by Juan Goytisolo

Juan Goytisolo was born January 5, 1931, to a bourgeois family in Barcelona. The infant Goytisolo became quickly acquainted with tragedy when his mother was killed by anti- Franco forces in a bombing raid during the Civil War (1936-39). Goytisolo came of age during Franco’s rise to power and attended conservative Catholic schools, followed by the University of Barcelona and University of Madrid (1948-52). His literary career began with the publication of Juegos de Manos (The Young Assassins) in 1954, which earned him critical acclaim and a reputation as a voice of the “restless generation” (Jones, p. 235). An outspoken critic of the Franco dictatorship, Goytisolo believed writing should have social implications, and he used his novels to raise consciousness and challenge the status quo. He, however, grew increasingly frustrated by the repressive climate and extreme censorship in Spain, emigrating to Paris in 1957 to...