"This book, edited by Cristina Moreiras-Menor and Pedro Aguilera-Mellado, and published by Editorial Comarés (Granada, Spain), responds to a theoretical and analytical aspiration shared by editors and collaborators: the pursuit of what we term 'excritura' in the literary work of Juan Benet. This involves delving into the oeuvre of one of the greatest Spanish writers of the 20th century—exploring his stories, narrative strategies, and language—to transcend mere representation in language and move beyond the purely historical, political, or vital dimensions of his writing. This exploration, inseparable from an existential trace that ominously shadows its pages alongside the historical and political context, as well as the lives of its characters, beckons us towards the murky depths of infrapolitics. It leads us towards a 'symbolic action in reality' that eschews identification with the political realm, instead opting for an ethical retreat from the sphere of power to delve deeper into the unfamiliar realities of the most intimate aspects of human experience. La Excritura scrutinizes Benet's work from an existential perspective, where the order of representation—spanning the political, historical, and psychological registers—interweaves with a project that directs analytical focus towards the liminal spaces, the realms of unfamiliar intimacy, and unsettling depths that the narratives also contain.”
The book includes works by some of the most prominent literary scholars from both Spain and the US, and by Benet’s son and writer JA González Sainz. It also includes chapters by three graduate students of RLL: David Campbell, Elena Mártinez-Acacio, and Félix Zamora-Gómez.
