Home | Books By Year | Books from 1950
The Hive (Cela novel)
Buy The Hive (Cela novel) now from AmazonFirst, read the Wikipedia article. Then, scroll down to see what other TopShelfReviews readers thought about the book. And once you've experienced the book, tell everyone what you thought about it.
Wikipedia article
'The Hive' (also translated as 'The Beehive') is a novel written by the Spanish author Camilo Jos Cela, first published in 1950.[https://www.worldcat.org/title/colmena/oclc/12969993/editions?start_edition=1&sd=asc Formats and Editions of La colmena WorldCat.org] Retrieved 2016-01-06.
'La Colmena'
The novel is set in Madrid in 1943, after the end of the Spanish Civil War, and deals with the poverty and general unhappiness found in Spain by examining a multitude of fictional characters in varying levels of detail. It is notable in that it contains over 300 characters and is considered to be the most important novel written in postcivil war Spain. Because of rigorous censorship Cela was unable to get 'La colmena' published in his native Spain, and was instead forced to publish it in Buenos Aires.
The book consists of six chapters and an epilogue. Each chapter contains a number of short passages describing short episodes and focusing on a particular character. In this way a series of insignificant events and characters work together to form an important conclusion, much in the same way that a hive of bees works together to achieve something much more than they could achieve individually.
Structure
The novel itself is composed of two hundred and fifteen fragments separated by a blank space, grouped into seven chapters of different lengths.
Time
The events of 'La Colmena' occur in three days in December 1943, a date deduced from a news story which Rmulo the bookseller reads in a newspaper, where Martn Marco's proclamation also appears. The newspaper also informs us of the Tehran conference between the world leaders. However, because there are no more facts, the time of the story is offered to the reader in a vague manner: it is set in the first years of post war Spain, and in fact it could have been set anywhere between 1941 and 1945.
The duration of the story is brief as everything happens over the course of three days. The first six chapters happen in two days and the last occurs three or four days later. But the most significant thing is the chronological disorder, as facts are not told in the manner which they happen. If you were to read the novel in a traditional manner, you would need to re-order the chapters in the following order: I, II, IV, VI, III, V, Final.
Language and style
Lexicon
Register
In 'La Colmena', Cela combines two linguistic levels, the cultured and the popular. One way of examining the novel would be in this manner:'La Colmena' and Cinema
In 'La Colmena' there are references to the world of film, actors, and spectators. La colmena was made into a film directed by Mario Camus in 1982.
Editions available
* (English)
* (Spanish)
* (Spanish)
* (Spanish)
References
Category:1950 novels
Category:20th-century Spanish novels
Category:Novels by Camilo Jos Cela
Category:Novels set in Madrid
Category:Spanish novels adapted into films
Category:Fiction set in 1943
Buy The Hive (Cela novel) now from Amazon
<-- Return to books from 1950