The Forging of a Rebel

Compelling, efficient, poignant prose; Barea strips his language of inessentials, rids it of all traces of verbosity, embelishment and sentimentality, blatantly striving to be as honest as possible. He describes actions by using short, simple sentences with as little emotional rhetoric as possible; the resulting prose is concentrated, concrete and capable of conveying emotion and irony.

A captivating coming-of-age novel, ideal to anyone who is interested in the Spanish Civil War.

A unique autobiography and history of early twentieth century Spain. The first of the three volume book, The Forge, covers the Arturo Barea's early life in Spain from 1905-1915.   Part history and part biography this volume details life in Spain.  In the second volume, The Track, Barea covers his years in the Rif War as Spain tries to hold on to its last colony.  He sees this as the beginning of the fascist movement in Spain.  The final volume, The Clash, covers the war in Spain and Barea's exile to England.  Barea was in a rather unique position during the Spanish Civil War.  He fought the fascists but was not a communist which made him suspect on his own side. The third volume, by the way, is also the inspiration for a British punk band in the 1970s.  

Barea offers details in two wars that are not much covered in the United States.  The Riff War and the Spanish Civil War.  The latter is remembered mostly for the Abraham Lincoln Brigade and its famous members.  Barea's detailed writing style does seem long-winded at times, but he is chronicling events that would become a historical record and was likely fearful of the truth being suppressed by the Franco regime.  It was a period of brutality in both Morocco and Spain and became a prequel for the Second World War. Recommended for history readers with an interest in early 20th-century Spain.

Extremely funny and frank. The opening third, though narrated from the perspective of adulthood, retains the naiveté of childhood, making for an oddly cruel and sexually frank representation of youth. Unpretentious, and rich with sentimental details - the food, the smells, the poverty. A vivid and memorable book, whose long length shouldn't put people off; it's very accessible, and it can be consumed in its original three discrete parts if the whole looks a bit daunting.

The Forging of a Rebel is a memoir by Spanish writer Arturo Barea comprising of three books, each representing different eras of his life. The Forge is about Barea’s childhood and coming of age, The Track, concerns the author’s involvement, while part of the Spanish army, in building a road in Morocco, and The Clash which details a journalist’s view of the Spanish Civil War.

Writing these days is about tight prose and beautifully crafted sentences. The writing in The Forging of a Rebel is very straightforward and expansive, but never florid. At no point can Barea be accused of being lyrical, but it is his raw, journalistic prose which really brings Barea’s world to life. However, he does demonstrate a different voice for each of the stages of his life, and that of a child in Spain in the early part of the century is particularly effective.

All this, along with the detailed descriptions of his surroundings and people, creates a very immersive experience of Spain in the early part of the century, a soldier’s view of the corruption of the Spanish army in Morocco during the Rif War, and the appalling effects of a Civil war on ordinary people caught up in it.

At about 800 pages long, this is quite a tome, but one which does not feel overwhelming in terms of consumption because of the way it is written. Certainly, it is easy to see why this extended memoire is considered a classic and a “must read”.

I picked up The Forging of a Rebel for review largely because I wanted to know about the Spanish Civil War through the eyes of someone who had experienced it. What I got was a great deal more. It is a read which has continued to keep rewarding and will to linger in my mind, until I can no longer resist the urge to pick it up once more and plunge into Barea’s compelling world all over again.