"Soldiers of Paper and Ink": American Intellectual Interpretations of the Spanish Civil War
Date of Award
2009
Document Type
Thesis
Degree Name
Bachelors
Department
Social Sciences
First Advisor
Johnson, Robert
Keywords
Spanish Civil War, Hughes, Langston, Rolfe, Edwin, Vallejo, César, Neruda, Pablo, History, Marxism, Fascism, 1930s, Popular Front
Area of Concentration
History
Abstract
This thesis, concentrating on History and Spanish Language and Culture, analyzes the works of four intellectuals who matured between the World Wars: two North Americans, Langston Hughes and Edwin Rolfe; and two Latin Americans Pablo Neruda and César Vallejo. These men viewed the Spanish Civil War as the defining moment of their era. A close fascism in Spain. Rolfe portrayed American volunteers as the descendants of an American revolutionary tradition that had a crucial part in liberating the working class, starting in Spain. For Neruda, the egalitarianism of the Spanish peasantry took the moral high ground against the subhuman, foreign Nationalists. Vallejo combined Marxism with Catholicism to show the Republicans as on a crusade to liberate Mother Spain from the militant masculinity of the Nationalists. These intellectuals not only contributed to the history of the Spanish Civil War, but they also shaped the writer's role as an agent in representing the significance of conflicts throughout history.
Recommended Citation
Schafer, Adam D., ""Soldiers of Paper and Ink": American Intellectual Interpretations of the Spanish Civil War" (2009). Theses & ETDs. 4176.
https://digitalcommons.ncf.edu/theses_etds/4176