FORGOTTEN SPANISH WRITERS: ÁNGEL MARÍA DE LERA

 

I visited Ángel María de Lera (1912–1984) at his home on calle Londres with my father. Both had a past in common: they had fought in the Civil War on the Republican side, and both had been in concentration camps and prison, Lera for over eleven years. In the midst of the dictatorship, Lera had made a name for himself as a writer, won the Premio Planeta in 1967 with Las últimas banderas, and headed the Book Review section of ABC. He was warm, affable, approachable, and very friendly. Los clarines del miedo (1958), about bullfighting, as well as Se vende un hombre, Los que perdimos, Hemos perdido el sol, and many others, will still captivate the reader today.

Lera was a bestselling author and widely popular among readers. He founded La Asociación Colegial de Escritores, of which I was a member. Why is he now a forgotten novelist? Considering that some political parties today are unearthing the Civil War, why don’t they also revive interest in a writer, a Republican who had fought the dictator and yet succeeded during Franco’s regime? Search me. But if you want to improve your Spanish and learn about the Spanish Civil War, read him.