SOURCE: McPheeters, D. W. “Years of Transition.” In Camilo José Cela, pp. 72-82. New York: Twayne Publishers, Inc., 1969.

In the following essay, McPheeters surveys Cela's short fiction and sketches published between the years 1944 and 1951—a very productive period in the author's literary career.

Studies of Cela's works have not considered the writings of the seven years between 1944 and 1951—the dates of the novels Nuevas andanzas y desventuras de Lazarillo de Tormes and La colmena—in relation to his developing novelistic style. During this period he published six volumes of sketches and short stories, the first of the books of vagabondage—Viaje a la Alcarria—and meanwhile continued to work on La colmena. An entire monograph could easily be devoted to the short stories, which are of value for showing the elaboration of his methods of observation and presentation which culminate in La colmena, but this brief chapter can...