FRANCISCO GARCIA PAVON:
CREATOR OF THE
LITERARY DETECTIVE STORY IN SPAIN
APPROVED:
a j o r Professor
MmOT
PRRVFENSOR
Di r e c t
Language s
r-
YVU
p»r w e n t
D e i n of t h e G r a d u a t e S c h o o l
Sanders, Marja-Terttu, Francisco Garcia Pavon:
of the Literary Detective Story in Spain.
Creator
Master of Arts
(Spanish), August, 1971, 73 pp., bibliography, 15 titles.
The problem with which this investigation is concerned
is that of determining how Francisco Garcia Pavon's concept
the detective novel evolved throughout the period during
which he cultivated that literary form.
To trace this evolution Garcia Pavon's detective novels
and novelettes are studied in chronological order of publication, each work being given a chapter of its own.
The
character development is analyzed and the style is given
consideration in the study.
When we examine the detective novels and novelettes of
Garcia Pavon in the chronological order of their publication
we find a definite progression toward a literary detective
novel with high artistic qualities.
In the early novels plot is definitely Garcia Pavon's
main concern.
Characters and scenery are described only to
the extent necessary to tell the story.
The importance of
the plot is progressively decreased as we proceed in reading
the novels, so that in the last one, Las hermanas coloradas,
the plot is almost solely to provide a frame for characterization, philosophy and costumbrismo.
The character of Plinio, the protagonist in all of the
detective novels of Garcia Pavon, also develops progressively
in each novel, so that after reading all of the works we know
a great deal about his ambitions, frustrations, philosophy of
life, and likes and dislikes.
In the first detective stories
he is the central figure, "but he is mainly important as a detective; later he becomes important as a person as well.
In each novel we meet friends of Plinio, and by the
time we finish the last novel his circle of acquaintances
has been greatly expanded.
All of the characters are de-
scribed very individualistically, and Garcia Pavon has proven
himself to be a careful observer of people, highly talented
in the art of characterization.
Just as Plinio1s character is more fully developed with
each new novel, the descriptions become more detailed.
Instead
of merely relating the details of the plot, fact by fact, the
author has intertwined more and more interesting descriptions
in each novel, giving the work greater artistic merit.
The
descriptions of the scenery of la Mancha in the three last
novels are very poetic and are rich in metaphors, images and
colorful expressions.
They show the author's love for con-
crete details and sensations.
The language in general of the detective novels of
Garcia Pavon changes with each succeeding novel.
In each
new book colloquial words and expressions become more and
more frequent.
The accurate geographical and sociological knowledge
that the author has of the places he describes has enabled
him t o g i v e h i s r e a d e r s e x t r e m e l y i n t e r e s t i n g i n s i g h t s i n t o
t h e l i v e s and customs i n a s m a l l S p a n i s h town o r , t o a s m a l l e r
e x t e n t , i n a b i g c i t y , where l a s hermanas c o l o r a d a s i s s t a g e d .
P l i n i o i s n o t an o r d i n a r y , s t e r e o t y p e d p o l i c e m a n , n o r
a r e the d e t e c t i v e s t o r i e s of G a r c i a Pavon c o n v e n t i o n a l d e t e c t i v e s t o r i e s where the main emphasis l i e s i n s o l v i n g a
crime.
The c o m b i n a t i o n of e x c i t e m e n t and h i g h a r t i s t i c q u a l -
i t i e s i n the d e t e c t i v e s t o r i e s of G a r c i a Pavon makes them
w o r t h w h i l e f o r a wide r a n g e of r e a d e r s .
They can be e n j o y e d
by b o t h t h e r e a d e r i n t e r e s t e d i n m y s t e r y s t o r i e s and a p e r s o n
s e e k i n g a work of h i g h e r a r t i s t i c v a l u e .
FRANCISCO GARCIA PAVON:
CREATOR OP THE
LITERARY DETECTIVE STORY IN SPAIN
THESIS
P r e s e n t e d t o t h e G r a d u a t e C o u n c i l of t h e
North Texas S t a t e U n i v e r s i t y i n P a r t i a l
F u l f i l l m e n t of t h e R e q u i r e m e n t s
F o r t h e D e g r e e of
MASTER OF ARTS
By
M a r j a - T e r t t u S a n d e r s , B . A,
Denton, Texas
August, 1971
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Chapter
I.
II.
III.
Page
INTRODUCTION
1
LOS CARROS VAClOS
8
EL CARNAVAL
.
16
IV.
EL CHARCO DE SANGRE
23
V.
EL REINADO DE WITIZA
34
VI.
EL RAPTO DE LAS SABINAS
47
VII.
LAS HERMANAS COLORADAS
59
CONCLUSION
71
VIII.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
74
CHAPTER I
INTRODUCTION
Francisco Garcia Pavon was born in the town of
Tomelloso in the province of Ciudad Real on the 24th of
September, 1919.
He completed the first years of his ed-
ucation and the bachelor's degree in his native town, and
then moved on to Madrid where he studied philosophy and
literature and obtained a doctorate in 194 5.
At present,
Garcia Pavon is a professor of history of dramatic literature in the School of Dramatic Arts in Madrid and is
director of Taurus Ediciones, one of Spain's largest publishing houses.
In 1969 Garcia Pavon was awarded the Nadal Prize,
the most esteemed award given for the novel in Spain, for
his novel Las hermanas coloradas.
However, he was well
known long before this.
Francisco Garcia Pavon ya tiene hechos, y reconocidos,
los suficientes meritos para que el premio Nadal le
hubiese sido otorgado con anterioridad y, por ello
mismo, mas ^oportunamente. No obstante, y si a esto
puede llamarsele confirmacion, el premio viene a
reconocer la gran labor de un novelista—como en su
dia lo hizo con Alvaro Qunqueiro—en plena madurez
creadora, ya que este nombre es, sin la menor duda,
uno de los principales autores de novela con que contamos en la actualidad.1
Francisco Garcia Pavon, Premio Nadal/' Espana hoy,
No. 2 (Madrid, 1970), p. 34. (Author not given.)
In 1963 Garcia, Pa von .received the "Pre mi o Nadal de
Crftica."
1
a
Some of hi s eri ti cal works are ED_ teatro social
en Eg pan at Ante] op' a de cuentistas espanol es ^ on temp crane 03, Teatro menor del s i gl o X'VI11, and "Don Juan Ten ori o
el Burlador de Sevil]a.
The novels are perhaps the most Important part of his
literary production.
Gerea de 0viedo was among the final-
ists for the Nadal Prize in 19^6,
Eugenio de Nora says:
. , . , cuando en 1 9 4 6 — e s decir, en un momenta en que
se iniciaba apenas el auge actual de la narracion—apare ce Cerca de Oviedot vision humorist!ca, burbujeante
de agudeza, desenfado y mali ci a, veteada de conceptual 1 srno y fantasia, de la vida provinciana, pensamos
encontrarnos, en potencia, ante uno de los novelistas
representativos de nuestro tiempo. La frescura de
observaci on en cuanto a costumbres y psicologia local,
la vivacidad en la captacion de detalles, la zumba y
riquesa de fantasia con que sab'a aprovecharse , . . ,
la seguridad y eficacia del autor no solo en la narraci on, sino iambi en con su ex.cepci onal recurs o a los
suenos y pesad.il 1 as revel adoras, el tratamiento matizado de la 1 eve anecdota sentimental en que el rel.ato
se apoya, todo, tratandose del libro inicial de un
escritor joven, parecia testimoniar al narrador de
gran clase que hace sus primeras armas.2
Among the most important works of Garcia Pavon are the
short stories—"genero este en el que nuestro autor es
3
un maestro dentro del panorama espanol actual."
Perhaps
the best representatives of this type of 11terature are
"Eugeni o de Nora, La novel a espanol a contemporanea
(Madrid, 1962), pp. 370-371.
"X
"'"Francisco Garcia Pavon, Pre mi o Nadal," Espana hoy,
No. ? (Madrid, 1.970), p. 34. (Author not givenT)
Cuentos re pub 11. canos, Mem or las de un cazad otes, and Cuerxtos
de mama.
Eugenio de Nora says that his cuentos
. , . indican una depuracion, un afinamiento en la
calldad, incluso una hondura humana superior a la de
su primer libro, pero tambien. un retroceso en cuanto
al alien to y posibilidad de re fie jar el mundo real ,
objetivo, que caracteriza por uno u otro camino el
autentico novel!sta. Suponemos que ese repliegue »
ese a modo de ensayo de sus excepci onales dotes narrati vas sera solo una etapa intermedia haeia la gran
obra que cabe expresar de Garcia Pavon.4
An anonymous reviewer in Espana hoy writes::
In ten tar resumir, en breve sin te sis, la aportacI on de
Garcia Pavon al evidente resurgimiento de las letras
hispanicas, resulta una empresa dif'cil. En principio
y e010 una caracteristioa esencial a la personalidad
del autor, es evidente su facultad de prestigiar y
ennoblecer los generos que cultiva. Para el no hay
hombres ni parajes pequenos. Al contrario, cuando su
pluma se oeupa de ellos alcanzan proporei ones gigantescas. iEs pequeno Tomelloso? Vean la historia de
Tome11oso o los cuen tos republicanos, y le ve ran crecer has ta proporcj. ones insospecbadas. i,Es poca cosa
ser "sargento de la guardi a municipal" de un pueblecito manchego? Escuchen a Plin.i.o, conozcan su mente
socarrona y si pan sus deducciones inigualabl.es en la
solucion de los mas intricados problemas. Entonces
veran que es grande, que puede ser muy hermosa la
figura de un simple guardia municipal , gui.ado por el .
amor a sus convecinos y por su espiritu de servici o. "
Having now acquired a bit of background information
about Garcia Pavon and his earlier works, we will concentrate on the novels and novelettes he has published between
1965 and 1970 and attempt to show that he has created a
detective story of high artistic quality,
4
Nora, Ibid. , p. 371 .
^"Francisco Garcia Pavon, Preraio Nadal," E3nana hoy,
No. 6 ( "adrid , 1970), p. 45. (Author not given",)
4
The first of the literary detective works was a novelette , Los carros vacios (1965).
Next appeared Historias de
Plinio (1968), which contains two novelettes.
The same
year he published El relnado de Witiza, which was a finalist for a Nadal Prize, and the following year, El rapto de
las Sabinas.
In 1970 Las hermanas coloradas was published,
after winning the Nadal Prize the preceding year.
Garcia Pavon says in the prologue to Historias de
Plinio:
En Espana nunca crecio de manera vigorosa y diferenciada la novela polic'aca y de aventuras. Lectores
hay a miles. Transcriptores, simuladores y traductores de las novelas policiacas de otras geografias, a
cientos. Nuestra literatura de cordel y cronica negra
cuenta desastres y escatologias para todos los gustos
y medidas; sin embargo, al escritor espanol, tan radical en sus gustos y disgustos, nunca le tento este
genero que, tratado con arte e intend on, podia haber
alumbrado nuchas parcelas de nuestra vida y d.istraido
a infinitos lectores.6
He goes on, saying:
Yo siempre tuve la vaga idea de escribir novelas
policiacas muy espanolas y con el mayor talento literari o que Dios se permi tiera prestarme. Novelas con
la suficiente suspension para el lector superficial
que solo quiere excitar sus nervios y la necesaria
altura para que al lector sensible no se le cayeran
de las manos. '
All of the detective works of Garcia Pavon have the
same protagonist, "Plinio," Manuel Gonzalez Rodrigo, "Jefe
de la Guardia Municipa] de Tomelloso."
6
Garcia Pavon says
*
#
Francisco Garcia Pavon, Historias de Plinio (Barcelona, 1967) , p. 9.
7
Ibid.
t h a t t h e r e was i n h i s town:
. . . un c i e r t o j e f e de l a Guardia M u n i c i p a l , cuyo
f i s i c o , ademanes, manera de m i r a r , de p a l p a r s e e l
s a b l e y e l r e v o l v e r , desde c h i c o me h i c i e r o n mucha
g r a c i a . El hombre, c l a r o e s t a , no p a s o en su l a r g a
v i d a de s e r v i r a l o s a l c a l d e s que l e c u p i e r o n en
suerte y a ^ r e s a r r a t e r o s , gitanos y p l a c e r a s . Pero
y o , o b s e r v a n d o l e en e l Casino o en l a p u e r t a d e l Ayu n t a m i e n t o , daba en i m a g i n a r m e l o en a v e n t u r a s de mayor
empeno y l u c i m i e n t o .
Por f a c i l c o n c a t e n a c i o n , hace pocos anos se me
o c u r r i o que mi " d e t e c t i v e " p o d r i a s e r a q u e l j e f e de
l a Guardia M u n i c i p a l de Tomelloso, que en s e g u i d a
b a u t i c e como P l i n i o . 8
P l i n i o i s a r a r e f i g u r e when compared w i t h the u s u a l
f i c t i o n a l de t e c t i v e .
He i s a v e r y amiable man, h i g h l y r e -
s p e c t e d by the p e o p l e of Tomelloso and e s p e c i a l l y by h i s
i n s e p a r a b l e f r i e n d Don L o t a r i o .
He u s u a l l y knows more t h a n
i t a p p e a r s on the s u r f a c e , and he s o l v e s h i s c a s e s by f o l l o w i n g h i s i n t u i t i on r a t h e r than modern s c i e n t i f i c p o l i ce
methods.
As each new n o v e l i s more d e t a i l e d than the one p r e c e d i n g i t and the c h a r a c t e r s more f u l l y d e v e l o p e d , we w i l l
l e a r n t o know P l i n i o b e t t e r and b e t t e r as we examine the
works one by one i n the f o l l o w i n g c h a p t e r s .
We w i l l l e a r n
a b o u t hi s p h i l o s o p h y of l i f e , a b o u t h i s l i k e s and d i s l i k e s ,
a b o u t h i s ambi t i o n s , and a b o u t hi s p e r s o n a l f r u s t r a t i o n s .
I n the i n t r o d u c t i o n t o the A n t o l o g f a de c u e n t i s t a s
e s p a n o l e s contemporaneos G a r c i a Pavon d e f i n e s the dominant
8
*
F r a n c i s c o G a r c i a Pavon, H i s t o r i a s de P l i n i o ( B a r c e l o n a , 1 9 6 7 ) , p . 10.
s t y l e of the modern S p a n i s h c u e n t i s t a s , and t h i s same d e f i n i t i o n a p p l i e s well to h i s d e t e c t i v e n o v e l s .
He w r i t e s :
. . . l e l l a m a r i a "popularismo". De d e c i d i r m e por
v a r i a s para e n r i q u e c e r e l c o n c e p t o , l e l l a m a r i a "habla
d e l p u e b l o " , "tono campechano", g i r o s v u l g a r e s que
q u i e r e n i m i t a r l a e n t o n a c i on d e l h a b l a n t e i n d o c t o :
"tacos", f r a s e s hechas, topi cos d e l hahla c o n v e r s a c i o n a l . . . , etc.9
Perhaps the most i m p o r t a n t g e n e r a l c h a r a c t e r i s t i c of
t h e d e t e c t i v e n o v e l s of Garcia Pavon i s the r e a l i s m or the
d i r e c t o b s e r v a t i o n of 1 i f e .
The d e s c r i p t i o n s of l a n d s c a p e s ,
p e o p l e , l o c a l c u s t o m s , and v a r i o u s i n c i d e n t s become more
f r e q u e n t and more v i v i d l y d e t a i l e d i n each new book.
Manuel J a t o Macias w r i t e s of h i s d e t e c t i v e n o v e l s ,
"His books are n e i t h e r s e r i o u s n o r d e e p , b u t are e n t e r t a i n i n g , modern w i t h a t o u c h of g e n t l e s a t i r e .
Hum or and some-
what e a r t h y and s h o c k i n g l a n g u a g e make the a u t h o r e x t r e m e l y
10
pleasant to read."
