As the title says really, about life under fascism other than the late Eduardo Galeano. I've the impression that the Spanish and Latin Americans have a way with words...
I know some books that are not written actually under fascism at the time but afterwards, but they are really good.
Primo Levi 'If not Now, When?' is a book I read when I'm really down and asking what's the point of being alive, it's the story of a mixed group of partisans fighting against the Nazis and it's amazing.
Juan Goytisolo wrote Marks of Identity about Franco's Spain which is good although the main character wanders around drinking gin and feeling sorry for himself and never actually doing anything and I wanted to give him a good kick up the arse.
Manuel Puig Kiss of the Spider Woman is really good, about two prisoners in jail in Argentina under the dictatorship.
From Latin America there's absolutely loads, I have read a lot but will have to look for titles. Be warned there's often descriptions of torture that can be really upsetting.
Christ Stopped at Eboli was published in 1945 but is Carlo Levi's account of when he was internally exiled in rural southern Italy in the mid-1930s for anti-fascist activities.
Luigi Pirandello's 'One, No One and One Hundred Thousand' was published in 1926 and is also a good read although there are rows about whether or not he was actually fash.. I say 'rows' coz imo he definitely was but I think because he was so good/considered so important there's a lot of effort to rehabilitate him. Regardless tho, that's a good book..
The Carpenter's Pencil by Manuel Rivas is very good as I remember. It's set in Galicia at the start of the civil war (Galicia fell to Franco early on). Rivas has written other novels and short stories set in the same period but this is probably the best.
Max Aub may be worth checking out as well though I've only read a couple of short stories by him. They were set during the civil war or in the prison camps in France afterwards. I'm not sure how much has been translated.
I know some books that are
I know some books that are not written actually under fascism at the time but afterwards, but they are really good.
Primo Levi 'If not Now, When?' is a book I read when I'm really down and asking what's the point of being alive, it's the story of a mixed group of partisans fighting against the Nazis and it's amazing.
Juan Goytisolo wrote Marks of Identity about Franco's Spain which is good although the main character wanders around drinking gin and feeling sorry for himself and never actually doing anything and I wanted to give him a good kick up the arse.
Manuel Puig Kiss of the Spider Woman is really good, about two prisoners in jail in Argentina under the dictatorship.
From Latin America there's absolutely loads, I have read a lot but will have to look for titles. Be warned there's often descriptions of torture that can be really upsetting.
Christ Stopped at Eboli was
Christ Stopped at Eboli was published in 1945 but is Carlo Levi's account of when he was internally exiled in rural southern Italy in the mid-1930s for anti-fascist activities.
Luigi Pirandello's 'One, No One and One Hundred Thousand' was published in 1926 and is also a good read although there are rows about whether or not he was actually fash.. I say 'rows' coz imo he definitely was but I think because he was so good/considered so important there's a lot of effort to rehabilitate him. Regardless tho, that's a good book..
the diaries of Victor
the diaries of Victor Klemperer: I Will Bear Witness (1933 to 1941) To The Bitter End (1942 to 1945)
Sansibar oder der letzte
Sansibar oder der letzte Grund/Flight to afar (1957) by Alfred Andersch,
On the Marble Cliffs (1940) by Ernst Jünger (allegorical novel, he is a far-right elitarian bastard with a strong dislike for the Nazis)
The Seventh Cross (1939) and Transit Visa (1944) by Anna Seghers
Mephisto (1936) by Klaus Mann
The Carpenter's Pencil by
The Carpenter's Pencil by Manuel Rivas is very good as I remember. It's set in Galicia at the start of the civil war (Galicia fell to Franco early on). Rivas has written other novels and short stories set in the same period but this is probably the best.
Max Aub may be worth checking
Max Aub may be worth checking out as well though I've only read a couple of short stories by him. They were set during the civil war or in the prison camps in France afterwards. I'm not sure how much has been translated.
Review of Field of Honour:
http://www.albavolunteer.org/2010/03/max-aub’s-civil-war-in-english/
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