The context in which Tiempo de Silencio was published, as well as the setting and themes of the book seem to reflect the official censorship that existed at the time in Spain. However, if one reads the novel from a philosophical rather than a sociological perspective, the influence of censorship might be seen as secondary to the purpose and themes of the text. The novel Tiempo de Silencio by Luis Martín-Santos was written and published during the time of Franco's regime and, as such, as might be expected, the book reflects the climate of the time. In fact, the difficulty encountered by the author in his attempt to publish the book is the first reflection of the censorship of the time; although the novel was completed in 1960, it was not published until 1962, in the form of a 20-page edition removed by the censor. The complete uncensored edition was not published in Spain until 1981, by which time Franco's regime was almost unrecognizable due to the heavily oppressive nature it had in its early days and was in comparison extremely liberal. In the period following the Civil War, the state exercised strict control over all forms of media and art, and indeed over most aspects of Spanish life, and obviously, in this context, works Anti-government or criticism of the state was not tolerated. Although we described that it was extremely difficult to denounce the state at the time, Martín-Santos' work is actually very critical of the regime. The first indication of this is the title itself, Tiempo de Silencio, which is generally interpreted as referring to the silence of the intellectualism of the time. Science and academia were heavily restricted by the regime as they were seen as having the potential to be dissident... middle of article... and, in a more philosophical way, the effects and influence censorship become secondary. existentialist themes and, as such, do not play as important a role in the text as the first view suggests. Perhaps it is better to say then that, in some ways, the silence is indeed a reflection of the censorship of the time, but that there are many ways to interpret the book, which of course one could to be expected due to its excessive reliance on ambiguity, and numerous levels of meaning that must be taken into account when reading the novel.Works CitedMartín-Santos, L Tiempo de Silencio (1962, ed. 2009) Editorial Crítica , BarcelonaRoberts, G Temas existentenciales en la romana española posguerra (1978) Gredos, MadridUgarte , M Tiempo de Silencio and the language of displacement (March 1981) MLN, Vol. 96, No. 2, Hispanic Question, John Hopkins University Press, Baltimore