While i t i s
true t h a t the e a r l y de t e c -
t i ve n o v e l s of Garcia Pavon a r e " n e i t h e r s e r i o u s n o r d e e p , "
i t w i l l be s e e n i n the f o l l o w i n g s t u d i e s of e a c h of t h e
n o v e 1 s t h a t the a u t h o r has come t o r e g a r d the de t e c t i ve
s t o r y a s more than a mere d e v i c e f o r amusement, t h a t he h a s ,
in f a c t , created a truly "literary" detective novel—a
genre i n which c h a r a c t e r i z a t i o n , p h i l o s o p h i c a l t h o u g h t ,
9
*
*
/
F r a n c i s c o Garcia Pavon, A n t o l o g i a de c u e n t i s t a s
e s p a n o l e s c on temporaneos (Madrid, 1 9 5 9 ) , p. 1 0 .
"^Manuel J a t o M a c i a s , Review of E]_ rap t o de l a s
s a b i n a s , Hi s p a n i a , LI V (May, 1 9 7 1 ) , 395.
and costumbrismo capture the reader's attention far more
fully than the interest in the mere solution of the crime.
CHAPTER II
LOS GARROS VAGI OS
The piot. of Los carros vacfos revolves around the murders of fourroeIoneros, all killed at the '"Cuestas del
hermano .Diego" near Tomelloso on the road to Ciudad Real.
The first three killings are identical.
Each time a
man called Serafin, who lives a]one at the "Cuestas," comes
to the police of Tomelloso with the victim,,
Each of the
three men has "been killed during the time of the year when
the meloneros take their products to Ciudad Real to he sold.
Each of the men has been killed by a single thrust of a
wide-bladed knife near the heart.
The only thing taken
from the victim is his wallet.
The people of Tomelloso are terrified by the unsolved
murders.
Plinio is desperate,
He feels that the people
are losing faith in him and blame him for not having discovered the criminal yet.
A few days after the death of Severo el Tostado, the
third victim, a group of furious people bring another body
to the police, screaming for justice.
This time the man, Calabaino, has been stabbed several
times, and a watch and few other things have been taken in
a d d i t i o n t o the w a l l e t .
Despite
the f a c t t h a t t h e m u r d e r
v i c t i m has been found again a t the " C u e s t a s , " P l i n i o conc l u d e s t h a t t h e f o u r t h man h a s b e e n k i l l e d by a d i f f e r e n t
person than the three o t h e r s .
stolen,
Also, c o n s i d e r i n g the t h i n g s
the l a s t m u r d e r e r , he f e e l s , must be a p o o r man who,
b e i n g u n a c c u s t o m e d t o h a v i n g money, w i l l most l i k e l y spend
it
on wine and games t h e v e r y n i g h t of t h e c r i m e .
When s e a r c h of a l l
t h e t a v e r n s and c a s i n o s b r i n g s no
p o s i t i v e r e s u l t s , P l i n i o goes t o see C h a v i c o , a man whom he
suspects.
He f i n d s him a t a woman's h o u s e , e a t i n g and
drinking lavishly.
P l i n i o d i s c o v e r s the a r t i c l e s s t o l e n
from t h e l a s t m u r d e r v i c t i m and s h o r t l y C h a v i c o c o n f e s s e s t o
h a v i n g committed t h e l a s t c r i m e .
P a s s i n g by t h e " C u e s t a s "
w i t h C a l a b a i n o , he k i l l e d him t h e r e i n o r d e r t o c o n n e c t t h e
murder w i t h the t h r e e o t h e r s .
something very important.
Chavi co a l s o t e l l s P l i n i o
He s a y s t h a t S e r a f i n h a s t h e
h a b i t of t a l k i n g w i t h p a s s i n g m e l o n e r o s .
B e c a u s e of t h i s l a s t p i e c e of i n f o r m a t i o n , P l i n i o and
Don l o t a r i o , a l o c a l v e t e r i n a r i a n who i s P l i n i o ' s c o n s t a n t
companion and g r e a t e s t a d m i r e r ,
day.
At the " C u e s t a s P l i n i o
t a k e S e r a f i n home t h a t same
t e l I s the
two men how he t h i n k s
t h e f i r s t t h r e e c r i m e s have b e e n c o m m i t t e d .
He s a y s t h a t
t h e m u r d e r e r must l i v e n e a r the p l a c e of t h e m u r d e r s b e c a u s e i t would be h a r d f o r anyone e l s e
t o k e e p t r a c k of t h e
m e l o n e r o s p a s s i n g by w i t h o u t c a u s i n g s u s p i c i o n ,
Plinio
c o n t i n u e s , s a y i n g t h a t t h e m u r d e r e r p r o b a b l y comes down t o
10
the road, talks to the melonero in order to find out when
he will be back and whether he will be alone.
When he re-
turns, the murderer kills the unsuspecting melonero.
He
then hides the body and later presents himself with the
victim to the authorities of Tomelloso, saying that he has
f ound i t.
After the explanation, Plinio goes to Serafin's house,
where he finds a large amount of money and a knife with a
wide blade.
Serafin confesses his guilt and is arrested.
Later, Plinio tells Don lotario that he had begun to
suspect Serafin when he compared the last murder with the
three others.
The orderly and scrupulous manner in which
the first three were committed made him suspect this orderly and punctilious man.
When Chavico informed him that
Serafin frequently talked with passing meloneros he was almost certain of Serafin's guilt.
When he saw the evidence
in his house, he had no more doubt.
PIot is definitely Garcia Pavon's main concern in Los
carros vacios.
Characters and scenery are described only
to the extent that is necessary to tell the story.
The importance of the plot is progressively decreased
as we proceed in reading the other detective novels, so
that in the last novel, Las hermanas coloradas, the plot is
there almost solely to provide a frame for characterization,
philosophy, and cos turobri STOP.
11
P l i n i o ' s c h a r a c t e r develops p r o g r e s s i v e l y throughout
the novels,
Tn Los G a r r o s v a c ' o s we l e a r n only v e r y basic-
t h i n g s a b o u t him; we j u d g e b i n m a i n l y by h i s a c t i o n s .
For
t h e p u r p o s e of showing how P l i n i o becomes i n each n o v e l a
more r o u n d e d c h a r a c t e r i t i s n e c e s s a r y t o tel.] some of t h e
m o s t i m p o r t a n t t h i n g s t h a t we l e a r r i a b o u t him i n e a c h b o o k .
I n t h i s c h a p t e r we w i l l meet t h e P l i n i o of Los c a r r o s v a c i o s ,
Manuel G o n z a l e z , a l i a s P l i n i o ,
"el
j e f e de l a G u a r d i a
Y u n i c i p a l de Tome11 o s o , " i s a man who t a k e s p r i d e i n s o l v i n g
t h e c r i m e s a l o n e or w i t h h i s d e a r f r i e n d Don L o t a r i o .
A.+.
t i m e s , when he f i n d s h i m s e l f w i t h o u t any s o l u t i o n s t o a
p r o b l e m , he becomes v e r y d e p r e s s e d , up t o t h e p o i n t of
weeping.
sitive
He w a n t s t o h e l p h i s f e l l o w men and i s v e r y s e n -
t o t h e i r o p i n i o n s a b o u t him.
When he i s i n a bad
mood, he u s u a l l y w a l k s s l o w l y w i t h h i s h a n d s b e h i n d h i s b a c k ,
l o o k i n g down.
When he i s c o n f u s e d , he makes a g e s t u r e w i t h
h i s hand a s i f he were d r y i n g h i s mouth a f t e r d r i n k i n g .
When he r e a d s , he w e a r s e y e g l a s s e s t h a t come h a l f w a y down
on h i s n o s e .
He l i k e s
t o smoke c i g a r s .
Almost e v e r y m o r n i n g
he h a s b r e a k f a s t a t t h e b u n o l e r i a of La K o c i o .
Basically,
this
s all
r e a d i n g Loo c a r r o s v a c f o s .
t h a t we know a b o u t P l i n i o a f t e r
7rom t h e o t h e r b o o k s we w i l l
f i n d o u t w h e t h e r he i s m a r r i e d or w h e t h e r he i s a b a c h e l o r ,
l'/e w i l l l e a r n where he l i k e s t o go in t h e e v e n i n g s and w i t h
whom.
We w i l l f i n d o u t what he t h i n k s a b o u t b i g c i t i e s ,
h i s job and many o t h e r t h i n g s .
1o
Don L o t a r i o i s
each n o v e l .
one of t h e c h a r a c t e r s whom we m e e t i n
We w i l l n o t l e a r n a s much a b o u t him a s we w i l l
l e a r n a b o u t P l i n i o , b u t s i n c e he i s
many p e o p l e c a l l P l i n i o ? we w i l l
t o know h i m ,
so c l o s e
to Manuel, as
spend a l i t t l e
time g e t t i n g
too.
Don L o t a r i o i s a v e t e r i n a r i a n b y p r o f e s s i o n .
He i s
c a r r i e d and h a s d a u g h t e r s , b u t we do n o t know how many.
T h i s v e t e r i n a r i a n i s a s m a l l man, s o s m a l l t h a t he n e e d s
two b i g p i l l o w s u n d e r him when d r i v i n g h i s
old Ford.
He
w e a r s h i s h a t s o low t h a t one can b a r e l y s e e h i s s u s p i c i o u s
eye v..
He i s v e r y a c t i v e i n s o l v i n g c r i m e s o r , more a c c u -
rately,
in helping P l i n i o to solve
r e s p e c t f o r P l i n i o , who, i n h i s
man i n t h e w o r l d .
of t h e m e I o n e r o a
t
them.
opinion,
He h a s a g r e a t
is
A f t e r P l i n i o has solved
the g r e a t e s t
the murders
Don L o t a r i o t e l l s h i m , " E r e s muy g r a n d e ,
M a n u e l , p e r o que muy g r a n d e . H e
then walks away, "con
1 o s o j os humed o s . "
It
seems t h a t G a r c i a Pavon h a s c r e a t e d
the c h a r a c t e r
of Don L o t a r i o t o p l a y t h e p a r t of t h e c o n f i d a n t t o whom
t h e p r o t a g o n i s t can e x p r e s s h i s m o s t i n t i m a t e
thoughts.
gain a g r e a t deal
of knowledge a b o u t P l j . n i o t h r o u g h t h i s
1i t e r a r y d e v i c e .
He i s ,
i n a s e n s e , w h a t Watson was t o
S h e r l o c k Holmes.
' ' " F r a n c i s c o G a r c i a Pa v o n , Los c a r r o s v a c i o s ( M a d r i d ,
1965), p. 98.
We
13
Progressively, Plinio and Don Lotario will have deeper
and more frequent discussions as we proceed through the
novels.
In Los carros vacios the two friends converse
little.
Even during the trip they take to the "Cuestas,"
Plinio either sleeps or prefers to sit in silence.
This same trip to the "Cuestas" gives us a clear example of the lack of descriptions in Los carros vacios.
Plinio sleeps most of the way, and there is no mention of
the scenery they pass.
If this trip had taken place in any
of the three last novels that we will study, we would know
what kind of places they saw, what kind of people they met,
and how Plinio and Don Lotario were feeling.
The amount of
de tail in the descripti on progresses with each novel.
In
Las hermanas coloradas, for example, there is a marvelous
description of the things that Plinio observes from the
train on the way from Tomelloso to Madrid.
However, there is not a total lack of descripti ons in
Los carros vacios.
Here is a "beautiful moment when Don Lotario
and Plinio are sitting on the bank of the river Guadiana
near Tomelloso:
El fresco olor de los alamos creaba el ambiente.
El agua del rio se deslizaba con un murmullo blando,
casi imperceptible. El suave viento movia levemente
las alzadas puntas de los chopos y los cipreses. A
la izquierda, el pueblo entre sus cales. A la derecha,
la llanura se despejaba bajo un sol desmedido.^
2
Ibid, , pp. 52-53.
14
The only character description of any detail is of a
girl whom Plinio meets in the house where Chavico, the murderer, is eating and drinking:
Sentada en una banca, a medio vestir, habia una
mozona morena de descomunal esqueleto.
Por cima de la sabana, con la que intentaba
cubrirse el pecho, mostraba sus brazos musculoaos
y tapizados de vello negro. Con el cabello revuelto
y unos impresionantes o jos claros, o jos casi irracionales, miraba a los recien liegados empavorecida.3
As an example of another type of description in Los
carros vacfos we will quote here a passage from an incident
that took place after the third murder, that of Severo
e] Tostado:
Corriendo, desgrenadas, enloquecidas, llegaban
la mujer y la hija de el Tostao. La gente las deJo
pasar con respeto. Las dos mujeres se lanzaron al
interior del carro con los brazos extendidos. Como
el cadaver estaba en las bolsas del carro y este era
alto, desde el suelo no llegaban al cuerpo con las manos. En vano las tendian hacia el muerto. La hi ia,
moza de unos treinta anos, morena y rechoncha, dio
un salto desmanado, mostrando a todos los presentes
lo que no era del momento. Y ya sobre el carro, se
abalanzo sobre el cadaver de su padre entre gritos y
lagrimas.
La madre, en vano intentaba sal tar al carro,
hasta que dos vendedoras de la plaza, enternecidas,
tomandola de las axilas, la echaron al interior de
las bolsas, donde cayo revuel ta con su hija y el. muerto.
Sin dejar de gritar, echadas sobre el, pugnaban
por be sari o y acariciarl o, con furia. 4
The 1anguage in general of the detective novels of
Garcia Pavon changes with each succeeding novel.
3
*
For
»
Francisco Garcia Pavon, Los carros vacfos (Madrid.
1965), p. 69.
4
Ibid., p. 15.
15
e x a n p l e , the a u t h o r u s e s ' n each new honk c o l l o q u i a l words
and e x p r e s s i o n s t o r e and more f r e q u e n t l y .
The language of Los c a r r o s v a c i o a i s s i m p l e , s t a n d a r d
Spanish w i t h few c o l l o q u i a l i s m s .
The only p e r s o n who
s p e a k s the d i a l e c t of l a Mancha i s La R o c ' o , the owner of
the b u n o l e r i a .
She s a y s :
"Entonse e s t a a r 1? e g a , "
or
£
"En "la coseeha de l o *nel one, ni na de mi a r m a , "
" T o s t a i t o nos ha s a l i o e r d ' a ,
eh,
or
i e f e ? , p e r o que mu
tostaito.
D e s p i t e the few 1;! t e r a r y m e r i t s of Los c a r r o s v a c i o s ,
;
t i s an e n j o y a b l e book, e s p e c i a l l y b e c a u s e of P l i n i o , who,
a s l i t t l e a s we know a b o u t him y e t , i s a l r e a d y our f r i e n d .
^ F r a n c i s c o G a r c i a Pavon, Los c a r r o s v a c / o s (Madrid,
1965), p. 11.
IbLd. , p . 11.
I b i d , j p . 12.
2 HAP "EE R I I I
E I OARNAVAL
The p l o t of E l e a r n a v a l d e a l s w i t h t h e d e a t h s of an
old s e r v a n t and h e r m i s t r e s s .
E v e r y n i g h t A n t o n i a , an o l d
s e r v a n t i n t h e house of Don On of r e , g o e s t o buy m i l k .
The
l a s t n i g h t of t h e c a r n a v a l i n T o m e l l o s o , h o w e v e r , she d o e s
n o t go a l one.
She i s f o l l o w e d by a masque r a c i e r , who b e a t s
h e r w i t h an i r o n s t a f f , l e a v i n g h e r d e a d .
S i n c e t h e masked
k i l l e r h a s d i s a p p e a r e d i n t o a crowd of masked f i g u r e s ,
P l i n i o knows t h a t t h e c a s e w i l l be d i f f i c u l t .
He g o e s t o t a l k t o Don O n o f r e , who d e n i e s h a v i n g any
i n f o r m a t i o n about the murder.
