The Absence of Tragedy in <i>Ifigenia</i> (1950) by Gonzalo Torrente Ballester

Gonzalo Torrente Ballester’s novella, Ifigenia (1950) has been read consistently as a critique of the consolidating Francoist state 1940s and an early example his ‘demythologizing’ technique. This article seeks to open discussion on aspects text that have not attracted critical attention date. It traces unacknowledged legacies Euripides’ Iphigenia in Aulis text, most visible both authors’ emphasis capacity language for deceit. Drawing Hannah Arendt’s The Origins Totalitarianism, it argues Torrente’s should be only context post-Civil War Spain but also wider socio-political post-Second World Europe. consistent suppression expression emotion throughout produces absence tragedy retelling myth, outlines how this relates post-war contexts