Two Perspectives on the Spanish Civil War:Genre, Gender and the International Dimension of the War inIlsa Barea-Kulscar’s Telefónica (1949) and Arturo Barea’s La llama (1946)

Ilsa Barea-Kulscar’s Telefónica (1949) and Arturo Barea’s La llama (1946) present two complementary perspectives on the Spanish Civil War from the Telefónica building in Madrid. The former takes the form of a novel but is based on Ilsa’s experience of the Civil War while the latter is part of Barea’s autobiographical trilogy. This article examines how their different approaches to autobiographical writing allowed the authors to present distinctive viewpoints on the conflict. To achieve this, it explores how the genres employed by the two works influence their portrayal of the war’s international relevance and their depiction of gender.