L e a v i n g Don O n o f r e ' s h o u s e ,
P l i n i o f i n d s a t h e a t e r t i e k e t s t u b t h a t h a s t h e name of t h e
t h e a t e r and t h e d a t e of t h e m u r d e r .
The f o l l o w i n g day P l i n i o g o e s t o s e e Dona Carmen, w i f e
of Don O n o f r e .
She i s a woman whose o n l y h a p p y moments a r e
t h o s e s p e n t t h i n k i n g a b o u t h e r e x - f i a n c e , who d i e d l o n g
ago.
The only m e a n i n g f u l i n f o r m a t i o n t h a t P l i n i o g e t s from
Dona Carmen i s
t h a t s h e , h e r h u s b a n d and J o a q u i n i t a , t h e
b e a u t i f u l and young maid of Dona Carmen, were a t home a t
t h e time of t h e m u r d e r .
Some time l a t e r Dona Carmen g e t s v e r y i l l .
A week
l a t e r h e r d o c t o r t e l l s P l i n i o t h a t the i l l n e s s has passed
16
17
the crisis; however, that same day she dies.
Don Onofre
tells Plinio that he discovered that his wife was dead when
he went bo kiss her good night,
Joaquini ta was sitting at
the "bedside of her mistress, but she says that "because of
the darkness she noticed nothing unusual.
Officially, the
cause of death is listed as a heart attack, but the doctor
suspects something else.
After several months Don On of re and J oaquini ta are
married.
At about this time, Plinio finds the iron staff,
the murder weapon, and a sheet, which he suspects to be a
part of the killer's carnaval disguise,
Plinio finds the
articles carefully hidden in the theater, which he decided
to search because of the ticket stub found at Don Onofre's
home.
From the initials on the sheet, Plinio believes that
the sheet belonged to Don Onofre's former wife.
After the wedding, Joaquinita and her husband move to
the country.
When Plinio shows Don Onofre the articles he
has found at the theater, Don Onofre admits that they belong
to his house.
Later, Plinio and Don lotario visit Joaquinita,
whom they find talking with her father, Tnocente.
Both the
father and the daughter deny any knowledge of the murders.
Tnocente denounces Don Onofre as the murderer of Antonia,
saying that his daughter saw him leave the house, wearing a
military suit and carrying a bundle under his arm, shortly
before the murder took place.
Joaquinita believes that
Dona Carmen was also killed by her husband.
18
Plinio takes Inocente and Joaquinita to the police
station and goes to see Don unofre, who insists now that
he did kill his wife and the servant.
Plinio, however.
He cannot convince
Upon examining the military uniform sup-
posedly worn by Don Onofre on the night of the murder,
Plinio at once decides that it is much to small for Don
Onofre but that it would fit Inocente perfectly.
Confronted
with this evidence, Inocente confesses.
After the confession, Plinio learns that Antonia had
threatened to tell Dona Carmen that Joaquinita and Don
Onofre were having an affair.
Inocente and his daughter
made plans to get rid of the two women who stood in the
way of Joaquinita's marriage to this wealthy man.
Inocente
killed Antonia, and Joaquinita smothered Dona Carmen with a
pillow.
Don Onofre had been totally unaware of Joaquinita's
and her father's actions.
El carnaval is one of the two novelettes in a book
entitled Historias de Plinio.
Garcia Pavon says in the
introduction to this book that the praise he received for
los carros vacios prompted him to write two new novelettes
about Plinio, El carnaval and El charco de sangre.
on, saying:
He goes
"Aunque estos ultimos 'casos' son completamente
imaginados, procuro retratar o reinventar tipos reales o
19
propios del ambiente.
Casos y tipos en proporcion eon el
marco popular y la modesta ejecutoria de mi 'agente'
Plinlo.
Plot is emphasized over characterization and style in
"both El carnaval and Los carros vacios,
However, when we
compare the two books we notice a small progression toward
a literary detective novel.
This can be judged mainly by
the increasing amount of detail and description we find in
J|1 carnaval.
The content of this novelette is divided into
narrative and descriptive passages.
The descriptive pas-
sages are found mainly in the beginning of the book.
Here
the author follows the wanderings of the killer of Antonia
from a place near the cemetery of Tomelloso to the house of
Don Onofre.
Following the killer, we are presented a de-
tailed description of the carnaval festivities in Tomelloso.
Especially vivid are the descriptions of the carnaval costumes of the residents and an outdoor theatrical presentation.
The descriptions in El carnaval are still simple observations.
There is hardly any interpretation of the scenes presented,
only objective reporting of physical appearances and occurrences.
In places the description is quite detailed, as with
the following view of a boy in the street:
Era un mozo muy fornido.
Llevaba la cara manchada
^Francisco Garcia Pavon, Historias de Plinio (Barcelona, 1967), p. 10.
20
de pimenton. Se vestia con una chambra de mujer,
panuelo a la cabeza, tambien de mujer, cortisima falda
que apenas le cubria los muslos; medias negras que
forraban sua enormes piernas y alpargatas blancas.
Tenia un aspecto grotesco y terrible a la vez. A
pesar de ser honibre, las prendas de mujer sugerfan una
oscura impudicia.2
The greater part of the book is devoted almost solely
to telling the story.
There is very little detail that is
not necessary for the understanding of the plot.
The whole narration is a flashback told in the third
person.
After solving the crimes, Plinio reconstructs all
the events, beginning with the journey of the disguised
Inocente to his victim.
It is a day by day narration;
everything is told in correct chronological sequence.
One important characteristic that pertains to all of
the detective novels of Garcia Pavon and that should be mentioned here is the author's accurate geographical knowledge
of the places that he describes.
The author has lived for
years in Tomelloso, where all except one of the novels are
set, and in Madrid, where Las hermanas coloradas is staged.
When we read about the different streets and taverns, the
Ayuntamiento, or the plaza of Tomelloso, we feel that we
have been there.
In addition to the description of the carnaval itself,
there are a few interesting costumbrista elements in El
carnaval.
2
For example, there is an explanation of the
Ibid., p. 20.
21
custom of breaking old porcelain and ringing bells in front
of the house of a newly married couple.
The author describes
a "cencerra," as it is called, outside Don Onofre's house
the day that he and Joaquini ta were married.
In El earnaval the character descriptions are still
very basic, but just as description becomes more detailed,
Plinio's character is more fully developed.
he has a wife and a daughter.
We learn that
We do not know yet what their
names are, how Plinio feels about them, or how they feel
about him.
The only time they appear in the novel is when
Plinio takes them to a dance.
Afte^ reading the other novels,
we will know that this was a special occasion for the wife
and the daughter, for the only other time that he goes anywhere with them is in las hermanas coloradas, when they go
to the bus station to see him off to Madrid.
But even then,
they have to wait outside while Plinio and Don Lotario have
a cup of coffee on the way to the station.
People of Cornelloso have such great confidence -In Plinio
as the "jefe de la Guardia Municipal" that it is said that
they wi sh that there were more crimes in ^omelloso, so that
they could see Plinio solve them.
When there are no crimes
to be solved, Plinio gets very bored and spends entire days
at the casino reading magazines.
Eecause of his prestige
as a policeman, Plinio associates occasionally with the
upper class of Cornelloso, but he always likes to stay humble and keep his distance.
22
The d i s c u s s i o n s 'between Don l o t a r i o and P l i n i o c o n c e r n , i n El_ c a r n a v a l
a s i n I.os c a r r o s v a c i o s ,
a t h a n d , and t h e y r e v e a l
two men,
little
the
crime
of t h e c h a r a c t e r of t h e s e
C o n v e r s a t i o n s b e t w e e n the two t a k e on an i n c r e a s -
i n g l y p e r s o n a l c h a r a c t e r in succeeding- n o v e l s .
The l a n g u a g e of E l c a r n a v a l i s s i m p ! e and i t s c o l l o q u i a l vocabulary i s again l i m i t e d
La
t o t h e few s e n t e n c e s of
Roc 10:
— L e a r v i e r t o q u e a mf n o m e : m p o r t a r i a q u e me m a t a r a n e s t a n d o usted v i v o , porque t a r d e o t e m p r a n o
d a b a con er cr.im.ina . . .
» . . — i A y , M a n u e d e ml a r m a !
Si n o e s t u v i e s e ya
c a s a o y t a n p o c h i t o , que se c a s a b a u s t e d conmi g o l o
saben 1 o s g u a r d i a s , I d i g o ! 3
T h e r e i s on the w h o l e , h o w e v e r , l i t t l e p r o g r e s s i o n
i n E l c a r n a v a l t o w a r d t h e e x t r e m e l y r e a l i s t i c l a n g u a g e of
Las. he rm an a s c o l o r a d a s *
Tn c o n c l u s i o n , El_ c a r n a v a l
is s t i l l
b a s i c a l l y a detec-
t i v e s t o r y , b u t i t d o e s have c h a r a c t e r i s t i c s t h a t p r o v e
a d e f i n i t e development toward a d e t e c t i v e s t o r y w i t h high
artistic qualities.
I n t h e n e x t c h a p t e r we w i l l t a k e a n -
o t h e r s t e p toward t h i s g o a l .
tj
^
- " F r a n c i s c o Garcia P a v o n ,
c e l o n a , 1 9 6 7 ) , p- 9 2 .
H i s tori a s de P l l n l o (Bar-
CHAPTER IV
EL CHARCO DE SANGRE
Someone had been killed near the Tomelloso railroad
station.
Finding out who the victim is and who the killer
is constitutes basically the plot of El charco de sangre.
One night Plinio and Don Lotario discover a pool of
"blood on the ground near the raiIroad station.
The h].ood
cannot have been there more than half an hour because it
has not coagulated yet.
Plinio suspects that their dis-
covery has something to do with the people who arrived on
the train an hour earlier.
Nobody at the station has seen or heard anything suspicious.
Plinio asks everyone present to list the names of
the people who either arrived on the train or were waiting
at the station.
The following day, Plinio learns that the
blood is human blood, and he organizes a search for the
people on the list acquired the night before.
The police
locate everyone except Sebastian Caraicero from Alcazar,
ex-fiance of Margarita, the daughter of Don Jeronimo.
A call to Alcazar confirms that Garnicero came to
Tomelloso on the night of the murder and that he had a
midnight appointment with Joaquin Fernandez, who works at
23
the bank.
Fernandas t e l l s P l i n i o
that Carnicero f a i l e d to
"keep the a p p o i n t m e n t .
The f o l l o w i n g d a y , "Don J e r o n i m o and hi s d a u g h t e r
"•Carpari t a l e a v e town.
Q u e s t i o n i n g M a r g a r i t a ' s two b r o t h e r s ,
P l i n i o i s t o l d t h a t t h e y were i n Ciudad Real
on t h e n 1 ' g h t
of t h e 'irurder, though P l i n i o r e c a l l s h a v i n g s e e n t h e i r
f a t h e r a t h i s c l u b i n Tome 11 oso on t h e n i g h t i n q u e s t i o n .
S e v e r a l months l a t e r ,
given b i r t h to a baby,
P l i n i o ""earns t h a t M a r g a r i t a h a s
T
Ie s u s p e c t s t h a t C a r n i c e r o was t h e
b a b y ' s f a t h e r and t h a t Don J e r o n i n n ' 3 f a m i l y k i l l e d him f o r
vengeance.
G a r n i c e r o ' s p h o t o g r a p h found n e a r Cinoo Oasas
l e a d s " P l i n i o and Don L o t a r i o t o a d e e p , abandoned w e 1 ! ,
where t h e y s u b s e q u e n t l y f i n d t h e body of C a r n i c e r o .
When
P l i n i o i n t e r r o g a t e s "Rl O h i r i m o y a , a m e n t a l l y r e t a r d e d nan
who e n t e r t a i n s h i m s e l f by w a t c h i n g t r a i n s a r r i v e a t and
d e p a r t .from T o - n e l l o s o , he now h a s an e y e w i t n e s s t o t h e crime,
"SI Chirirnoya t e l l s him t h a t he saw M a r g a r i t a ' s two b r o t h e r s
kill
C a r n i c e r o n e a r the s t a t i o n .
C o n f r o n t e d w i t h PI L n i o ' s e v i d e n c e ,
f e s s t o t h e m u r d e r and e v e n t u a l l y r e l a t e
cri~ne.
the b r o t h e r s cont h e d e t a i l s of t h e
D u r i n g a l o n g - d i s t a n c e c a l l from Ciudad Real
to
T c m e l l o s o , t h r o u g h t h e s h e e r a c c i d e n t of a c r o s s e d t e l e p h o n e
c o n n e c t i o n , one of t h e b r o t h e r s o v e r h e a r d a c o n v e r s a t i o n
b e t w e e n C a r n i c e r o and J o a q u i n F e r n a n d e z .
A f t e r l e a r n i n g in
t h i s manner of C a r n i c e r o ' s a p p o i n t m e n t i n T o u e l l o s o , t h e
brothers laid
t h e i r plans f o r the crime,
The r e s t was
9- qx
a l m o s t a s P l i n i o had s u s p e c t e d .
R e a l b y c a r and a r r i v e d
time as G a r n i c e r o ' s
the abandoned well
train,
the c a r ,
that
the w e l l .
found n e a r the well
would k i l l
Plinio
The c r i m e c o m p l e t e d ,
that if
him a g a i n ,
they drive back to
Totally unrepentant,
alive,
i s h c o n c e p t of pun don o r a s t h e m o t i v e
and
the a t t a c k
f o r the murder.
t h e h o n o r of t h e J e r o n i m o f a . m i l y
T h e r e f o r e , as the people
t h e s o n s of Don J e r o n i m o b e i n g t a k e n
in t h e i r h e a r t s
that
w a s h i n g away t h e d i s h o n o r
P l i n i o knows t h a t
it
old Span-
on t h e i r h o n o r m u s t b e a v e n g e d b y t h e s h e d -
d i n g of b l o o d .
feel
they
times i f necessary.
I n El_ c h a r c o de s a n g r e G a r c i a Pa von u s e s t h e
Garni c e r o h a s t a r n i s h e d
from
the body from t h e
Garni c e r o w e r e s t i l l
a thousand
They b e l i e v e
must have f a l l e n
t h e y were c a r r y i n g
Ci u d a d Real, t o e s t a b l i s h t h e i r a l i b i .
they tell
f r i e n d from t h e hank
They s t a b b e d h i m , p u t him
a n d t h r e w h i s "body i n t o
t o the w e l l .
and
V/hen O a r n i c e r o saw t h e " b r o t h e r s , i t
Garni c e r o ' s p o c k e t w h i l e
car
t h e y a g r e e d upon
t h e i r car near the s t a t i o n
f o r him t o e s c a p e .
the p i c t u r e
t h e same
f o r G a r n i c e r o ' s "body.
Garnicero that his
was w a i t i n g f o r him.
in
°n t h e w a y ,
as a hiding place
a s k e d a 'boy t o t e l l
t h e y l e f t Ci u d a d
in ^omelloco almost a t
In Tomelloso they parked
was t o o l a t e
It eight
to the pri son,
they
the b r o t h e r s have done r i g h t
i.n
of t h e i r s i s t e r w i t h b l o o d .
the Jeronimos are
cones to a n y t h i n g t h a t has
When a member o f
of T o r n e l l o s o w a t c h
t o do w i t h
the f a m i l y d i e s
f i e r c e p e o p l e when
their family.
t h e y mourn f o r t e n y e a r s .
26
P l i n i o s a y s t h a t t h e i r c o n c e p t of h o n o r and of t h e dead
i s t h a t of t h e time of ^ a r l c a s t a n a .
Whoever a b u s e s t h e i r
s i s t e r h a s t o he k i l l e d w i t h o u t p i t y .
P l i n i o f e e l s t h a t the
f a m i l y h a s done w h a t t h e i r c o n s c i e n c e h a s t o l d t h e n t o d o .
