The historical memory in panels: representations of the Spanish Civil War in graphic narratives and family testimonials

Abstract

This essay examines how graphic narratives are creating representations of the Spanish Civil War through the testimony of family members. The popularity of comics and graphic novels in Spain has increased in recent years and many of these new publications revolve around different aspects of historical memory. This narratives question hegemonic discourses that had been stablished during the 40 year long dictatorship and that have been constructed as unquestionable. Through the testimonies and the memories of family members, graphic novels such as Antonio Altarriba and Kim’s El arte de volar (2009) or Sento Llobel’s Un médico novato (2014) propound alternative testimonies that echo in the reader’s mind due to their familiarity. These novels showcase the need for a dialogue and a space where to renegotiate a trauma that is still present and that has an effect in the later generations, who haven´t lived this traumatic past but who still feel it as its own through these familiar memories and narratives that help them understand a past that has been silenced in the institutions.