Iberian Crime Fiction PDF Download

This dissertation identifies how four contemporary Iberian crime fiction novels similarly construct a paranoid reading. The project's novels include: Secretos de Arenal by Felix Gonzalez Mondrono (2014), Els ossos soterrats by Silvestre Vilaplana (2016), Res no es real by David Galvez (2015), and La tristeza del samurai (2011) by Victor del Arbol. I read the novels' construction of paranoia as a non-delusional hypervigilance, the fear and anxiety over repeating threats or cases of violence. By narrativizing violent crimes in the twenty-first century as uncannily similar to those stemming from twentieth century authoritarianism, such novels indicate an angst over a return to Francoism. The novels' integration of themes commonly found in works of historical fiction and memory encourage a comparative reading between past and present crimes. The novels suggest that corruption and attempts to control collective memory pave the way for repetition of crimes. This project also notes the effects of using an average citizen to play the part of sleuth and vigilante. The protagonists' paranoia gives them the insight into solving crimes (thus allowing them to save future victims) but it also means that no one believes them and they have no authority to enact change. To further analyze these findings, I primarily use Eve K. Sedgwick's critical theory of paranoia as a tool of differentials. Paranoia is a means of diagnosing inequalities within a society and simultaneously acts as the condition for a reparative reading. It is an active knowledge that may not lead to "the truth" but perhaps may provide a greater understanding. The novels' constructed preoccupations over the return to Francoism implicates that Spain has not overcome certain dynamics of power and violence. Furthermore, because the novels allude to the global effects of neoliberalism, particularly its impact on the police state, these texts confront us with broad considerations about democracies. The novels' paranoia poses questions over the state of a democracy when all aspects of social life have been commodified and determined by the possibility of violence.