Alberto García-Aguilar

The avant-garde description of the island of Lanzarote that Agustin Espinosa developed in Lancelot, 28°-7° (1929) proves that the writer shared the same interest in cinema that other young writers had expressed in their works during the 20s. However, the interartistic relation between cinema and literature in Lancelot has not been examined carefully yet. For this reason, this paper tries to study the different ways the cinema has influenced Lancelot, which includes not only references to film stars from the Amercian silent cinema, but also using certain film techniques. Thus, Espinosa offers new images of the island, now merged with universal artistic movements. To analyze this particular use of Espinosa’s cinema background in Lancelot, this paper will study the interest in cinema that the writer showed along his life, the way he uses different film techniques, the poetic imagery related to cinema, and the references to film stars included in the text.

Revista de Escritoras Ibéricas (2019), vol. 7, pp. 261-289.

RESUMEN: Las cuatro novelas policiacas que Mercedes Ballesteros publicó con
el pseudónimo de Rocq Morris en los primeros años del franquismo, en la colección
de quiosco “La Novela Ideal”, incluyen muchos de los estereotipos usados en
la narrativa criminal española de este periodo. En todas ellas, detectives aficionados,
que viven entre ricos, tratan de descubrir al asesino enfrentándose al rechazo
policial e incluso a la violencia física. De esta manera, la escritora ofrece historias
destinadas al ocio de los lectores donde los detectives siempre triunfan.

ABSTRACT: The four crime novels published by Mercedes Ballesteros under
the pen name of Rocq Morris in the first years of the Francoist dictatorship, in the
kiosk series “La Novela Ideal” include many of the stereotypes deployed by the
Spanish criminal narrative during this same period. In all of them, amateur detectives,
who live among wealthy people, attempt to discover the murderer despite
facing police rejection and even physical violence. In this way, Ballesteros offers
popular narratives intended for the leisure of the readers in which detectives always
succeed.

Actio Nova: Revista de Teoría de la Literatura y Literatura Comparada (2019), n.º 3, pp. 95-122

ABSTRACT

This article analyses two kiosk novels published by the Spanish writer Josefina de la Torre during the decade of 1940: Villa del Mar (1941) and El caserón del órgano (1944). It studies how she reproduces in them some of the most common features of the crime and horror subgenres, such as the detective as an adventure hero, the (false) haunted house and the incredibly evil murderer, to offer works intended for the leisure of the readers.

RESUMEN

Este artículo analiza dos novelas de quiosco publicadas en la década de 1940 por la escritora española Josefina de la Torre: Villa del Mar (1941) y El caserón del órgano (1944). Se estudia cómo reproduce en ellas varios de los rasgos más frecuentes en los subgéneros policiaco y de terror, sobre todo el detective como un héroe de aventuras, la (falsa) casa encantada y el asesino increíblemente malvado, para ofrecer unas obras destinadas al ocio de los lectores.

Resumen:

Ramón Gómez de la Serna escribió diez guiones cinematográficos breves, publicados en la revista La Revue du Cinéma en 1930 bajo el título de Chiffres, que a su vez constituyen adaptaciones de textos suyos. Aunque en un principio fueron elaborados para la que iba a ser la primera película de Buñuel como director, el cineasta jamás los utilizó.  Debido al interés que el texto suscita por permitir una mejor comprensión de cómo el escritor concebía el cine, este artículo intenta determinar el origen del proyecto, cómo el autor adaptó sus propias historias a un formato cinematográfico y cuáles constituyen los principales recursos fílmicos que estos guiones presentan.

Abstract:

Ramón Gómez de la Serna wrote ten short film screenplays, published in the magazine La Revue du Cinéma in 1930 under the title of Chiffres, which were also adapted from texts by this same author. Although at first they were thought to be filmed by Luis Buñuel in the movie which was going to be his debut as director, these screenplays were never used  by this film-maker. Because of the interest that this text arouses and because it allows to understand in a better way how the writer conceived the cinema, this article tries to determine the origin of this project, how the author adapted his owns stories to a filmic format and which are the main film features that these screenplays show.