They c o u l d n e v e r f o r g i v e .
I n El c h a r c o de s a n g r e G a r c i a Pavon h a s come a l o n g way
i n t h e d e v e l o p m e n t of a l i t e r a r y d e t e c t i v e n o v e l .
of m e r e l y r e l a t i n g t h e d e t a i l s of t h e p l o t ,
Instead
f a c t by f a c t ,
n t e r + w i n e d i n t e r e s t i n g d e s c r i p t i o n s and
the a u t h o r has
d e t a i l s t h a t g i v e t h e s t o r y a r t i s t i c q u a l i t i e s we have n o t
seen i n
the f i r s t two n o v e l s .
The a u t h o r h a s c r e a t e d an a t m o s p h e r e of t h e v i n t a g e
season t h a t p e n e t r a t e s the e n t i r e s t o r y .
We f i n d i n t e r e s t i n g
d e s c r i p t i o n s t h a t t e l l u s what h a p p e n s i n a s m a l l town d u r i n g
the v i n t a g e :
how the g r a p e s a r e b r o u g h t t o town, how t h e y
a r e p r o c e s s e d and what goes on when t h e b u y e r s and s e l l e r s
b a r g a i n a b o u t t h e p r i c e of g r a p e s .
In a l l
of h i s d e t e c t i v e n o v e l s G a r c i a Pavon u s e s some
abnormal c h a r a c t e r s .
the d e s c r i p t i o n
I n Los c a r r o s v a c i o s we q u o t e d e a r l i e r
of t h e e p i l e p t i c g i r l w i t h m a s c u l i n e t r a i t s .
I n KL e a r n a v a l we r e a d a b o u t Dona Carmen, who had l o s t a l l
s e n s e of r e a l i t y and l i v e d d r e a m i n g of t h e p a s t .
In El
c h a r e o de s a n g r e we f i n d El O h i r l m o y a , t h e m e n t a l l y r e t a r d e d
man who l i k e s
bicycle.
to w a t c h t h e t r a i n s and t o r i d e h i s new
Another e x t r e m e l y i n t e r e s t i n g
figure introduced
i n t h e n o v e l i s A n d r e s , a b l i n d man who owns a house of
?1
p r o s t i t u t i o n and Ls one of P l i n i o ' s b e s t s o u r c e s of i n f o r mation.
A l s o , we Tieet some of the p r o s t i t u t e s who work i n
the "Casa d e l C i e g o . "
I n s h o r t , "by the time we f i n i s h
El c h a r c o de s an gre P l i n i o ' s c i r c l e of a c q u a i n t a n c e s h a s
"been g r e a t l y expanded and Garcia Pavon has proven h i m s e l f
t o be a c a r e f u l o b s e r v e r of p e o p l e , h i g h l y t a l e n t e d i n the
a r t of c h a r a c t e r i z a t i o n .
ther developed.
I n t h i s book Don L o t a r i o i s f u r -
We l e a r n t h a t h i s f e e l i n g s toward P l i n i o
a r e n o t always those of g r e a t r e s p e c t and t r u s t .
,','e l e a r n
t h a t he i s v e r y human i n h i s f e e l i n g s , b e i n g t e r r i b l y j e a l ous when P l i n i o s o l v e s some of the d e t a i l s of the case w i t h o u t
his aid.
from him.
He o f t e n s u s p e c t s t h a t P l i n i o i s h i d i n g some t h i n g
Even though he knows t h a t p l i n i o h a s proven
a g a i n and a g a i n t h a t he t a k e s Don l o t a r i o c o m p l e t e l y i n t o
h i s c o n f i d e n c e , he c a n n o t avoid the m i s t r u s t .
Sometimes
i n h i s i m a g i n a t i o n Don l o t a r i o even m a g n i f i e s and deforms
the p e r s o n a l i t y of P l i n i o t o the p o i n t of s e e i n g him a s
a s l y f o x , c a p a b l e of d u p l i c i t y .
f o r m a t i o n i s more e x t e n u a t e d :
At o t h e r t i m e s the d e -
P l i n i o seems t o him so
i n t e l l i g e n t and c a p a b l e of such advanced i n v e s t i g a t i o n t h a t
Don L o t a r i o c a n n o t comprehend i t ,
and he f e e l s t h a t P l i n i o
does n o t want t o l o w e r h i m s e l f t o e x p l a i n I t t o him,
Don L o t a r i o n o r m a l l y c o n s i d e r s h i m s e l f an ordi n a r y
person.
At times he g e t s e x c i t e d and b e l i e v e s t h a t he i s
comparable t o P l i n i o , b u t t h i s p a s s e s soon.
On the w h o l e ,
he l i k e s h i s p o s i t i o n ; P l i n i o i s t h e g r e a t c h i e f and he i s
28
a u s e f u l a s s i s t a n t , "because of h i s f i d e l i t y and e s p e c i a l l y
"because of h i s F o r d ,
Plinio,
He c o u l d n o t l i v e w i t h o u t h e l p i n g
His p r o f e s s i o n , h i s money, h i s f a r m s — a l l l o s e
their interest
f o r him when a " c a s e " i s a t h a n d .
At t i m e s
Don L o t a r i o t h i n k s t h a t t h e r e i s one t h i n g t h a t P l i n i o n e v e r
would he a b l e t o do b u t t h a t he h i m s e l f w o u l d :
t h e memoirs of t h e i r m u t u a l a d v e n t u r e s .
to w r i t e
He c o u l d make P l i n i o
famous.
7/e l e a r n more a b o u t Don L o t a r i o when P l i n i o a r r a n g e s a
p l a n t o c a t c h El O h i r i m o y a .
Here Don L o t a r i o i s g e t t i n g
i m p a t i e n t in h i s h i d i n g p l a c e :
D u r a n t e media b o r a l a r g a , a p a r t e de un p e r r o o l i s quean t e , n o p a s 6 n a d i e ; don L o t a r i o no s a b i a bi.en que
h a c e r , s i f u m a r o no f u m a r , s i h a c e r a g u a s o n o h a c e r l a s ,
P o r f i n d e c i d i o r e z a r a l g o en l a t i n , que s a b i a d e s d e
n i n o , aunque no 1o r e c o r d a b a b i e n . l u e g o , d e s c u b r i o
l a l u c e c i l i a d e l c i g a r r o de M a l e z a , que se o c u l t a b a
e n t r e l a s s o m b r a s , en f r e n t e de e l , a c i e r t a d i s t a r i c i a ,
y con e s t o se e n t r e t u v o un r a t o . », Poco a poco se 1 e
f u e e l m i e d o , y , a b u r r i d o de t o d o , comenzo a j u g a r a
que m a t a b a i n v i s i b l e s e n e m i g o s .
Apuntaba con e l r e v o l v e r , y . . . ipum!1
Don T o t a r i o a l s o shows u s a more p o e t i c p a r t of c h a r a c t e r
i n E l c h a r c o de s a n g r e .
I n t h e f o l l o w i n g p a s s a g e he d e -
s c r i b e s t h e waves of t h e s e a
the ocean:
f
;o P l i n i o , who h a s n e v e r s e e n
"Vienc-n con mucha f u e r z a , como p a r a comerse e l
• n u n d o . . . Y l u e g o , n a d a , se vuel ven c a n s a d a s , r o t a s , e chart do
o
e s puma de r a b i a . " ^
1
F r a n c i s c o G a r c f a Pa v o n , His t o r i a s de P l i n i o ("Barc e l o n a , 1 9 6 7 ) , p . 200,
?
T b i d . , p . 166,
29
Tn El c h a r c o de s a n g r e P l i n i o , too, becomes a much more
rounded c h a r a c t e r than he has been b e f o r e .
His r o l e i n
t h i s book i s c o n s i d e r a b l y more i m p o r t a n t t h a n i n the p r e vious n o v e l s .
I n the e a r l i e r n o v e l s he was, of c o u r s e , the
c e n t r a l , f i g u r e , b u t he was i m p o r t a n t m a i n l y a s a d e t e c t i v e ;
i n El c h a r c o de s a n g r e he becomes i m p o r t a n t a s a p e r s o n a s
well.
? o r the f i r s t time many p a s s a g e s a r e s p e n t e x p l a i n i n g
h i s m o t i v a t i o n s and h i s way of r e a s o n i n g #
A l s o , f o r the
f i r s t t i m e , "Don I a t a r i o and P l i n i o have ] on^ d i s c u s s i o n s
that, e n a b l e us t o know b o t h of them b e t t e r ,
We l e a r n a b i t a b o u t P l i n i o ' s p a s t when he v i s i t s a
bodega where h i s f a t h e r used t o work and where P l i n i o went
to w a i t f o r him a f t e r s c h o o l .
At t h a t bodepa P l i n i o had
g o t t e n drunk when he was a l i t t l e boy.
Some m u l e t e e r s had
given him so much wine t h a t h i s f a t h e r had to c a r r y him
home.
P l i n i o had a l s o worked a t the b o d e g a , b u t he d i s l i k e d
the j o b .
A f t e r he came home from the m i l i t a r y s e r v i c e and
.ie wad o f f e r e d a p o s t as the ' ' J e f e de l a Guardia M u n i c i p a l , "
he a c c e p t e d i t .
One of the t h i n g s t h a t makes the r e a d e r l i k e P l i n i o so
much i s the f a c t t h a t even though he i s the h e r o who s o l v e s
all
the c r : me3 and i s p u t on t h e p e d e s t a l by the p e o p l e who
know him, he s t i l l
i n very human; he makes m i s t a k e s and
o f t e n snows a l m o s t c h i l d i s h e n t h u s i a s m , as he does the
morning on which he wears h i s new u n i f o r m f o r the f i r s t
time.
30
, . . Y Manuel Gonzalez se v i s t i o ague11a manana c a s i
con emocion. Los b o t o n e s d o r a d o s y l o s v i v o s r o j o s
d e l uni f orme d e s t a c a b a n sob r e e l r e c i o pano azul o s c u r o . La g o r r a y l a p e l l i z a tambien e r a n de e s t r e n o . P a r a que no f a l t a s e d e t a l l e se l u s t r o l a s b o t a s
y l i m p i o l a empunadura y o o n t e r a d e l s a b l e con " S i d o l " ;
y e l r e v o l v e r ni quel a d o , c on bi c a r b o n a t o .
I b a r a d i a n t e con su uni forme c a l l e S o c u e l l a m o s
a b a j o . Casi l e daba v e r g u e n z a rairar a l a g e n t e . En
t a l s i t u a c i on y e s t a d o de anirno, p e n s o que l o me j or
s e r f a i r a que l o v i e s e R o c i o . 3
When t h e r e i s no c a s e t o s o l v e P l i n i o g e t s v e r y d i s p i r i t e d and even c o n s i d e r s c h a n g i n g h i s p r o f e s s i o n ; when he
s t a r t s t o work on a new c a s e he i s n e r v o u s .
He i s a v e r y
c a u t i o u s -nan who wants t o be a b s o l u t e l y s u r e b e f o r e making
judgments.
He e x p r e s s e s c l e a r l y h i s d i s d a i n f o r s c i e n t i f i c
methods i n s o l v i n g c r i m e s .
He s a y s t h a t a l l c r i m e s can be
s o l v e d by u n d e r s t a n d i n g p e o p l e and u s i n g o n e ' s b r a i n .
The a t m o s p h e r e of t h e v i n t a g e s e a s o n does n o t go u n n o t i c e d by P l i n i o .
This y e a r , more than e v e r , he g e t s
involved with the v i n t a g e .
He goes down t o the road t o see
the c a r t s a r r i v e loaded with g r a p e s .
He f o l l o w s them t o be
w e i g h e d , he t a s t e s them, and he even goes t o t h e p i t where
t h e y a r e p r e s s e d and c o n v e r t e d t o w i n e .
"En a q u e l l o s d i a s
de l a v e n d i m i a , P l i n i o se s e n t ' a mas 1 i g a d o a su t i e r r a que
n u n c a ; e l o l o r a m c s t o , e l unanime t r a j i n a r , l a i l u s i o n
c ornun l e gu s t a b a n . "4of the v i n t a g e :
3
He l i k e d t o be p a r t of t h e s p e c t a c l e
"Loo c a r r o s a r r i m a d os a l a p i q u e r a y
I b i d . . p . 195.
4
I b i d . , p . 141.
31
descargando a golpe de azada . . . Los pisadores, medio desnudos, ehapoteando en el oscuro jaraiz . . . Los carros que
5
llegaban del corte cargados de vendimiadores cantando . .
The atmosphere of the vintage is present everywhere.
We experience it at the bank of Tomelloso, where men crowd
to the windows with their checks and notes from the vintage
in their hands.
We see a fat man, Bombero, and his small,
sad wife come in carrying coins.
He looks very proud, with
a cigar in his mouth, showing his money to his friends.
His wife walks behind him, bashful, as if she were ashamed.
The vintage season is also strongly felt at the casino:
En el Casino se notaba la euforia de la vendimia.
La gente, vestida de trapillo, entraba y salia como
excitada. Hasta los senoritos iban sin corbata y con
trajes usados, para demostrar que andaban en plena
actividad.
El motivo de tantas entradas y salidas de los
socios era husmear la cotizacion de la uva en las distintas casas; saber si a fulano o a mengano le "entraban" uvas o no; y, sobre todo, el hacer politica;
los vendedores de uvas procuraban propalar con los
mas ingeniosos argumentos que la cosecha era escasa,
que habfa muchas uvas menos de las que parecfa a simple vista; y que en los pueblos proximos se pagaba el
fruto a mas alto precio.
Por el contrario, los compradores, de manera sutil,
dejaban caer en este y aquel corro que la cosecha era
inmensa, que la uva era mala, de poco grado, y que en
todos sitios se pagaba a menos precio que en Tomelloso.
En este juego, tan viejo como la misma uva, no se
enganaba nadie, porque la realidad tenia una elocuencia
incuestionable, pero era divertido y excitante.6
We see the vintagers at the hotel:
"A la luz amarillenta de
una sola bombilla que habia en el centro, se veia mucha
5
Ibid., p. 141.
6
Ibid. t p. 134.
32
gente, casi hacinada, durmiendo vestida, sobre sacos, entre
maletas viejas y hatillos.
7
El ambiente, espeso, olfa a
paja y a sudor."
When the vintage is coming to an end, Plinio and Don
Lotario are sitting near the station, watching the vintagers
pass by:
Y llegaban con las raulas enjaezadas a lo majo, con
arneses bordados de tachuelas doradas, borla roja en la
cabezada y tiros de lujo. Los carros venian ornados de
guirnaldas de pampanos y papeles de seda.
El carrero, en el estribo. Y las vendimiadoras,
bien coloradas, a ambos lados del carro. A1 entrar en
el pueblo cantaban a toda voz jotas y seguidillas.
Deambulaban los carros vendimiadores por todas
las calles del pueblo, y concurrfan en la plaza, en
corapetencia de majeza de arreos, gallardia de raulas e
intensidad en el canto.
El atardecer del final de vendimia, entre el polvo
incendiado por un sol sanguinolento, era un jubileo de
carros, de pampanos secos y cantares.®
Of the detective novels whose action takes place primarily in Tomelloso, El charco de sangre is probably the
richest in costumbrista elements.
While the author has
made no major change in his style in this novel, he has
included, as we have noted, far more detail in description,
both of places and of people.
The colloquial vocabulary is
still limited to a few sentences of La Rocio and some gypsies;
it does not approach the colorful style of Las hermanas coloradas , a novel which is quite rich in tacos and dialectical expressions.
7
Ibid. , p. 13?.
The novel as a whole, however,
8
Ibid., pp. 162-163
33
represents a major step toward a truly "literary" detective
novel.
An even larger step is taken in El reinado de Witiza,
which we shall examine in the following chapter.
