El exilio interior: vida y literatura de Carmen Laforet

Carmen Laforet lives in the history of Spanish literature as the author of an extraordinary novel recognised with the Nadal Award (Nada, 1944) who subsequently lapsed into a mysterious silence. Despite having published several works, including some noteworthy novels (La isla de los demonios, 1952; La mujer nueva, 1955, La insolación, 1963), Laforet gradually abandoned the literary scene and her own writing, secluding herself into her inner world, a kind of self-exile driven by the need for privacy and independence, as well as her maladjustment and lack of rooting. The article seeks to delve into the imperatives and inhibitions which instigated that silence, identifiable both in her literary work and in the confessions to her relatives and letters she exchanged, among others, with the exiled Ramón J. Sender, with whom she maintained correspondence and a friendly relationship for many years (Puedo contar contigo. Correspondencia, 2003).