Evidence of an internal journey
The word calvary can be associated with some diseases that we have seen in Europe in the twenty-first century, but there have already been conflicts full of pain. One of them has been the War of 1936. Not the only, of course, nor the last. However, knowing the sociopolitical concerns usually presented by Xabier Montoia in his works, it is hardly possible to say that this work is “one more novel” about the War of 36, although the narrative is opened by a historical fact of the time.
We're in Navarra, it's August 15, 1936, the Virgin's Day. At dinner time, a group of armed men burst into Felisa's family home, armed with rifles. They want to take their father, but they get their eldest daughter. It is the “red family”, and the father and daughter are removed that same day, leaving the fate of the rest of their peers written. The beginning of the novel is strong; as Kafka said, it's those that stick in your head. However, it is not easy to give way to this tension, and some passages become heavy. The story of Felisa's inner world is the greatest achievement of the novel, and although it is sometimes difficult to understand its decisions, the story focuses on the testimony of Josefina Lamberto, including passages that are difficult to believe in themselves.
Hope and Felisa, a murdered hope and a stolen happiness. They are victims of the War of 36, but the great war blends with the smallest wars. Her sister Margarita is beaten by her husband, Felisa is beaten by the Church when the nun enters, in the most brutal way, Esperanza is physically raped and her mother is grounded publicly.
Felisa's physical distierals push him to investigate in his own personality. The nun becomes an attempt to leave memories in the past, to help those who need it. But this choice brings him the rejection and marginalization of his mother, accused of having met with the enemy. He then embarks on a road full of torture, to the point of thinking that the event of 36 may be a dream, for the day on which his father and sister were robbed is presented every night as a nightmare. Be that as it may, these constantly reminiscent images serve to understand reality and to put words into the past. However, the tone of these words will change throughout the novel, creating a new, more poetic, more lyrical voice. After all, Golgotha is, if there is anything, an embellished account of a harsh reality.
Text:
Ilan Brenman
Illustrations: Guilherme Karsten
translation: In Alkain
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