Introduction

This chapter will explore the complex issue of love and relationships in contemporary Spain. In recent times, attitudes towards marriage and the rituals and customs governing relationships have profoundly altered. In the novels Porque éramos jóvenes (1986), El vergel (1988), and El enigma (2002), Aldecoa charts the evolution of love and relationships in mid- to late twentieth-century Spain. Each of the protagonists in the novels is engaged in an on-going quest for love and self-fulfilment. They experience at first hand the euphoric highs and soul-destroying lows of forbidden romance, unrequited love, and marriages of convenience. Moreover, these middle-aged characters are faced with the reality of life in Francoist and post-Francoist Spain. It appears that love in the modern world has been identified as a key means of attaining happiness, security, and self-worth in an ever-expanding society filled with political instability and economic fragility. Despite such pessimism, Aldecoa succeeds in capturing the beauty of love and the intoxication of passion, however fleeting. On delving into the personal lives of these characters, Aldecoa raises many issues that remain as pertinent today as they were in the 1980s. Such questions include whether one can find selffulfilment and individuation through love for another person, whether love can be everlasting, or if the quest for true love is as futile as the search for paradise, given the insatiable nature of the human condition.