"But the Spain which emerged around 1960, beginning with its economic miracle, created by the invasion of tourists, can no longer result in impassioned dedication on the part of its intellectuals, and even less on the part of foreign intellectuals"
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A country can be rebuilt by money and still lose its claim on the imagination. That is Goytisolo's quiet provocation: Spain's post-1960 "economic miracle" did not merely modernize the nation; it domesticated it. The phrase "invasion of tourists" is doing the heavy lifting. He chooses a word associated with conquest, not commerce, suggesting that prosperity arrived wearing flip-flops but carrying a cultural price tag: spectacle over substance, consumption over commitment.
The target isn't tourists as individuals; it's the new regime of meaning they usher in. Under Franco, Spain had been a political and moral problem that could demand "impassioned dedication" from writers and intellectuals - a site of resistance, exile, and high stakes. With the boom came a different Spain: market-friendly, image-managed, exportable. A country that sells itself as sun and leisure becomes harder to write about as tragedy or cause. It doesn't stop being complex; it becomes harder to make that complexity legible amid the curated postcards.
Goytisolo also takes a swipe at the international intellectual economy. Foreign intellectuals once treated Spain as a proving ground for anti-fascist solidarity; now, he implies, they can visit without risking anything. The subtext is bitterly modern: when a place becomes a lifestyle destination, moral urgency drains away. Dedication is replaced by commentary, and commentary by tourism. In a single sentence, he maps the shift from political engagement to cultural consumption - and indicts the comforts that make that shift feel like progress.
The target isn't tourists as individuals; it's the new regime of meaning they usher in. Under Franco, Spain had been a political and moral problem that could demand "impassioned dedication" from writers and intellectuals - a site of resistance, exile, and high stakes. With the boom came a different Spain: market-friendly, image-managed, exportable. A country that sells itself as sun and leisure becomes harder to write about as tragedy or cause. It doesn't stop being complex; it becomes harder to make that complexity legible amid the curated postcards.
Goytisolo also takes a swipe at the international intellectual economy. Foreign intellectuals once treated Spain as a proving ground for anti-fascist solidarity; now, he implies, they can visit without risking anything. The subtext is bitterly modern: when a place becomes a lifestyle destination, moral urgency drains away. Dedication is replaced by commentary, and commentary by tourism. In a single sentence, he maps the shift from political engagement to cultural consumption - and indicts the comforts that make that shift feel like progress.
Quote Details
| Topic | Writing |
|---|---|
| Source | Help us find the source |
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