Carmen Laforet'sNada: Fictional form and the Search for Identity

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“…2 El número de artículos que se han escrito sobre el género literario de esta novela es sustancioso. De entre los que se acercan a la novela como Bildungsroman (o novela de iniciación de una adolescente) se puede mencionar Alicia Andreu (1997), Marsha Collins (1984-85), Carlos Feal Deibe (1976), Elizabeth Ordóñez (1976), Sandra Schumm (1999), Robert Spires (1978), Michael D. Thomas (1978) y Juan Villegas (1973). Barry Jordan (1993) también se acerca al género literario de Nada, pero más bien para negar que sea un verdadero Bildungsroman.…”

A Nothing That Does Things: Hunger as Affect in Laforet’sNada

“…Due in part to its structure, many critics have argued that Nada is a female version of a Bildungsroman; it is divided into three parts, each of which functions to foreground the story of Andrea as she arrives in, explores, and leaves Barcelona, thus revealing a process of maturation that marks her entrance into adulthood (Andreu, 1997;Collins, 1984;Del Mastro, 1997;2004;Thomas, 1978). Barry Jordan rejects this idea, however, because 'the main protagonist seems excessively passive as a character' and is 'the object, rarely the subject, of actions or events' (1992: 108).…”

“…Since its publication in 1944, Nada has inspired a myriad of interpretations and analyses many of which are opposing in nature: the text is or is not an example of a female Bildungsroman (Andreu, 1997;Collins, 1984;Del Mastro, 1997;2004;Jordan, 1992;Thomas, 1978); the text is or is not feminist (Collins, 1984;Petrea, 1994;Soufas, 1993); it is or is not existential (Gier, 1998(Gier, -2000Nieves Alonso, 1983;Spires, 1985-86); or it is or is not political (Dolgin Casado, 1996;Ebels, 2009;Mizrahi, 2010) -to name a few of the most common interpretations. This is because Nada is an ambiguous novel that only alludes to the reality of post-war Spain without explicitly analysing or criticizing the sociopolitical nature of the moment.…”