ABSTRACT
Reading Espriu and Goytisolo together This chapter occupies itself with two writers who both explore the relationship between man and bull: Salvador Espriu in La pell de brau ( The Bull Hide , 1960) and Juan Goytisolo in Señas de identidad ( Marks of Identity , 1966). 1 Both take the bull to be a symbol of Spanish identity, and their fascination with the man-bull relationship unfolds as an attempt to recover otherwise ignored aspects of Spain’s past. Like layers of paint on a canvas, or a shuffl ed pile of photos on a table, different moments in history overlap for these writers and create a textured image of the past that is markedly different from the Francoist vision. Both authors also express a profound concern for the precariousness of memory in the face of the inevitability of death and from there a concern about the future of the community. Finally, both read Spain’s history as being occupied by generations of victims who also victimize, and it is in this sense that the Minotaur helps to refl ect the particular historical relationship: executioner-victim, man-bull.