CHAPTER V
EL REINADQ DE WITIZA
I n El r e i n a d o de f i t i z a the body of an old man has "been
found i n someone e l s e ' s b u r i a l v a u l t ,
i t i s P l i n i o ' s Job t o
i d e n t i f y the man and t o f i n d out who l e f t the body i n the
cemetery.
Antonio, known to h i s f r i e n d s as El Faraon, r e p o r t s t o
P l i n i o t h a t someone has c l o s e d the b u r i a l s i t e which he
purchased some time ago a t the cemetery i n Tomelloso.
Exam-
i n a t i o n of the grave r e s u l t s i n the d i s c o v e r y of a c o f f i n cont a i n i n g the embalmed corpse of an old man.
The man i s un-
known, and t h e r e i s no i n d i c a t i o n t h a t he met a v i o l e n t d e a t h .
I n an a t t e m p t to i d e n t i f y the d e c e a s e d , P l i n i o has the
t o d y p u t on d i s p l a y .
Prom the many p o s s i b l e i d e n t i t i e s sug-
g e s t e d by the c i t i z e n s of Tomelloso, P l i n i o narrows the
f i e l d t o two l i k e l y c a n d i d a t e s :
Don I g n a c i o de l a Camara
M a r t i n e z , wealthy owner of the Miralagos e s t a t e , and an old
man of unknown name, seen r e c e n t l y a t a f a i r .
I n v e s t i g a t i n g the f i r s t p o s s i b i l i t y , P l i n i o and Don
L o t a r i o go to H i r a l a g o s to t a l k to Don l t u p e r c i o , the a d m i n i s t r a t o r of Don I g n a c i o , who t e l l s them t h a t h i s m a s t e r l i v e s
abroad and has n o t been a t h i s Miralagos e s t a t e f o r y e a r s .
34
35
Back in Tomelloso, Plinio and Don Lotario learn that a
wealthy lady has arrived from Madrid and identified the
body as that of her husband, from whom she has been separated
for some time.
The following night, unfortunately, the "body
disappears, and the following day Plinio learns that the
husband of the wealthy lady is alive.
turn to Miralagos.
His suspicions now
He goes there with Don Lotario and
discovers that Don Lupercio, the administrator, has stolen
the body and brought it to Miralagos believing it to be that
of his master.
The administrator and an accomplice are taken
to jail, and the body is returned to the cemetery.
Following a clue, Plinio goes to see Jacinto el Pianolo,
a friend of El Faraon.
El Pianolo tells them that one day
a truck brought to his house the coffin with the old man
inside it and a letter from his friend Rufilanchas.
In the
letter Rufilanchas greeted his friend warmly and said that
he hoped that the "gift" he was sending would adorn El Pianolo's
home.
There was no mention of the identity of the man in the
coffin.
El Pianolo decided to extend the joke to El Faraon
and, with the help of his son, sealed the coffin in his
friend's future burial site.
El Pianolo and his son are put
in jail; they are soon set free, however, because of the
illness of El Pianolo's wife, who subsequently dies.
The following morning Plinio, Don Lotario and Matfas,
the gravedigger, find Rufilanchas .in an empty grave, securely
36
bound.
El Paraon, El Pianolo and his son have placed him
there for revenge.
Questioning Rufilanchas, Plinio finally learns the truth.
Rufilanchas, during a recent trip to Madrid, met a group
of medical students at the boardinghouse where he was staying.
The students told him of an old man near death in the hospital who had paid them to embalm his body and send it to
his native Tomelloso for burial.
Since Rufilanchas would
soon be returning to Tomelloso, they asked him to transport the corpse there for them.
Though at first reluctant,
Rufilanchas remembered a trick played on him by El Pianolo
and decided to return the favor by sending him a "gift."
He planned to reclaim the body and give it a proper burial
as soon as he reached Tomelloso.
El Pianolo gives Plinio some personal papers of the
deceased from which it is learned that his name was Don
Fernando Lopez de la Huerta and that he was the man seen
earlier in Tomelloso at the fair.
The case solved, the
body is buried with great respect in the Tomelloso cemetery,
with El Faraon, El Pianolo and the son of the latter serving
as pallbearers.
El relnado de Witiza, a finalist for the Nadal Prize in
1967, differs considerably from the three detective works
of Garcia Pavon that we have examined in the preceding
chapters.
The most outstanding difference is in the language.
37
That of El reinado de Witiza is saturated with colloquialism,
all the characters speaking the language of La Mancha to some
extent.
Some of the local words have been explained in an appendix added by the author.
There we learn that an interesting
word like quiquillcuatre means simply "exactly," and that
£nade means in standard Spanish "un viejo bodeguero que cayo
en una tinaja y estuvo nadando hasta que lo sacaron."
The following short conversation is typical of the ones
we see in El reinado de Witiza.
Here Plinio is talking to
a man at the police station:
— M e dicen que llamo el se,nor Juez.
— N o , e sio yo que er seno Jue esta en Arcasa.
— q u e pasa?
—Pue na, que al Antonio 1'an birlao un nicho»
—iGomo que le han birlao un nicho?
— S i , que le han enterrao un forastero en su patrimonio
. . . Vamo. que ya le van a roba a uno hasta la sepurtura.l
The prose of El reinado de Witiza is at times almost
poetic, as when Plinio is observing butterflies that fly
into the room where the dead body lies:
Algo se movio junto al cristal de la ventana. Era
una mariposa blanca. Quedo durante unos segundos
inmovil. En seguida llegaron mas, blancas tambien.
Serian mariposas nacidas a la vera y al olor de muertos
parvulos y de muertas virgenes. Mariposas tejidas con
mortajas de impuberes y cabellos rubios de mocitas
que en flor tuvieron la suerte de marchar a la otra
ladera, donde siemprfc quedaran govenes intactas. Mariposas, ultimos trasuntos de las viejas familias del lugar: Serranos, Torres, Laras, Cepedas que ahora formabah
"'"Francisco Garcia Pavon, El reinado de Wi ti za (Barcelona, 1968), p. 13.
~
38
una rueda perfecta. Una rueda voladora que entro
por la ventana entreabierta y quedo junto al
cristal.2
The prose is also poetic when Plinio is contemplating
the "beautiful landscape of La Mancha on the way to Miralagos:
A la derecha de la ruta, aguas quietas, matriz del
Guadiana. Aguas anchisimas que ni corren ni ondean.
Ni mar ni n o .
Aguas que se sangran por el pie y conservan la cabeza lucida. Los rfos cantan y la mar mare a , pero el agua de laguna es melancolia. Solo para
mirarse la cara en sus espejos, ver marcharse la tarde
paso a paso y recibir el amanecer en su bandeja. Las
tardes junto a las lagunas son de anoranza . . . Tal vez
las aguas no se hicieron para estar quietas, como ojos
cansados.
Una tras otra: la del Rey, la Golgada, la Tinajilla.
Los bordes pardisuaves del monte enano que( tapiza los oteros se copian en el agua verde. Un breve pinar. Fabricas de la luz, romero y toinillo a la par del
camino. Un leve pescador bianco en la otra orilla. Don
Quijote vio las lagunas con las linternas de sus ojos
encendidas. "Regato, monte, pradera", Espejos de La
Mancha. A la caida de la tarde parecen charcos de
sangre parada. Por la manana, de ambar. Alguna vez,
un viento leve, les pinta rizos, cosquillas de las aguas.
Y, en seguida, quedan tersas. Por ellas viejas andanzas
moriscas, Cervantes con su rumiar esceptico y consolador. Garlistas y liberales. Aqui cazo Prim. De vez en
cuando un pintor, un poeta, cazadores y hombres con
canas, batanes. Luego fabricas de la luz, ahora chalets
y hoteles. Es igual, ellas espejan siempre asi.3
There are numerous descriptions in El reinado de Witiza
that do not express solely what the observer sees, but also
what he hears, what he smells and how he feels.
case in the following passage.
This is the
Plinio and Don Lotario are
sitting one lazy afternoon smoking and contemplating the
panorama of the plaza of Tomelloso:
Aquel plomazo aplastaba las gentes y los coches.
El Ayuntamiento, que estaba a la derecha, parecia sin
2
Ibid., p. 159.
3
Ibld.. pp. 89-90.
39
respiracion, sin guardias, sin alcalde y sin serenos cantores, decoracion vieja de teatro requesta sin motivo.
Enfrente, la Posada de los Portales, con su aire norteno de solaneras, coluranas, almagres y cales, posada de
antiguos arrieros y tratantes <^ue dorrnian en el suelo
escuchando cocear las caballerias sobre la piedra todas las horas de la noche. I a la izquierda del Casino,
la iglesia. Plomo sobre piedra, torre chata y hechuras
sin gracia, donde fueron bautizados cinco siglos de
tomelloseros. Suspiradero de beatas, alivio de afligidos,
oficina de funerales, catalogo de purpurinas y amenes.
Tras este redondel de la Plaza, alrededor de este despeje, se extendfa todo el pueblo llano, de cales, con
mas de treinta mil almas alimentadas ]gor la cepa y sus
caprichos. De cuando en cuando una fabrica de alcohol, un agrio olor a vinazas, lumbreras en el suelo que
alumbraban las bodegas subterraneas, tractores y remolques, carros olvidados en rincones, aparejos de mulas ya inexistentes. Paz, trabajo, mucho trabajo contra
un suelo terco y sin entranas.
— 1 1 caso es que no parece tormenta—volvio a comen tar el veterinario.
— IQue va! Es ^anas de fastidiarnos el mes de junio.
Tras ellos se oian los fichazos de los jugadores de
domino, alguna risotada y las musiquillas de los anuncios de la television. 4
Returning from Miralagos, Plinio and Don Lotario stop
at a bar to eat and to have a drink.
The description of the
bar is so vivid that we can almost see it; it is as if we
were sitting at the table with Plinio and Don Lotario:
La luz del sole ton no conseguia inundar al amplisimo local de la taberna, porque unos papelones azules
velaban la cristalera de las puertas, dejando una umbrfa sedante. Las paredes estaban pintadas de verde
rabioso. Las mesas, alineadas junto a ellas. Unos taburetes Servian de asiento. En el extrerao, frente a la entrada, un mostradorcillo ante un anaquel con vie jo
muestrario de botellas de aguardiente, anisados, marrasquinos y conacs del terreno. En un hueco de pared,
sobre una repisa, tres jaulas con codornices, que cuando se hacia silencio se solazaban con su "palpala",
"palpala". Como aparte de ellos y los pajaros no.habfa
4
Ibid. , pp. 10-11.
40
otro mortal que la mujer que cosia tras el mostrador, el
ambiente era placido y silencioso. . . A veces, cuando
Plinio callaba, cantaban las codornices.5
Another important development toward a literary detective
novel of high artistic quality is apparent in the character
descriptions that we find in El reinado de Witiza.
of the minor characters become familiar to us.
Even some
With this
novel Garcia Pavon begins building a stock of familiar characters who will appear in subsequent Plinio novels.
The
most outstanding of these are Antonio el Faraon, a fat, jovial,
libertine, and Braulio, the local philosopher, who often
seems to serve as a spokesman for Garcia Pavon's own philosophical observations.
The nature of the plot of El reinado de Witiza makes it
easy for the author to introduce many different types of
people.
When large crowds come to attempt to identify the
unknown corpse, Garcia Pavon describes many of these people
in detail.
He also goes into the lives of two of those sus-
pected of being the corpse in such detail that their biographies are almost like separate "insert novels" within the
novel,
In this novel Garcia Pavon also shows continued interest
in people who are in some way abnormal.
Don Lupercio, the
administrator of Don Ignacio, and his assistant are homosexuals.
5
Pat Maria, one of the three sisters who come from
Ibid. , pp. 103-104.
41
Madrid, always has a strange smile on her face, no matter
what the people around her are discussing.
Pour prostitutes
come to the cemetery:
. . . , llegaron cogidas del bracete, los labios rojos y
gran molineo de culos. Pueron tambien a guipar al
muerto, por si un casual habia sido parroquia y podian
echarle una mano a la poli. Tambien aprovechaban
la ocasion para poner bando con miras a la sesion de la
noche, porque, como decia la mismisima Bernarda, los
hombres o andaban descuartaos o se habian pasado al
bando hombrosexual. . . . Aquel puterfo emparejado dio
a la "Sala Deposito" tal aire de chunga y esperpento,
que hasta al ^obre muerto parecia escurrfrsele el labio
hacia el rincon de la risa.°
The characters Garcia Pavon presents are not stereotyped;
they are people with individual characteristics that separate
them from everyone else.
Such a person is Fabian, one of the
minor characters:
Pabian tenia el cuello muy largo y una nuez colosal que le botaba sobre el cuello de la camisa, particularmente cuando hablaba. Llevaba una boinilla insignificante y sus manos eran tan enormes y huesudas
que mas se iban los ojos a ellas que a cualquiera otra
parte de su cuerpo con ser todas de pareja fealdad.7
Another interesting description is that of El Pianolo:
El Pianolo, como de cincuenta afios, era de un prognatismo exagerado. Le quedaba tan sobrero el maxilar
de abajo, que le salfan las palabras en vertical, que
no de frente como a las personas normales de boca lisa.
Como ademas era recio y musculoso, de poco cuello y
boveda plana, parecia un prehistorico, aunque lleno de
s o m a y malicia.8
I n 11 reinado de Witiza Don lotari.o's character is more
fully developed.
We learn that he likes his profession, but
6
Ibid., pp. 106-107.
8
Ibid., pp. 192-193.
7
Ibid., pp. 189-190.
42
"because of mechanization of farming there is little for a
veterinarian to do.
Since he had been able to accumulate a
small fortune during the past years, he is now free to
accompany Plinio at any time there is a case to be solved.
His wife and daughters do not resent his passion for police
work now, but earlier they could not understand why a man of
such a respectable profession would want to be a detective.
There are times when Don Lotario wants to remind people that
he is an educated man, and he does this by expressing himself in Latin.
Don Lotario is so proud of Plinio and of being associated with him that whenever there are pictures taken he
clings to Plinio's side if possible.
When he is interviewed
about a case, he is unwilling to express his own opinion
because it is usually the same as Plinio's.
El Faraon
comments once that for Don Lotario Plinio is second only to
God.
H
reinado de Witiza we learn also something about
Don Lotario's philosophy of life.
He is basically a real-
istic man although he admits that he has dreamed about being
in charge, along with Plinio, in the investigation of the
assassination of President Kennedy.
The fact that Plinio is not an ordinary, stereotyped
detective becomes more and more clear as we proceed through
the novels.
In El reinado de Wi ti za, we see several new
traits of his personality.
He is sentimental and poetic
43
when we see M m contemplating the "beautiful panorama of La
Mancha.
He is realistic when he tells Don Lotario:
". . . si uno empieza a darle vueltas a esas cosas de misterios, pica.
Y yo no pico.
La vida es como es:
agua,
tierra, sol y aire; carne, huesos y ni mas mariposas ni mas
na."9
Plinio is not impressed by wealth and ancestry.
When
the wealthy lady from Madrid tells the story of her prominent
family, Plinio is thoroughly "bored.
He wants to leave, "but
he waits, hoping to get some useful informsition regarding
the mysterious "body.
He is very intelligent in his under-
standing of human motivations.
When the lady from Madrid
tells Plinio that the dead man was her estranged husband,
Plinio is immediately suspicious.
If they were separated
for years, he reasons, why is she now so anxious to claim
his body?
The lady plays her part well, but not well enough
to fool Plinio.
He is very upset when the whole town wants to play detective and he is not allowed to solve the case alone:
" . . . a mi no me gustan ayudas, que a mi lo que me gusta
^
if'.'"'"
H«4'r
es guisar en mi cocina, con mis especias y cacerolas, sin
que me echen cables todo quisque y esperar a que suene el
t e l e f o n o . P l i n i o likes to be alone at times to contemplate.
9
One of the things he most likes to think about is
Ibid., p. 104.
