The novelistic tradition in The family by Pascual Duarte

This article considers the place of La familia de Pascual Duarte in the course of the Spanish novel during the first half of the twentieth century. Firstly, it considers how this novel follows in the footsteps of the pre-tremendista works published in National Spain during the Civil War, namely those by Iribarren, Borras, Garcia Serrano, Garcia Suarez and Carretero Novillo. Secondly, it examines its affinities with Baroja's picaresque novel La busca. Thirdly, it underscores its irony in the fashion of the Janusfaced novel, whose most immediate precedent was Unamuno's San Manuel Bueno, martir. Accordingly, this piece submits that, not only does Pascual Duarte mark the beginning of the post-war novel, but it was written in the wake and fashion of Baroja's previous picaresque works, Unamuno's Janus-faced fiction, and the tremendista novels published by the supporters of the National army.