La familia de Pascual Duarte, publicada en 1942 e inscrita en el llamado "tremendismo" literario, es la primera novela de Cela y la que inicia su reconocimiento por parte de la crítica y el público. El novelista ofrece en estas páginas la transcripción de las memorias de Pascual Duarte, un asesino que espera la ejecución en la cárcel de Badajoz, avisando de que es "un modelo de conductas", pero "un modelo para huirlo". El famoso comienzo de estas memorias -- "Yo, señor, no soy malo, aunque no me faltarían motivos para serlo" -- señala ya la congoja de un hombre que puede ser tomado como una hiena o como un manso cordero, "acorralado y asustado por la vida". Sucesivas desgracias van rompiendo el equilibrio de Pascual: la muerte del padre por rabia, la del hermano tonto al ahogarse en una tinaja de aceite, la del segundo hijo por un "mal aire traidor". Entonces, una extraña sed de sangre le impulsa en los momentos más desafortunados a matar a quien le hace daño, ya sea animal o persona. Una y otra vez parece que el destino le fuerza a actuar bárbaramente, olvidando con su terrible fatalismo que había nacido para "rosa en un estercolero". Esperando la muerte, junto con el frío ejercicio de la memoria que registra crímenes, injurias y huidas, le invade a Pascual Duarte un rudo arrepentimiento, más intuitivo que racional, que no deja de ser sincero a pesar de su ambigüedad. Terrible en su tremendismo, exacta en desvelar un alma desgraciada, la novela se abre paso entre la sombría dureza de la vida, lacónica, impactante. - Darío Villanueva.

The first-person narrator-protagonist Pascual Duarte, while awaiting execution in the condemned cell, tells the story of his family life and his homicidal past, culminating in matricide. He claims, amongst other things, that Fate is controlling his life and whatever he does nothing will ever change. The book could be said to explore a Spanish version of Existentialism: like in Albert Camus' L'étranger, Pascual is seen by society as an outsider, unable or unwilling to follow its norms. His autobiographical tale shows some of the tremendously harsh peasant reality of rural Spain up to the beginning of Franco's regime. - Wikipedia.

The Family of Pascual Duarte (Spanish: La Familia de Pascual Duarte) is a 1942 novel written by Spanish Nobel laureate Camilo José Cela. The first two editions created an uproar and in less than a year it was banned. A new Spanish edition was allowed in 1946. This novel is fundamental to the generation of tremendismo (named from tremendo, "awful, tremendous"), which focuses on the treatment of its characters and is marked by extended and frequent violent scenes. The novel is in fact considered the first novel of this style of writing, but also contains themes of extreme realism and existentialism: the characters live in the margins of society and their lives are submersed in anguish and pain; the archetype of this theme is found in the protagonist of the novel, Pascual Duarte, who has learned that violence is the only way to solve his problems. The Family of Pascual Duarte has various narrators, the main being Duarte, who recounts his history in a rural dialect. The protagonist is from Extremadura and his life unfolds between 1882 and 1937, years in which the social and political structures of Spain were marked by extreme instability. This time is one of the most agitated periods of time under the historic constitution. The novel has a clear religious theme, despite the author was never devoted, and the references to God throughout it are numerous. - Wikipedia.