Coming back in another way: Francisco Ayala and his memoirs during the Transition

Abstract

Unlike many other exiles, Ayala’s return to Spain represents a rare case of integration and public recognition. The return dates back to the Sixties, when Ayala traveled to Spain as a silent observer, resuming a liberal and cosmopolitan dialogue with the interior of the country and the young antifrancoist opposition. Ayala avoided any political judgment and in the years of Transition, however, he did not give up to take part in the intellectual life of the country in a crucial stage of change. This article illustrates the different ways in which the exiled Ayala expressed his ideas about the Spanish process of democratization and explains the reasons why this attitude proved to be successful in comparison with the behavior of other exiles. During the Transition his memoirs Recuerdos y Olvidos also represents an exemplary case of public treatment of the past by a Republican exile who judged the process of democratic normalization as a rational and positive process.