La colmena

This article is about the novel. For the film adaptation see La colmena (film)

The Hive

Author	Camilo José Cela
Original title	La colmena
Language	Spanish
Genre	Novel
Publisher	Emecé Editores
Publication date	1951
Publication place	Spain
Media type	Print (Hardback & Paperback)
Pages	350 pp (Spanish paperback edition)
ISBN	ISBN 84-7039-436-3 (Spanish paperback edition)

The Hive (in orig. Spanish La Colmena) (also translated as: The Beehive) is a novel written by the Spanish author Camilo José Cela, first published in 1951. The novel is set in Madrid in 1942, after the end of the Spanish Civil War, and deals with the poverty and general unhappiness found in Spain by examining a multitude of fictional characters in varying levels of detail. It is notable in that it contains over 300 characters and is considered to be the most important novel written in post civil war Spain. Because of rigorous censorship Cela was unable to get La colmena published in his native Spain, and was instead forced to publish it in Buenos Aires.

The book consists of six chapters and an epilogue. Each chapter contains a number of short passages describing short episodes and focusing on a particular character. In this way a series of insignificant events and characters work together to form an important conclusion, much in the same way that a hive of bees works together to achieve something much more than they could achieve individually.

Film, TV or theatrical adaptations

If has been adapted for film see La colmena (film).