Descensura: A Comparative Study of Poetry under Censorship in the Iberian Dictatorships (1933-1978)

Descripción del proyecto

Un estudio sobre la censura literaria en las dictaduras ibéricas

En el siglo XX, la censura literaria de los regímenes de Salazar (Portugal) y Franco (España) reprimió a los autores y sus obras. Sin embargo, el alcance de los libros censurados sigue sin estar claro. El equipo del proyecto DESCENSURA, financiado por el Consejo Europeo de Investigación, pretende cartografiar y analizar de forma comparativa la censura de libros, contrastando la propaganda del régimen con la resistencia de los escritores e identificando las obras literarias que necesitan ser restauradas. La investigación se centra en la poesía, un género que a menudo eludía a los censores. En el proyecto se estudia cómo se persiguió a los poetas entre 1933 y 1978, y cómo este legado perdura en la actualidad. Trata de mitigar los daños causados por el aparato estatal «descensurando» las obras y proporcionando un cierto nivel de justicia. Además, creará la base de datos «Censura», que proporcionará el primer recurso autorizado sobre la censura ibérica de libros.

Objetivo

In the 20th century, the literary field underwent severe repression and censorship from Salazar’s and Franco’s dictatorships. Despite relevant studies, there is no full account of how these two censoring systems evolved along with common ideology but diverse praxis. Besides, the total number of books forbidden or expurgated during this period is still unknown. This project maps out and systematizes knowledge of book censorship in a comparative way, by contrasting the regimes’ propaganda with writers’ resistance, and by identifying literary works that need to be restored today. Within this large map of censored books, it will examine more closely the case of poetry, as a genre that evaded the censor’s eye. DESCENSURA aims at undoing part of the damage inflicted by the censorial apparatus, thus “decensoring” works and providing a degree of justice. DESCENSURA is foundational research that combines archival and digital methods with literary studies. The project gathers evidence from the legal, secret, and cultural documents that relate to the authors and books marked by censors. It then maps out the networks comprised of author, book, and censor review by digitally emulating these relations in a new database: Censura DB. This database will be the team’s main research tool and the first authoritative resource on Iberian book censorship. The project’s research is divided into four streams: 1) Archives, 2) Ideals, 3) Tactics, and 4) Traces. The traces left by dictatorial regimes are both immaterial and material, pertaining to the control, surveillance, repression, and censorship of writers. Yet the material traces left by censors in the manuscripts, proofs, and books they read can be made visible and relevant. That is this project’s task. It is the first-ever study to map out all the titles censored by the Iberian dictatorships and to investigate the original copies scarred by state agents, thus pioneering knowledge of the legacy of preventive and repressive censorship.