In this essay the author intends to define and explore the characteristics of poetic realism expressed by the Spanish novelist Julio Llamazares in his first novel Luna de Lobos (1985).

The purpose of the essay is to describe how different narrative-techniques such as intermediality, rhetorical figures and different symbols portraying animals and atmospheric conditions are being used in order to give a wide and subtle perception of the world.

One of the research questions is to visualize how the fate of the “maquis” (spanish militia that fought during the Civil War and didn’t lay down their arms until the late forties) is being used as the main theme in the novel.

The essay is based on the hypothetic situation that four main characters in the novel are being trapped in the landscape of the Spanish mountains, finding no way out. The surrounding landscape affects the company psychologically and physically so much that they seem to be living more and more like the animals of the region rather than human beings. The symbolic value of the wolf is also being explored as it is considered most closely related to the main theme.

The essay is an attempt to visualize the various examples of dehumanization that are used to characterize the situation of the “maquis” due to the isolation and separation from their families and society. The essay is based on a estructural and semiotic method.

The conclusions confirm the hypothesis as the essay demonstrates how the poetic realism gives the novel its specific style and how the destiny of the Spanish militia has remained in the memory of the Spanish population.