The Role of the Author an the Testimonial Condition of the Novels "No, mi general" by Irene Lozano and "Hay algo que no es como me dicen" by Juan José Millás

Abstract

This study starts from the concept of the testimonial novel and its manifestations in the current Spanish narrative, in order to analyze the documentary elements and the fictional techniques integrated into the works No, mi general by Irene Lozano and Hay algo que no es como me dicen by Juan José Millás. The change in the thematic approach presented by these novels –both tell real stories about mobbing and sexual harassment of women in the Spanish Army and Ponferrada City Council, respectively–, will allow to study their particular structure, as well as the importance of the authors’ role and their real and partial intervention in the case. In this way, the collective and denouncing nature these novels have regarding the aforementioned emerging social problem will be affirmed. Likewise, a special emphasis will be put on subjectivization, an element that proves the testimonial condition of these novels, that is, it affirms the development of a series of techniques that objectify the facts, on the one hand, and certifies the presence of the mechanisms that contribute to the narrativization of the story, on the other. Finally, two levels of narration will be distinguished: the story of the protagonist and the story of the narrator. The first one narrates a real case of harassment from the perspective of the victim, that is, it reinterprets the official truth and reconstructs reality, while the second one acquires a model dimension and appeals to a whole group of harassed women in the workplace.