Fables of Development

Book excerpt: This volume focuses on a basic paradox: why is it that the so-called 'Spanish economic miracle' -a purportedly secular, rational, and technocratic process - was fictionally portrayed through providential narratives in which supernatural and extraordinary elements were often involved? In order to answer this question, the author examines cultural fictions and social life at the time when Spain turned from autarchy to the project of industrial and tourist development.