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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
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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.
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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
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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'
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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
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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,
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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.
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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.
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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.