On the Chronology of ‘Los Bravos’, by Jesús Fernández Santos

Owing to what is probably a textual error dating from the first edition, critics have missed the full extent of the author’s compression of time in Los bravos. Fernandez Santos’ isochronic technique, reminiscent of Italian neorealist film, establishes the novel as a clear precursor to Sanchez Ferlosio’s El Jarama as well as a late example of European Modernism. It furthermore encourages the reader to take a less pessimistically static view of the novel’s enigmatic ending.