10
Ibid., p. 209.
44
Ms
town and life in it:
. . . Vidas quietas como lagos. Miles y miles de
dias iguales. Y muy de tarde en tarde un raro acontecimiento, un crimen, una catastrofe que a todos
saca de su letargo y queda como una pagina M s tori ca,
molturada en miles de conversaciones durante a n o s . H
At home Plinio has a loving wife and daughter who worry
when they know he cannot sleep because he is thinking about
the case.
neat.
They see to it that Plinio is always clean and
They like to tell him about the little things that
have taken place while he has been absent.
Plinio spends
very little time at home with his family, and even at this
point we do not really know how he feels about his wife and
daughter.
It is easy to understand the anguish that Plinio feels
at times when he cannot find the solution to a crime when we
consider the reputation he has among the people of Tomelloso;
Cuantos habia alii miraban a Plinio con curiosidad.
La gente modesta sentia el orgullo de que Plinio fuera de los suyos. Los adinerados consideraban tambien
que,#de cierta manera, Plinio les pertenecia. Manuel
Gonzalezj alias Plinio, "el primer listo del pueblo",
como solfa decirle Angel Garcfa, era profeta en su
tierra. Todos le querian y admiraban a pesar de que
era poco "alujero" y en cuanto a ideas y criterios, solfa
tener su alma en su almario y no se dejaba arrastrar
por esos ventisqueros de cabeza que echan a cada nada
las masas de un rodal a otro.12
The costumbrista elements in El reinado de Witiza are
not as evident as they were in El charco de sangre, but we
do find some throughout the book.
We see a pregonero
walking the streets of Tomelloso, announcing the news of
11
Ibid., p . 157
xIP
Ibid. , pp. 66-67.
45
the body and calling for people to come to identify it.
le hear men sitting in the bar improvising coplas, and we
read about two velas.
The night of the discovery of the body several people,
including Plinio and Don Lotario, are sitting on the gravedigger's porch at the cemetery.
The scene is described so
vividly that we almost feel that we are there;
A la luz linaza del zaguan se veia el corro, cual de
comicos en un teatrillo de candilejas menguadas. Los
vasos de bianco, las lumbres de los cigarros, el meneo
de brazos, y pasos adelante de los que estaban de
pie, componfan la escena.
A1 senor Juez, sentado en una si11a muy baja, las
rodillas le quedaban muy cerca de la cara,
Don "Tomaito", con el sombrero puesto y las gafas
de armadura dorada, tenia el vaso entre sus dedos con
aquella delicadeza que Dios le dio para tratar el vino,
ularo que "su vino" era.el de Jerez. Y como andaluz
de ley, al manchego le daba trato de pariente subdesarrollado.
Plinio permanecia de pie, con la gorra de pano
azul un poco volcada hacia el cogote, el vaso en la
mano derecha y la izquierda en la porra de goma. Actitud heredada de sus tiempos gloriosos, cuando llevaba sable con empunadura dorada. iin esta postura el
sable basculaba y componia una estampa bizarra. Sin
embargo, la porra, al quedarse horizontal bajo la presion de la mano, resultaba un apendice desgraciado.
Don Lotario, sentado junto al Jefe^ escuchaba con
las piernas y brazos cruzados. El Paraon habia conseguido atrapar un serijo y, bien abierto de piernas, dejab a al aire su barriga saludable. Gada vez que tomaba del vaso, se gamuceaba el labio con su lengua rosada
y sensual.
Los hijos del enterrador duendeaban en la cocina.
Y Matias, con la blusa azul anudada a la altura del
ombligo y la boina parda hecha visera sobre la frente,
escuchaba a todos con la boca abierta y ojos de sueno.
Y al fondo, por la puerta abierta de la "Sala Deposito", salxa la luz pobre que velaba al muerto.
46
Esta escena asi, quieta, como una fotografia oscura, quedaria durante toda la vida en la memoria de
los que alii estaban.13
The humor found in El reinado de Witiza separates this
book from the other detective novels we have examined.
The
humor is produced mainly by El Paraon and La Rocio, though
even Plinio is treated lightly on occasion.
One morning at
five he receives a phone call from Matfasj his wife finds it
impossible to awaken him:
facil.
"Despertar a Plinio no fue cosa
Hubo que zarandearlo muchas veces y deeirle que lo
llamaba Matias.
Explicarle luego quien era Matxas, que era
un telefono y recordarle su obligacion ineludible de escuchar por el aparato negro.
,
In conclusion, El reinado de Witiza is a definite proof
of the fact that Garcia Pavon regards his detective story as
more than a mere device for amusement.
He has, in fact,
created a truly "literary" detective novel, and he will improve the form in the detective novels which follow.
13
Ibid. , pp. 36-37.
» P- 235.
CHAPTER VI
EL RAP TO DE LAS SABINAS
I n 11 rapto de las sabinas Plinio solves a case involving the mysterious disappearance of three girls and the
murder of a fourth.
The first of the girls to disappear is Sabina Rodrigo.
Plinio questions her parents and neighbors but does not
receive any useful information.
He also talks to Braulia,
a. go-between who runs houses of prostitution.
Braulia tells
of having seen Sabina at about the time of her disappearance,
but she says that she knows nothing of what happened to her.
Later, the body of a girl is found in a plastic sack in
a deserted area.
The girl's face is disfigured, as if she
has been dragged on the ground, and no one recognizes her.
Plinio knows, however, that the girl is not Sabina.
On the
same day Don Jose, a prominent Tomellosan, tells Plinio that
the girl in the sack probably is his daughter, Rosita, who
has disappeared.
He is relieved to learn that his suspicions
are false.
Continuing his investigation, Plinio learns that Rosita
was seen talking with her cousin, Jose Vicente, the day she
disappeared.
Jose, a man of about forty, admits to having
47
48
talked to Rosita, but he says that he knows nothing of her
disappearance.
Prom Don Jose, Rosita's father, Plinio
learns that Jose Vicente has been in love with Rosita for
years.
They were going to be married, but she cancelled
the engagement when she learned that Jose could not give her
children.
Jose searched in vain for a medical cure to his
problem and even spent some time in a psychiatric sanatorium.
Plinio and Don Lotario follow Jose Vicente to his farm
where, after hours of hiding and waiting, they see Rosita
drive away.
When Plinio and Don Lotario overtake her, she
tells them that they can find Jose in a cave on his farm.
She also tells them that Jose has been holding her captive
in the cave.
Late that night, a boy comes to Plinio and tells him
that he has just seen a man driving a van abduct a third
woman.
To solve this mystery, Plinio gets first a list of
all owners of vans like the one described by the boy.
Plinio and Don Lotario then question a traveling salesman, who tells them of an incident that took place in a bar
some time before.
The salesman saw two foreign girls, one
blonde and the other brunette, who appeared to be homosexuals.
After having a quarrel, they left the bar and he
followed them.
Me watched the blonde get into her car and
the brunette run away down the road.
nette on his motorcycle.
He followed the bru-
When he overtook her, she asked
for a ride on his motorcycle, but at that point the blonde
49
arrived and the "brunette decided to leave with. her.
A week
later he recognized the dead girl in the sack as the "brunette, "but he did not identify her since he did not want to
get involved with the police.
A young man named Antonito Bolado tells Plinio that
Clotilde Lara, his fiancee, has disappeared.
Although her
parents insist that she is away visiting relatives, Antonito
"believes that she has been abducted.
Both Antonito and Plinio
believe that Clotilde's parents, fearing that she has lost
her virginity and that Antonito will refuse to marry her,
are attempting to conceal the true reason for her absence.
Antonito also puts Plinio on the trail of Adolfo Garcia, a
former suitor of Clotilde.
Garcia, a former mental patient,
is also the employer of Braulio, one of the van drivers on
Plinio's list.
During interrogation Braulio reveals to Plinio that the
abducted girls, Sabina and Clotilde, are being held captive
on Garcia's farm.
He confesses that he and Garcia forced
the girls into the van and took them to the farm.
He ex-
plains that Garcfa is holding the girls until he can move
them to Madrid, where he plans to use them in a club he is
opening.
Plinio, armed with this information, frees Clotilde
and Sabina and arrests Adolfo Garcia.
He then received
information that the blonde homosexual described by the
salesman has been located in Switzerland and that she has
50
confessed to killing her "brunette companion.
Traveling at
a high rate of speed, she pushed the girl from her car in
a fit of jealousy.
Plinio never learns who put the bru-
nette's body in the plastic sack.
In El rap to de las sabinas Garcfa Pavon has created a
work that is interesting both as an exciting story and as
a novel of high artistic quality.
Descriptions are more
vivid and more detailed than in the preceding detective
novels.
For example, when we read about the great sorrow
of Sabina's mother we can almost hear her sighs in our ears:
Los suspiros de la madre de la Sabina parecfan salirle del ultimo doblez de las entranas, a traves de tubos
con recodos agudfsimos. Aire de flato que sacaba algunas palabras enganchadas en su roce. A cada suspiro
abria mucho la boca, como si se ahogase de verdad, y en
un tic repetidisimo se pasaba la mano entre el panuelo y
la cara. Eran suspiros con algo de relincho, de nariz y
boca abierta, de ojos desorbitados y mano en la mejilla.l
In his descriptions Garcia Pavon often gives human
qualities to nonliving things, as when he describes the
obedient and indifferent lakes or the tired trees that are
waiting for the night so that they can go to sleep.
In the
following description of the countryside we see examples of
the personification of both nonliving objects and abstractions.
It is typical of the description of nature found in the
author's later detective novels, being interpretative, philosophical, and poetic.
^"Francisco Garcia Pavon, El rapto de las sabinas (Barcelona, 1969), p. 39.
51
So"bre el terreno esponjoso, los vinedos dorados,
con las alas de los pampanos declinativos por el frontero
otono. No se que extrana reflexion, no se que ars
muriedi pone la otonada en los lienzos de esta TTierra.
Jiin la lente del horizonte, en el polvo leve c^ue levanta
el can que hocea; en la oveja que busca las ultimas verduras o en el pajaro pinto que, sobre un sarmiento, se
confunde con el grumo oro y ampara en la pampana vinosa. jjira, aquel, otono precoz, casi otono del llano manchego: una eclosion de violetas y rojos cansados, de
aguas con hojas flotantes, de grillos caducos y de cielos
que espejan capirotes morados. Una depresion casi homicida, que sorbe el corazon de los hombres, traga alegrfas, hace las copulas dolorosas y reduce a los humanos
a un gran llanto geologico. Con el despertar de la primavera, este paisaje se siente pujante y decorativo, reina
sobre los animales y los hombres que se deslizan sobre
el como detalles delgados. Pero en el otono, esta tierra
sin arboles siente miedo y todo lo recoge, abriga y quiere llevarselo a la honda galerfa de sus sienes y podres sin
esperanza. El otono solidariza lo vivo con su menopausia y hace un gran panteon con todo lo que crece, grita,
hoza, relincha, ladra, maya, canta y se mueve. Quiere
hacerle el feretro al pecho en flor, al gozquecillo rabicorto, al mirlo guacharo, al lobezno de dientes recien estrenados, al cisne implume y al muslo joven que goza en
la cuneta. El otono en este campo es un gran dolor de
pecho y espalda, ganas de morirse sobre las moras podridas, entre las uvas tintas comidas de avispas, sobre la
pincheria de los barbechos antiguos, casi cobres. El cielo se viste cinturones malva, los caminos se anegran y el
agua de los esteros es barrizal de hojas cafdas, frutas oscuras, pajaros muertos, cartuchos vacios y gorriones de
tela sin color.
Ya desde la carretera de Ruidera, hacia Tomelloso,
vieron un espeiismo. Un espejismo que figuraba aguas
sanguinas, altisimos Arboles desmochados, castillotes
dentones y no se que banderas moradas, larguisimas,
paralelas al viento. En las llanuras manchegas hay espejismos como en el desierto. Espejismo que copian ciudades que nunca llegaron a ser, fincas floridas y arboles sin
nombre en las botanicas. A veces los labradores, seducidos por el espejismo lontano, se salen del surco y echan
a andar besana adelante pensando llegar a un oasis de
aguas y flores, de casas albas y arboles mocfsimos; a un
campo de verdad sin sed, tapizado de lagos verdeazules.2
^Ibid. , pp. 60-61.
52
The following passage would certainly be out of place
in what we usually think of as a detective novel.
The
feelings of nostalgia and timelessness sensed by Plinio and
Don lotario as they drive through the countryside near Tomelloso give the novel a particularly Spanish flavor.
Desde que se acabaron los carros y las mulas, desde
que labriegan las maquinas, aquellas llanuras se han quedado solas como plazas de toros en luri.es. Han vuelto
a ser el desierto de antano. Leguas y leguas sin arado,
mulas, carro, perro ni oveja. Oampos sin solar ni poblacion. Solar del sol y de la luna. La ganania ya duerme
en el pueblo. No hay asnos camineros, ni carros con el
carrero dormido. Los vineros ya no echan pitos en las
lindes, en el desagiie del surco. Los segadores, no liberados por la justicia social, sino por la maquina, acabaron gracias a Dios . . . Te ganaras el pan con el sudor del
segador. Ya no hay de eso. Encadenan muchos dias con
rauchas noches sin verse sombra de horabre en los barbechos. Ya no se ven caporales con los calzones bajados
entre las cardenchas. Las visitas al campo son ahora
como las de los medicos. Rapidas y caras. Entre un
amanecer y mediodia una cosechadora pela al cero docenas de fanegas de mies rubia. Las gentes del agro ya se
acuartelan en el pueblo. Oasi diez mil personas de estos
contornos marcharon a las grandes ciudades o al extranjero. . . .
Los campos desoladores, solos. Llegar, quitarles el
fruto y a la sombra, que salen pecas. Los pajaros planean mas libres sin ligas ni escopetas. La solanera para
los banistas. Aquella alegria de los campos antiguos con
tanto ir y venir, con tanta voz y tanta piel de tierra,
paso a la historia de los cancioneros. Otra vez los surcos y el cielo mano a mano. De vez en cuando un tractor solitario entre la tierra. El tractorero escucha un
transistor y en vez de seguidillas aprende las canciones
del Festival de Eurovision. Todo el mundo es de Dios.
Las fronteras de la cabeza y de la geografia, las alambradas nacionales las va derrumbando el carajo, a Dios
gracias. Los ultimos nacionalistas del mundo se mueren
anorando un pintoresquismo miserable. Los orgullos de
raza y de pueblo han pasado como una broma funesta. . .
Hermano frances, hermano ingles, hermano aleman, hermano luterano, hermano anabaptista, hermano de Jehova, salve. Se vaciaron los campos para irse a dar la
53
mano a los que viven y sienten al otro lado de este
mapa. Entre Ginco Gasas y Tomelloso otra vez el silencio de Dios.3
The use of naturalistic detail is one of the most
important characteristics in the later detective stories
of Garcia pavon.
In El rat)to de las sabinas the realism
is at times very crude and repulsive, more so than in any
other of the detective novels.
One day Plinio, Don Lotario and some of their friends
are in the garden of la Rocio.
One of the group, Samuel
el Rojo, is known for his ability to cook meat.
While the
others are talking and drinking, El Rojo goes aside to cut
up a lamb.
A short time later La Rocio and her guests wit-
ness a scene that leaves all of them stupefied:
. . . Y vieron como Samuel el Rojo, asido con cada
mano a una paleti11a de la res y muy abocicado en la
parte del pecho haciendo ruidos caninos y resoplando
sonoramente, mordia el corazon y los bofes del cordero
crudo. Tan hundido estaba en aquella fiereza, tan
enlobado, que no advirtio que lo observaban. . . .
