This book explores the different treatment of writing by women and writing by men in twenty-first-century Spain. Focusing on contemporary Spanish authors Ana María Matute (1926-2014), Rosa Montero (1952-), and Lucía Etxebarria (1966-), the author examines how Spanish women writers are marketed in Spain and, in particular, how current marketing strategies reinforce traditional structures of femininity. Through an analysis of their work and lives in the context of the Franco Regime, the Transition to democracy and contemporary Spain, this book provides an innovative study of the construction of the public personae of these key female writers. As social media and the internet transform authors' relationship with their readers, the rapidly shifting publishing industry offers an important context for the difficult balance between high levels of reception and visibility and the persistence of traditional gender stereotypes.

The question of "women's writing": a 'double-edged' double-bind? -- The reception and marketing of women writers in Spain -- Writers, the literary market and the construction of the public personae of Matute, Montero, and Etxebarria -- Matute, Montero, and Etxebarria on "women's writing" -- The 'spectral mother'

Never before has a book examined Spanish women and their mastery of the essay. In the groundbreaking collection Spanish Women Writers and the Essay, Kathleen M. Glenn and Mercedes Mazquiarán de Rodríguez help to rediscover the neglected genre, which has long been considered a "masculine" form. Taking a feminist perspective, the editors examine why Spanish women have been so drawn to the essay through the decades, from Concepción Arenal's nineteenth-century writings to the modern works of Rosa Montero. Spanish women, historically denied a public voice, have discovered an outlet for their expression via the essay. As essayists, they are granted the authority to address subjects they personally deem important, discuss historical and sociopolitical issues, and denounce female subordination. This genre, which attracts a different audience than does the novel or poem, allows Spanish women writers to engage in a direct dialogue with their readers. Featuring twelve critical investigations of influential female essayists, Spanish Women Writers and the Essay illustrates Spanish women writers' command of the genre, their incorporation of both the ideological and the aesthetic into one concise form, and their skillful use of various strategies for influencing their readers. This fascinating study, which provides English translations for all quotations, will appeal to anyone interested in nineteenth- and twentieth-century Spanish literature, comparative literature, feminist criticism, or women's studies.

This volume gives access to debates in Spanish women's studies.

Explores the contributions of three female free-thinkers to the development of feminist consciousness and democracy, examining their lives and works to discover their contributions to the Generation of 1898 in Spain.

Feminist scholarship has entered an age of internationalism during the past two decades, as is evident in the wider range of cultural and national traditions now included in historical and literary studies. Yet, as Lisa Vollendorf points out in her introduction to this volume, ""Spain is one of the countries that remain on the margins of the debate. Despite a growing number of feminists in all regions of Spain, Spanish women do not appear either as authors or subjects in anthologies of feminist thinking and criticism published in English."" Hoping to redress this neglect, the editor of Recovering Spain's Feminist Tradition has gathered nineteen completely new essays on women writers who either call themselves feminist or deal with feminist issues in their work. Hailing from the medieval period to the present and representing a broad range of genres and topics, these women--court writers, nuns, housewives, journalists, politicians--trace the historical roots of Spain's feminist consciousness and emphasise its rich intellectual traditions. The contributions provide a balance between writers well known in Spain and those who have only recently received critical attention--from Santa Teresa de Jes�s and Mar�a de Zayas to Emilia Pardo Baz�n and Montserrat Roig. The last three essays in the volume focus on Spain's ""double minorities"": Catalan women writers. This fascinating and insightful collection merits a place in the libraries of students and scholars of world literature, Spanish history, and women's studies.

This volume brings together cutting-edge research on modern Spanish women as writers, activists, and embodiments of cultural change, and honors Maryellen Bieder's invaluable scholarly contributions. The critical analyses are situated within their specific socio-historical context, and shed new light on nineteenth- and early twentieth-century Spanish literature, history, and culture.