Professor Sanchez’s New Book on Spanish Poets after the Spanish Civil War (1936-1939)

March 19, 2007

Oneida M. Sánchez, Associate Professor of Spanish at BMCC, wrote a book titled Vivanco, Rosales y Gil: Libro de familia (Madrid: Verbum, 2006). The book studies three poets who belong to the first literary generation after the Spanish Civil War.

Vivanco, Rosales y Gil: Libro de familia is a literary analysis of the use of language in the poetry of these Spanish authors: Luis Felipe Vivanco, Luis Rosales, and Ildefonso-Manuel Gil. The theme of the family is the medium that allows the study to demonstrate how these three poets transform everyday language into poetic imagery.

“Since this study is a detailed examination of the linguistic components of each poem, it will help our students of Spanish at the 400 level understand the process of literary analysis,” said Professor Sánchez.

This book is an examination of the Generation of ’36, the first poetic generation after the Spanish Civil War, through an insightful and in-depth study of three poets: Luis Felipe Vivanco, Luis Rosales, and Ildefonso-Manuel Gil and their shared focus on the family. The concept of the family as predicated on the submission of women to men was a cornerstone of the political, religious, and social environment that prevailed during the Franco Regime in Spain during the 40’s and 50’s and, as such, functioned as a basis of support for his government. Given this context, Professor Oneida M. Sánchez asks: What type of family poems did these poets write? What was the role of the family in their poems? Is their poetry still current or timeworn?

Professor Sánchez is an expert on this controversial literary generation. By stripping away the layers of language in the shared universe of these poems on the family, she has written a penetrating and comprehensive analysis of the lives of Vivanco, Rosales, and Gil.

Vivanco, Rosales y Gil: Libro de familia is a splendidly vivid portrayal of a dark period in the history of Spain.

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