Franco's long dead but in Spain censorship endures in another guise

0 Comments | AFP, November, 2005

BARCELONA (AFP) — Thirty years after the death of military dictator General Francisco Franco, Spanish writers wonder if one harsh regime has simply been replaced by another.

Censorship under Franco drove many of the country's editors and writers into exile yet even today, with democracy well entrenched, they say the country's literary voices struggle to be heard -- and read.

"In Spain there has been a political transition, but not a cultural one," said prolific expatriate writer Juan Goytisolo, 74, whose translated works include "Marks of Identity" (1969), "Juan the Landless" (1975) and "Forbidden Territory" (1989).

Member of a literary Barcelona family -- his brothers Jose Augustin and Luis were also leading dissident writers -- Goytisolo took refuge in...