San Camilo, 1936

Spain is on the brink of war. A young man, preoccupied by the usual things--his finances, his sex life--struggles to understand the chaotic historical moment in which he is living. With a compassion for his characters that is matched by a conception of humanity as animalistically motivated, Camilo José Cela narrates with powerful emotional immediacy the events leading up to July 18, 1936--the Feast of San Camilo--when a contingent led by Francisco Franco refused to support the republican government and the Spanish Civil War erupted. This is a translation of Cela's 1969 novel.