Entonces Samuel el Rojo, como si entreoyese que le
llamaban desde lejos, aflojo la presa y volvio la
cara lentamente hacia donde estaban los espfas. La
tenia tinta en aguasangre, con fibras de carne entre
sus dientes jabalinos. Y con ojos fi;jos miraba como
sonambulo que no entiende bien lo que p a s a . 4
Another rather grotesque description is that of the dead
girl found in the country:
. . . El cabello negro de aquella mujer, hecho una
plasta endurecida, cubria toda la cara. El medico tuvo
que tirar con verdadera fuerza para despejar el rostro.
Era imposible de reconocer. Como si la hubieran arrastrad o cara al suelo durante mucho trecho o la hubieran
mutilado. Los musculos del rostro estaban desgarrados,
3
I M d . , pp. 107-108.
4
Ibid. , pp. 56-57.
54
sin nariz, sin egos y los dientes a la vista, muy
apretados. Todo era un borufio morado e informe.
Tenfa las manos atadas atras y los pies con solo un
zapato, tambi^n maltrechos. La ropa, una blusa que
fue de colores y unos pantalones azules oscuros, estaban embarrizados y pegados al cuerpo.5
Si ra"P"k° de las sabinas Garcfa Pavon presents again
many different types of characters.
We read about a mentally
retarded man, two homosexual girls, an impotent man, two
senile ladies and about many other more or less unusual
characters.
Comparison by contrast is one of the techniques Garcia
Pavon uses to make his descriptions more effective.
In
El rapto de las sabinas he uses this technique when Plinio
compares Sabina and her sister Lorenza:
. . . Si la Sabina era el sol padre, la lorenza era
una perra chica. Si la Sabina era el triunfo de la carne,
Lorenza el apoteosis de las magras. Si la mayor era
sobresaliente en curvas, la menor en perfiles arrecios.
Si la Sabina era la campeona de los muslos y el culo
retrechero, la Lorenza lo era del horcate y el culo
tablajero. Si la Sabina era una risa llena de luces
y enjalbiegues, la Lorenza un pliegue de labios de
tela y dientes ignorados.6
On the whole, the character descriptions in El rapto
de las sabinas follow the line of those examined in El
reinado de Witiza.
However, there is an important literary
development to be noted in El rapto de las sabinas.
Some
of the discussions between the characters are much deeper
than they have been before.
We read about their ideas on
war, peace, and man in general.
5
Ibid. , pp. 67-68.
One of the minor characters
6
Ibid. . p. 38.
55
comments:
— l a paz es asf. Quienes buscan cambios son los belie os, que cuando se hastian arman una zapatiesta. Yo
no creo que las guerras vienen solo por apetencia de
cuartos y negocios, sino porque los hoinbres se cansan
del bienestar y empiezan a me terse con el vecino para
buscar variacion. Cuando el hombre esta mucho tiempo
quedo, piensa en lo que es, en su miseria y vecindad de
la muerte, y enloquece.7
There are several very enlightening discussions between
Plinio and Don Lotario in this novel.
Here they discuss
the concept of friendship:
—Manuel, ique piensas tu cjue es la amis tad?
Plinio sonrio y se acaricio los labios:
— I k qu£ viene eso ahora?
— A n d a , Manuel, contestame. iQu£ crees que es un amigo?
—Primeramente, creo que es lo unico que en esta vida
puede uno escoger con libertad. Todas las dem^s
relaciones nos llegan impuestas por algo.
—iTambien el matrimonio?
— I n d u s o al matrimonio, porque no vamos a la mujer
por las potencias libres, sino por las potencias oscuras.
— P e r o a la mayor parte de los amigos, Manuel, tambien nos los impone la vida.
— S i , la mayor parte, si. Pero los verdaderos, que
son muy pocos, no. Tan es asi que no todo el mundo
vale para tener amigos verdaderos. Hay quien no los
conoce nunca. Los hombres falsos, los maricones y los
malos de cualquier maldad, rara vez tienen amigos verdaderos. Decir amigo es decir lealtad. Es decir confianza sin limites.8
In El rapto de las sabinas Don Lotario contemplates
his past life.
He believes that his life without the friend-
ship of Plinio would be nothing and that the years when he
did not yet know Plinio were wasted.
He prefers men to
women and regrets that he never had sons.
He feels that
women are a world apart from men—neither worse nor better
than men, but very boring.
7
Ibid. , p. 19.
He comes to the following
8
Ibid., p. 167.
56
conclusion about his affection for Plinio:
. . . A el lo cpe de verdad le gustaba—habxa llegado
a esa conclusion—era Plinio. Era Plinio, el hombre
bueno. Plinio, el honrado. Plinio, el amigo, Plinio,
el de los palpitos. Plinio, el entusiasta de su profesion. Si Plinio hubiera sido carnicero, cura, aparejador, o medico, seria igual, estaba se^uro. Plinio
era el semeje mas proximo a lo que el habia pensado
siempre que debia ser un hombre. Sin orgullo, sin
petulancia, tan llano, tan autentico, tan justo y
benigno. Con una idea de los hombres y de la vida
llena de contenida ternura y de prudente admiracion
por cuanto era admirable. Le hubiese gustado a don
Lotario que Plinio fuese su padre. No lo concebia
como hi jo; como padre o como abuelo, si.9
In this novel we also learn more about Plinio as a
father and a husband.
We learn that he is very affectionate:
". . . , queria a la manera castellana, sin alujerfas ni
mimos, sin cortesias ni finuras, con el ademan recortado y
la palabra seca, temeroso de que le diera la luz en el
corazon de puro blando y caramelo.
Plinio regrets not having sons just as much as Don
Lotario.
Here he expresses his views on sons and daughters:
. . . Si el hi jo sale listo, calmo y trabajador, es una
bendicion de Dios. Pero si sale tuerto de entendederas
o de nervios, es el peor drama que puede caerle a un
padre. Las mujeres, en cambio, aunque salgan gilipollas, se les nota mucho menos. Porque no hay mas que
dos clases de mujeres: las rnalas malas y todas las
demas. . . . En cambio, el catalogo de hombres es
infini to.H
In spite of the more philosophical tone in this novel,
the poetic quality which we have noted in previous novels
is still present.
When Plinio goes to the home of the
Q
Ibid., pp. 166-167.
i:L
Ibid. , p. 85.
in
" Ibid., pp. 84-85.
57
Monjes, the parents of Clotilde, we have a very interesting
description of the parents.
There is an air of mystery in
the house, and Plinio loses all concept of time.
. . . L o s tres parecian figuras de retablo. Sin pasado
ni futuro. Sin mas razon de vida que la de estar entre
aquellos an^ulos, superficies y luces. Por un momento,
Plinio penso si los tres estarian ya muertos. Si
estarfa ante una fotografia de los periodicos de manana. iGuanto tiempo habia pasado desde que llego? iSe
habria resuelto ya el rapto de la primera Sahina?
iVivfa todavia don Lotario? iQue noche cenaron en el
bar Alhambra? No se oia por la calle un solo ruido.
Ahora, el monje padre miraba al suelo. La Monje lo
miraba a el, mejor dicho lo traspasaba con la mirada,
como si fuese un vidrio, mirando algo que estaba detras.
Y Plinio penso en las animas del purgatorio y en el
zaguan dei cielo. Tal vez asi lo recibirfan a el sus
padres y abuelos el dia que llegase a ocupar su cochecama definitivo.12
When his thoughts return to Clotilde, Plinio is struck
by the sharp contrast between the girl and her parents.
The sensuality of the following passage is typical of the
author's later detective novels.
. . . No parecia de aquella raza de gentes erectas y
lisas, de aquella familia de gesto torturado y carnes
magras.^ Clotilde, desde muy joven, casi nina, fue un
reventon de la naturaleza. Sus tetas, duras y salidas,
debfan ser una profanacion en aquel ambiente casi
monastico. Su culo, alto, redondo y volatinero;
aquellas piernas jugosas y de tan visible repisa. . .
Aquella dentadura, hecha para la risa sin fatiga,
aquel lunar en el labio^y, sobre todo, aquel guinar de
ojos cuando miraba, debia ser un pecado vivo para sus
padres preconciliares. Apenas la dejaban salir a la
calle. Debia parecerles una denuncia de no se que
enconados regodeos y delicias, logrados ante los cuadros
vueltos a las horas espaciadfsimas de la fornicacion
matrimonial. Debian considerarla como la exhibicion
de un pecado. ^De donde, senor, salieron aquellas tetas
rebosantes? ^De que vientre y de que falo aquella
sonrisa de revista musical? iComo era posible que de
12
I b i d . , p. 213.
58
un hogar casto huMese surgido aquella cara tan lindera
al cachondeo y al grito espasmodico? Debia resultarles
como tener una hija negra, o como haber parido a una
vedette de vientre rotador que desfila como nadie a
la hora del apoteosls. Plinio estaba seguro que entre
tanto cuadro de santos, tanta penumbra, tanto rosario,
tanta mirada severisima, debia haber un lugar en la
easa lleno de perfumes y bragas celestes; de sostenes
tendidos, de barras de labios, de ligueros modernos y
espejos envidiables. Que debia haber una cama con
colchones de mirahuanos y susplros, huellas de unas
clavadas y pintajos de carmin e^ el embozo. Y tal vez,
dentro de algun armario, un bide suculento con flores
violetas y aroma del oscurisimo triangulo Y, ipor
qu£ no, en un ataque de arrepentimiento, en un monstruoso acto de contriccion, aquel matrimonio talar no podia
haber emparedado a la hija sanguina, a aquel cuerpo de
la misma hechura de la que debia tener en diapositivas
el famoso y cada vez m£s olvidado Satanas?13
Regarding the language and the costumbrista elements
in El rapto de las sabinas Manuel Jato Macias says in a
review of this novel:
Censorship in Spain must be diminishing because
the language permitted in this book is earthy, caustic,
non-academic, and often the "tacos" must be guessed at
and surmised. Yet, his style does not offend good
taste, rather, it enhances the readability and enjoyability of the book. Not to be lost is the costumbrista
value of the work. Garcia Pavon knows that region of
Castilla la Nueva well and uses the language of the area
generously, but not to the point of hindering the pleasure and understanding of the story. A glossary of
terms in the back does explain the more difficult regionalisms, but the tacos must be learned from a native
Spaniard "or left up to the imagination.14
Jato Macfas concludes:
"For truly enjoyable, relaxing and
worthwhile murder-adventure story, the reviewer highly
recommends this novel and others of Garcia pavon."
13
Ibid.» PP- 214-215.
14.
,
Manuel Jato Macias, Review of El rapto de las sabinas,
Hispania. LIV (May, 1971), 395.
15
Ibid., p. 395.
CHAPTER ¥11
LAS HERMANAS GOLORAJAS
In Las hermanas coloradas Plinio solves a case involving the mysterious disappearance of two sisters.
Plinio gets an invitation from the Madrid police to
go to the capital to work on a case that involves two
Tomellosan sisters who have lived the past several years
in Madrid.
Though reluctant at first, he is persuaded to
go "by Don Lotario, who has received an invitation to join
his friend.
When Plinio begins his investigation in Madrid, he
learns that the sisters, now about sixty years old, are
the daughters of Norberto Pelaez Gorrea, whose family Plinio
used to know well in Tomelloso.
He questions several
people who know the sisters, but the only real clue that
he gets is that on the day of their disappearance the sisters
received a mysterious phone call.
The sister who answered
the call sounded very surprised and seemed to ask the caller
where somebody or something was.
After the conversation
the two sisters left the house in great haste, saying that
they had to take care of some urgent business.
They left
in a taxi and were never seen again.
One day when Plinio is examining the house of the Pelaez
sisters he discovers an address on the cover of a telephone
59
60
directory.
It seems to have been written hastily, and he
can hardly read it.
The address is that of Dona Maria de
los Remedios, a middle-aged lady who sat beside Plinio in
the bus from Tomelloso.
She now lives in Madrid with her
mother.
Plinio goes to visit them, pretending to want to see
their beautiful home.
The ladies give him a warm welcome,
but when Maria de los Remedios is showing him one of the
rooms in the house she suddenly disappears, and Plinio
finds himself locked in.
To his surprise he discovers that
the missing Pelaez sisters are also captives in the same
part of the house.
With them is a man who turns out to be
Manolo Puchades, the ex-fiance of one of the sisters.
Puchades disappeared some thirty years earlier, and it has
been assumed that he died during the Civil War.
Plinio listens to the story of Puchades' life.
In
1936 Puchades became an activist among the Socialists, one
of the leading factions within the Republican party.
He
knew the top leaders of his party and was himself well
known all over Spain.
In 1939 the Republicans were defeated.
Puchades, saddened by the outcome of the war and the disappearance of his father, needed a place of asylum where he
could regain his health and collect his thoughts.
Fortunately,
his good friend Julian Ramales, husband of Maria de los
Remedios, invited him to live with him, his wife, and his
mother-in-law, and Puchades accepted *the invitation.
Because
61
of the persecution of the Republicans by General Franco, he
remained in hiding in the huge house, and, except for the
family, no one knew that he lived there.
Near the end of 1939 Julian died, and immediately his
wife "began to show interest in Puchades.
Little by little
the guest took the place of her deceased husband, and
Puchades remained with her for years,
hen Puchades finally
learned that Republicans were no longer being so severely
persecuted, he started thinking of leaving the house.
called the Pelaez sisters for help.
He
Learning of the call,
Maria de los Remedios locked him up, and a short time later
the two sisters were pushed into the room with him.
After Plinio has heard Puchades' story Maria de los
Remedios enters with a pistol in her hand.
She tells
Puchades that he must choose between her and his ex-fiancee.
Puchades leaves with Maria de los Remedios, and Plinio and
the sisters are left behind locked doors.
Late that night Don Lotario arrives with the Madrid
police to free the three prisoners.
On the way to town
Plinio feels good for the first time since his arrival in
Madrid.
Las hermanas coloradas, the winner of the Nadal Prize
in 1969, is much more than a detective novel.
In fact,
the plot is only of minor significance in measuring the
total value of the book.
The plot, in fact, is somewhat
frustrating for the reader who expects a traditional detective
62
novel, for none of the several apparent clues investigated
by Plinio during the course of the work really has anything
to do with the solution of the crime.
Plinio has almost
decided that the case cannot be solved when he suddenly
stumbles upon its solution quite by accident.
The value of
the work is not in its plot but in its interesting character
studies, poetic and analytical descriptions of the environment, expressions of philosophical thought, and its costumbrismo.
Plinio, who has received the title of "Comisario Honorario de la Brigada de Investigacion Griminal" because of
his extraordinary services, is again important as a policeman; however, he is in this novel much more important as a
human being.
Par more introspective than in previous novels,
he spends much of his time pondering on life, on himself
(as a person as well as a policeman), on his family and on
people in general.
He also makes keen observations about
his new environment.
From the beginning of his visit in Madrid Plinio begins
to feel the dehumanizing effect of the big city.
He feels
that he is an object among the lights, the noise, and the
people who do not seem to care for anyone but themselves.
He cannot understand the detachment of the madrilenos. how
they can live so near each other without ever really getting
to know each other.
When Plinio sees a man help a blind
man across a street in Madrid without even looking at him,
63
lie states that the man will soon forget whether the object
of his aid was a man or a basket.
Plinio is clearly outside his natural environment in
Madrid, where people pass him by as if he were a piece of
furniture.
At times Plinio feels childish nostalgia for
Tomelloso, and he feels that he has been in Madrid for months
when he only has been there a few days.
What he dislikes
most about the city is the indifference of its people; he
is not used to people not noticing him.
. . . Tiene uno metido el pueblo hasta las canas de
los huesos, hasta el ultimo rodal del pecho. Soy un
paleto de cuerpo entero, un paleto aterido por aquel
aire, aquellas voces, aquellos ojos y aquellos alientos.
No hay tierra buena ni mala. No hay mas que la de uno.
Con la tierra pasa lo que con la madre o con los hijos.
