Constance Marina

Audio Recording of Miguel Marina Barredo (Bilbao, 1915—Santa Barbara, CA, 1989) 

I made this audiotape of my father talking about his experiences in the Civil War in 1982. Although he had talked to my mother and me over the years about that period of his life, I felt that his story had historical significance and should be preserved and shared.  

He completed his account in one sitting but, before he could begin, he repeated several times how painful discussing the war was for him. Starting with the Battle of the Ebro, his story circles back through the loss of the Basque country and his separation from his parents and siblings, to a surprise family reunion in Catalonia. It covers his escape in a small fishing boat across the Atlantic to Venezuela after a brief refueling in Dakar. It describes also his subsequent voyage from Venezuela on his way to the United States during which he was blown off course to the Dominican Republic. My father’s experiences in the Civil War marked his life and my family’s forever. He became a professional artist whose paintings reflect his nostalgia for his lost homeland with dreamlike idyllic landscapes of Basque farms, fields, and fishing boats. He died in 1989. My mother, Madeline, remained devoted to him even after his death, until she died in 2019.  

In 2015, Professor Anthony L. Geist of the University of Washington, was awarded funding by the Basque government and the Banko Bizkaia Kutxa (bbk) to produce a retrospective exhibition of my father’s work in Bilbao in conjunction with the U of Washington. It was a joyous occasion and my mother, my husband, and our two adult children attended along with members of the Marina family in Spain. 

I earned a PhD in Romance Languages and Literatures from Harvard in 1993 and worked as a legal interpreter and translator for many years. My book of translations of selected poems of Miguel Hernández, For Freedom I bleed, Fight, Survive, that I completed with my daughter, Moira, was published in September 2023 by RIL editores. Moira is a professional writer whose short-story collection, Electrodomésticos, set in northern Spain is due out by Sarabande Books in February 2024. My son, Mikel, a graphic designer, helped me to create the website about his grandfather at <miguelmarinaart.com> My husband, Garth McCavana, received his doctorate in Romance Languages and Literatures from Harvard in 1990. While researching online, he found the virtual museum of the Spanish Civil War and encouraged me to write about this recording.