Review Francoism against Álvaro Retana

José Martínez Rubio

Abstract

El franquismo contra Álvaro Retana, by José Martínez Rubio, is a thorough study of the repression suffered by writer and illustrator Álvaro Retana under Franco’s dictatorship. Through a rigorous analysis of primary sources, such as censorship records and police reports, the author reconstructs the silencing process that marginalized Retana due to his transgressive work and his identity linked to dissident sexualities. This essay reclaims Retana’s figure as a symbol of cultural resistance, rescuing his legacy within a historiography that has traditionally consigned him to oblivion.