Miguel Delibes’ Green Dilemma: ‘USA y yo’ versus ‘Un Mundo Que Agoniza’

Abstract

ABSTRACT Miguel Delibes is widely known as a novelist and journalist with a strong commitment to environmentalism. In 1964 he visited the USA, a country that epitomized progress, technology and modernity, and subsequently published his impressions as USA y yo. While the author reacted negatively to certain aspects of American culture — especially what he deemed the dehumanizing effects of mechanization — his overall estimation was mixed in that he gave an idealized account of the American countryside, regarding it as combining the best aspects of town and country: a proximity to nature, but with modern amenities, and a strong sense of community. In 1975, Delibes explained his ecological credo to the Real Academia Española. This far more robust critique of modernity was informed by Delibes’ assimilation of works inspired by the new environmentalism of the late 1960s. However, throughout his life, Delibes continued to toy with the idea of modernization as the way forward for the Castilian countryside. This article explores the author’s lingering hesitancies as symptoms of the ongoing debate within the green movement between eco-modernists and eco-radicals. It also draws a parallel between Delibes and the American agrarian writer, Wendell Berry.