El mundo a la espalda. La vanguardia y el compromiso en el pensamiento sociológico-literario de Francisco Ayala

Abstract

It has not highlighted yet the place of the avant-garde notions and the commitment in the autobiographical writings and literary-critical works of Francisco Ayala, where often the sociologist who was in it warns. The first stage of this author escapes the formula that usually sums up the path of the «young literature»: from the avant-garde to commitment. However, as this paper tries to show, his support to avant-gardist spirit means at the same time that he assumed a commitment with the elites that promoted the modernization and europeanization of Spain. This commitment carried with it an aesthetic program based on the autonomy of art, a budget-length Ayala urging him to separate politics and literature, and to express their differences, paradoxically, with the sartrean notion of engagement .