. 112-35.

17. See Bollnow, p. 184 and Erik H. Erikson, Childhood and Society (NewYork: W.W. Norton, 1964), p. 250.

18. "pod?a soportarlo todo . . .menos su autoridad sobre m?. Era aquelloque me hab?a ahogado al llegar a Barcelona, lo que me hab?a hecho caer en la

abulia, lo que mataba mis iniciativas" (p. 99).19. "S?lo aquellos seres de mi misma generaci?n y de mis mismos gustos

pod?an respaldarme y ampararme" (p. 59).

20. See Ludwig Binswanger, Being in theWorld, trans. Jacob Neddleman(New York, London: Basic Books, 1963).

21. Andrea's evolution from adolescence to adulthood is studied in thecontext of myth, symbolism, and psychology, respectively, in the followingessays: Juan Villegas, "Nada de Carmen Laforet, o la infantilizac?on de laaventura legendaria" in La estructura m?tica del h?roe (Barcelona: Planeta, 1973),

pp. 177-201; Michael D. Thomas, "Symbolic Portals in Laforet's Nada," Anales

de la novela de posguerra, 3 (1978), 57-74; Carlos F?al Deibe, "Nada de Carmen

Laforet: la iniciaci?n de una adolescente," in The Analysis ofHispanic Texts:

Current Trends inMethodology, ed. Mary A. Beck et al. (New York: BilingualPress, 1976), pp. 221-41.

22. In The Psychological World of theTeenager (New York: Basic Books, 1969),Daniel Offer describes the mood-swings of adolescence. He traces the term

"adolescent turmoil"to

Stanley Hall's book Adolescence, published in 1904. Hallalso used the expression "Sturm und Drang" to describe the oscillation betweenextremes of psychological functioning that characterizes adolescence.

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