El que vive lejos de sus solares vive con medio corazon
perdido. Le falta ese anclaje profundo del terreno que
todavia no se sabe que es.l
Plinio often compares life in the country to life in
the city.
He says that in the country the environment causes
people to forget the past:
Las nuevas mieses, los pampanos a estreno, el flamante
mantillo de la tierra, las margaritas que deja cada
noche la varia composicion de las nubes, el aire que
cambia de flecha, las recientes ^olondrinas, como los
ninos, olvidan pronto lo que paso, lo que ha ocurrido
y lo aparejan todo para la fecha n u e v a . 2
It is different in the cities, where
. . . todo
temerosos,
con varias
de damasco
es molino de nostalgias, de testimonios
escaleras por donde tantos bajaron, camas
generaciones de partos y estirados, cortinas
que secaron tanta lagrima furtiva, armarios
"'"Francisco Garcia Pavon, Las hermanas coloradas (Barcelona, 1970), p. 107.
2
Ibid., p. 113.
64
con ropillas de unos ninos que fueron senadores y hoy
calzan el cardo borriquero en el osario. . . .3
Plinio thinks that it is "best not to think about the
past or to fear death.
However, he is often preoccupied
with these things, and he also worries a great deal about
old age:
. . . Oon los anos nos hacemos baul cerrado, gabinete
sin puertas, odre sin espita, hasta devenir en licor
tan fuerte y concentrado, en caldo tan negro y pervertido, que nos altera los ultimos motores, quema los
hilos del cerebro, perfora el tinto corazon y nos deja
talmente corao una cosa.4
Plinio considers his job to be a good antidote against
the melancholy of approaching death.
When he is busy with
his work he does not have time to worry.
One day Don Lotario observes pictures hanging on the
wall in the house of the Pelaez sisters.
of friends and relatives who are dead.
They are pictures
Some of the pictures
are discolored by age to the extent that one can hardly see
the faces.
This makes Don Lotario think that just as the
pictures fade, the memory of those who die will fade from
our minds and soon be completely forgotten.
One day when Plinio takes a walk through the streets of
Madrid he observes a group of blind people, and we have an
interesting description of his reaction to them:
. ._. Ya en la calle de Prim, donde esta la Organizacion Nacional de Ciegos, se tropezaba con invidentes
por todos lados que pedfan que les ayudasen a cruzar
la calle, que les tomasen un taxi, y ofrecian sus tiras
"iguales", con voces sostenidas, monotonas. Voces no
5
Ibid*» P- 113.
4
Ibid., p. 34.
65
alteradas por reflejos de imageries ni luces. Voces
mecanicas para ser escuchadas por ellos mismos, como
una cayada mas que les comunicaba con el exterior.
Los ciegos vocean desde lo absoluto, llamando a otras
tinieblas. Las suyas son voces "solas" j que no esperan
respuesta de gestos o de ojos. Voces r£pidas, insistentes, que contienen algo mas que el mero texto de su
pregon. Avisos articulados de su presencia, de su estar. Testimonios para ellos mismos de que estan fuera, de que estan a la vista de otros, de que hacen bulto
y no estan solos en la tiniebla.
La monorrimia de las voces de los ciegos que venden es como la luz de un faro marino. Las voces de los
videntes sufren interrupciones y desganas, son arritmicas, a cada nada interrumpidas por la imagen, el estupor, el sueno, la pincelada comica, el saludo. Son
voces con ojos. Los ciegos, por no ver ni verse, emiten
unas voces sin colores, sin tonos, ni semitonos; sin
agudos ni calderones. Voces abstractas de un disco
rayado, en la camara negra.5
Plinio then goes to a cafe, sits at a table and starts to
think about the world and its people.
All men, he believes,
are in a sense like the blind:
El mundo . . . es un turbio mapa de calles de ciegos,
una red infinita de cegueras, de obras y voces de ciegos,
Cada uno somos ciego a nuestro modo y manera. 'i'enemos
ojos y sensibilidades para unas cosas y somos piedra
total para otras. Tenemos luces milagrosas para canales
y venas de agua que otros no ven e ignoramos las arterias y canales que son maestros para tantos. Cada cual
somos vaso de alguien que de verdad ignoramos en gran
parte. Semejes de unos vecinos que nos metieron en
los entrehilos de la carne al darnos el ser. Morada
de un sujeto con muchas partes de su rostro, oscuras.
Con muchos movimientos de sus manos, ignorados . . .
Somos espectadores deficientes de nosotros mismos, semieiegos de nuestra total hechura.6
One day when Plinio is examining the Pelaez sisters'
house he sees dolls of different sizes and from different
periods.
He thinks of the dolls as symbols of the frustrated
maternal instinct of the sisters, who have never been married,
5
Ibid., pp. 107-108.
6
Ibid., p. 109.
66
These thoughts lead him to think ahout his own daughter
Alfonsa, who is already over thirty years of age and is
not married yet.
She is very dependent on her parents and
has never shown any desire to meet people of her own age.
She never wants to go out, and when Plinio and his wife
encourage her to get married, she always has a look of
resignation on her face and wants to change the subject.
Plinio is quite concerned about her sometimes.
Plinio misses his daughter and his wife.
One day after
reading a letter from his daughter Plinio'.s thoughts return
to his family:
Plinio, llevado por la suavidad de la carta, recordo
a sus mujeres, el patio, la amplia cocina donde hacian
vida y aquel tiempo de pueblo sin sorpresas. Aquel
vivir enfrascado, casi sin accidentes, de quietud en
quietud, sintiendo los dias como una rueda de luces
que ni pesa ni suena. Todos los dias la misma torre,
el mismo poniente e igual^musica de saludos en cada
esquina. Todo quieto y lucido. Solo la carne padece.
Sobre igual paisaje las carnes adoban y resecan hasta
emprender la muerte. Todo es un juego de pequenas
vueltas, de identicos circulos, de parejas sombras,
palabras, caras, fachadas, historias y torre. La plaza,
con el Casino, la Posada de los Portales y^el Ayuntamiento es el eje de esa ruleta de luces isocronas, de
parejos saludos, de risas, campanadas, ladridos} y petardeos de coches. Don Isidoro se asoma a su balcon a las
doce, poco mas o menos. Manolo Perona que llega al
Casino. El relevo de los guardias, la gente que viene
de la compra. Todos los dias a la compra. Don Saturnino,
que va de visitas, al pasar por la plaza saca la cabeza
por la ventanilla del coche para ver la hora. Los sell ores curas pasean por la Glorieta con revuelo de sotanas. Si se muere uno, o se va, viene otro y luego otro,
pero siempre hay a la caida de la tarde curas paseando
entre pliegues de sotana. Las tinajas de vino cada ano
se manchan, cada se lavan. Ya llega la noche, la plaza
se queda vacia y todos a la cama con cara modorra.
67
"Sus mujeres" duermen. La Gregoria suspira.
su
hija, la Alfonsa? iHasta que hora mira el rayo estrecho de luz que filtra la ventana?7
There are many interesting character descriptions in
Las hermanas coloradas.
One is that of Maria de los Remedios,
whom Plinio observes on the bus.
The following excerpt from
that description demonstrates the minute detail with which
Plini o o"b se rve s:
. . . Y sobre todo en aquel sudorcillo del bigote, tan
vital, que lo hacian morro lleno de dulce, fuellecillo
de suspiros color claro, de lengua que de vez en cuando
se salia de su globo de humedades para chupar el aire.
Aquella nariz, que con ritmo de corazon se ahuecaba
aspirando un mundo que no estaba alii mismo. . .8
There is a strong feeling of longing for the past
throughout the book.
In the house of the Pel^ez sisters
this nostalgia is present in the little things the sisters
have saved, such as locks of hair and a milk tooth found in
a vault.
There is also a room in the house where several
manikins represent dead members of the family and some close
friends.
The manikins are all dressed to resemble the person
they represent, and each has a picture of that person covering
its face.
The house seems to be a shrine dedicated to the
dead and to the past, just as all of Madrid for Plinio is a
monument to the past.
The language of Las hermanas coloradas is more colorful
and poetic than that of the previous novels; it is very rich
in images and metaphors.
7
Ibid., pp. 253-254.
The author chooses carefully and
8
Ibid. , p. 36.
68
with great skill the vocabulary that fits the character of
each person, and again the language is often highly colloquial.
In the following, the maid of the Pelaez sisters
comes to tell Plinio something that she had forgotten to
tell him earlier:
—Ust£s perdonen y "buenas noches, que no he dicho na,
pero los vi subir y me dije: asi que bajen voy a decirles a los senores un recuerdo que tengo aquf clavao
toa la tarde. Pero como no bajaban, pues digo subo y
se lo digo. Lo cual que he encontrao la puerta abierta
y telenda telenda me he entrao hasta aqui. . . Que miren
ustes, desde que desaparecieron las pobres senoritas tos
los de la casa, de la porterfa quiero decir, estamos
dandole vueltas a la cabeza a ver si caemos en que
percance les puede haber ocurrido. Porque miren ustes,
que unas personas tan rebuenisimas, que las conocemos
de toda la vidisma, porque el senorito Norberto cuando
se vino de notario, me entiende usted, de Tomelloso,
trajo a mi padre que en paz descanse a la porteria, y
de siempre nos hemos tratao divinamente, y las senoritas
y yo como quien dice nos hemos criao con los mismos
baberos, porque en Tomelloso mi madre ya asistfa a la
casa del senorito Norberto, pues que no es cosa vista
lo que ha pasao . . .9
This passage is typical of the many dialectical passages
which add humor and color to the novel.
Also worthy of note
are the crude expressions used by Plinio's friend El Faraon,
who visits him in Madrid, and the elegant style of Braulio,
Plinio's philosophical friend, who writes him lengthly letters
from Tomelloso.
las hermanas coloradas has more costumbrismo than any
of the previous novels.
Plinio walks through the streets of
Madrid like a tourist and comments on the streets, the
buildings, the monuments, foods, customs, the lottery, boinas,
and many other things that are part of life in the capital.
9
Ibid., pp. 81-82.
69
Concerning the overall depth and value of the novel,
Leonora Guinazzo makes some Interesting observations in her
review of Las hermanas coloradas:
This is more than a detective story. It has an
underlying, involved, and disillusionary level of symbolic significance representing the plight of the
dreamer who has desperately attempted to retain illusions about Spanish society during the past three decades
in order to reinsure its immortality. According to
Plinio, the war buried alive more than a million agonizing Spaniards who are condemned to a life bereft of
human dignity and commitment. There are the bureaucrats
who entered a ministry in 1929, were forgotten between
1936 and 1939, and continue to subsist by monotonous
killing time on a pension. There is Manolo Puchades,
self-imprisoned by fear for thirty years who "ghosted"
another man's life. The hermanas coloradas, who have
merely acquired thirty-four more years, mirror Puchades'
wasted life unnurtured by a Spain grown old and devoid
of what she could have but will never again be able to
give them. There are also thirty years of silent,
sterile disillusion for the lustful barona, Puchades'
jailer. In the end, Puchades1 alternatives are the same
— t h e boredom of his prison or that of the interminable
afternoons with two, nice, musty, old spinsters who
have neither a heaven nor hell to offer him. He resigns himself to the prison in which he already finds
himself.
Throughout the novel Garcia Pavon echoes the
lament of the 'Generacion del '98' in his deep psychological probe into the provincial textures and lore of
Tomelloso, from its guardia municipal to the souls buried
with boina in its cemetery. The author colors Plinio's
musings with the lyrical qualities and nostalgia of an
Azorin. When Plinio bids farewell to Madrid, he feels
a tinge of contentment with his life for the first time.
He, a Tomellosan, had been, after all, in Madrid where
he was needed to accomplish with Tomellosan know-how
an exceptional police mission.10
In conclusion, Las hermanas coloradas is an extremely
interesting detective novel of high literary merit.
a book that can be read several times with interest.
10
It is
The
Leonora Guinazzo, Review of Las hermanas coloradas,
Hispania, LI7 (May, 1971), 394-395.
70
detailed descriptions, philosophical thoughts and costurnip rista elements lend themselves to new discoveries with
each reading.
CHAPTER VIII
CONCLUSION
When we examine the detective novels and novelettes of
Francisco Garcia Pavon in the chronological order of their
publication we find a definite progression toward a literary detective novel with high artistic qualities.
In the early novels plot is definitely Garcia Pavon's
main concern.
Characters and scenery are described only to
the extent necessary to tell the story.
The importance of
the plot is progressively decreased as we proceed in reading
the novels, so that in the last one, Las hermanas coloradas,
the plot is almost solely to provide a frame for characterization, philosophy and costunibrismo.
Plinio's character also develops progressively in each
novel, so that after reading all of the works we know a
great deal about his ambitions, frustrations, philosophy of
life, and likes and dislikes.
In the first detective stories
he is the central figure, but he is mainly Important as a detective; later he becomes important as a person as well.
In each novel we meet friends of Plinio, and by the
time we finish the last novel his circle of acquaintances
has been greatly expanded.
All of the characters are de-
scribed very individualistically, and Garcia Pavon has proven
r
? 1
72
himself to be a careful observer of people, highly talented
in the art of characterization.
Just as Plinio's character is more fully developed
with each new novel, the descriptions become more detailed.
Instead of merely relating the details of the plot, fact by
fact, the author has intertwined more and more interesting
descriptions in each novel, giving the work greater artistic
merit.
The descriptions of the scenery of La Mancha in the
three last novels are very poetic and are rich in metaphors,
images and colorful expressions.
They show the author's
love for concrete details and sensations.
The language in general of the detective novels of
Garcia Pavon changes with each succeeding novel.
In each
new book colloquial words and expressions become more and
more frequent.
The accurate geographical and sociological knowledge
that the author has of the places he describes has enabled
him to give his readers extremely interesting insights into
the lives and customs in a small Spanish town or, to a
smaller extent, in a big city, where Las hermanas coloradas
is staged.
Plinio is not an ordinary, stereotyped policeman, nor
are the detective stories of Garcia Pavon conventional detective stories where the main emphasis lies in solving a
crime.
The combination of excitement and high artistic qual-
ities in the detective stories of Garcia Pavon makes them
73
worthwhile for a wide range of readers.
They can be enjoyed
by both the reader interested in mystery stories and by a
person seeking a work of higher artistic value.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Books
Fernandez Santos, Jesus, Sie te narradores de hoy, Madrid,
Taurus Edi ci one s, 1963.
Garcia Pavon, Francisco, Antologia de cuentistas espanoles
c on temp orane o s, Madrid, Editorial Gredos, 1959.
, El rapto de las sabinas, Barcelona,
Ediciones Destino, 1969.
, El reinado de Witiza, Barcelona,
Ediciones Destino, 19^8
, Historias de Plinio, Barcelona,
Plaza y Janes, 1968.
, Las hermanas coloradas, Barcelona,
Ediciones Destino, 1970.
, Los carros vacios, Madrid, Graficas
Aragon, 1965.
Nora, Eugenio de, La novela espanola contemporanea, Madrid,
Editorial Greeks, 1962.
Sainz de Robles, Federico Carlos, El espiritu y la letra,
Madrid, Graficas Orbe, 1966.
Torrente Ballester, Gonzalo, Panorama de la literatura
espanola contemporanea, Madrid, Ediciones Guadarrama.
19bf7
Articles
"Francisco Garcia Pavon," Espana hoy, No. 6(April, 1970),
45.
"Francisco Garcia Pavon, Premio Nadal," Espana hoy, No. 2
(April, 1970), 34.
Guinazzo, Leonora, Review of Las hermanas coloradas, Hispania,
LIV (May, 1971), 394-395.
74
75
Jato Macias, Manuel, Review of El rapto de las sabinas,
Hi3pania, LIV (May, 1971), 39*5.
Lamiquiz, Vidal, "Analisis estructural del relato: Intento
de un estudio semiologico," Thesaurus, XXIV (May, 1969),
104-109.