Gender and Memory in the Postmillennial Novels of Almudena Grandes

Research output: Book/ReportBook

Abstract

Almudena Grandes is one of Spain´s foremost women´s writers, having sold over 1.1 million copies of her episodios de una guerra interminable, her six-volume series that ranges from the Spanish Civil War to the democratic period; the myriad prizes awarded to her, 18 in total, confirm her pre-eminence.

This book, the first monographical study of the authoress, situates Grandes´s novels within gendered, philosophical, and mnemonic theoretical concepts that illuminate hidden dimensions of her much-studied work. Lorraine Ryan considers and expands on existing critical work on Grandes´s oeuvre, proposing new avenues of interpretation and understanding. She seeks to debunk the arguments of those who portray Grandes as the proponent of a sectarian, eminently biased Republican memory by analysing the wide variety of gender and perpetrator memories that proliferate in her work. The intersection of perpetrator memory with masculinity, ecocriticism, medical ethics and the child’s perspectives confirms Grandes’ nuanced engagement with Spanish memory culture. Departing from a philosophical basis, Ryan reconfigures the Republican victim in the novels as a vulnerable subject who attempts to flourish, thus refuting the current critical opinion of the victim as overly-empowered.

On a wider basis, this is the first monograph to analyse cultural perpetrator memory in Spain. My analysis has demonstrated that cultural perpetrator memory can make a significant contribution to the European canon of cultural perpetrator memory. Theis monograph has also demonstrated the reductionism in viewing perpetrator memory as being solely based on domination and submission by revealing new insights that redefine it as an affective, gendered and relational phenomenon. Also, in moving away from stereotypical visions of the beleaguered victim, it proffers a vision of a victim who is both vulnerable and resistant, thereby challenging the inordinate emphasis on trauma in studies of victimhood.
Original languageEnglish
Place of PublicationLondon
PublisherRoutledge
Number of pages208
Edition1
ISBN (Electronic)9781003129899
ISBN (Print)9780367655235
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 22 Apr 2021

Keywords

  • Almudena Grandes
  • Gender in Contemporary Spain
  • Memory in Contemporary Spain
  • Perpetrator Memory
  • Spanish Women´s Writing

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