Fermin Galan

La Barbarie Organizada Fermin Galan

The colonial war of Spain in Morocco produced a great number of novels and stories, mostly aimed to defend the political and economic interests of the dominant classes and to sustain the peninsular bourgeoisie nationalistic myths.

However, several works exposed a critical representation of this conflict.

El Blocao, by José Díaz Fernández, or Imán, by Ramón J. Sender, are examples of novels that marked a break with this narrative.

But La Barbarie Organizada went a step further: to the description of the human disaster of every war and its pacifist proclaim, Galan added a detailed description of the process of brutalization exerted on the soldiers until they become reduced into nothingness. A civilizing process that establishes barbaric acts as acceptable means.

With an objectivist technique and austere procedures, Galán establishes a deeply agonizing and yet radically critical account.

Fermín Galán (1899-1930) is one of the « new romanticism generation» intellectuals.

Military, distinguished for his service in Morocco, Galán wrote the novel La barbarie organizada in 1925 while recovering from his war wounds in the Carabanchel Hospital.

in 1926 Galán joined the armed insurrection against the dictator Primo de Rivera, as results of which he was sentenced to prison. While detained he wrote the rest of his work: the play Berta (published in 1932) and the essay New creation (1930). In December of 1930 he joined the revolt in Jaca in favor of the Republic. As the attempt to subvert the monarchical order failed, Galán was executed together with Captain Angel Garcia Hernandez.

Galán's works seek to integrate the philosophical tendencies (vitalism) and the aesthetic experiences of the early twentieth century with the political horizons of anarchism and socialism.

This edition, by prof. César de Vicente Hernando, presents the novel in a perspective that includes the Riff War effects on the Spanish society while analyzing the aesthetics that characterize Galán as one of the «new romanticism generation» authors.