Conversion and Colonial History in Icíar Bollaín’s También la lluvia (2010)

This study concerns the representation of colonial Latin American history and the characterisation of Daniel/Hatuey in the 2010 film-about-a-film También la lluvia. A metacinematic work comprising historical study and political commentary, También la lluvia has received mixed critical reactions regarding its portrayal of the historical and social inequalities it analyses. This article examines the ambiguous nature of the work by analysing the motif of conversion. It argues that, by foregrounding the contemporary conversion story of Costa, the film sacrifices both nuanced historical attention to the colonial past it dramatises and sustained development of one of its apparently central characters: Daniel/Hatuey, who is repeatedly converted into narrative and symbolic figures of secondary prominence, despite their importance to the development and legibility of the work as a whole

Entre la Crisis Generacional y El Éxtasis Sexual: El Dilema Femenino en Atlas de Geografía Humana de Almudena Grandes

In her fourth novel, Atlas de geografía humana (1998), Almudena Grandes presents the reader with a historical yet intimate portrayal of a generation of Spanish women in crisis. The interconnected narrations of the four female protagonists serve to introduce the recurrent themes in the novel (existential angst, fear of aging, eroticism, and change) while creating a symbolic human atlas that depicts the experience of personal transition, on one hand, and the sociopolitical transformation of a nation, on the other. This article examines the ways in which Grandes explores the existential and moral ambivalence of a generation of Spaniards who grew up during the transition from dictatorship to democracy. The author highlights this generation\u27s tendency to question social conventions and to uphold the natural law of instinct and desire. Issues of gender difference and female identity are also probed in the novel, as Grandes challenges certain feminist assumptions and puts forth, instead, an existentialist perspective of male-female relations reminiscent of Simone de Beauvoir\u27s philosophy in The Second Sex (1949)

Entrevistas a María Reimóndez, Rosa Montero y Julia Otxoa: el arte de la escritura y el activismo

Writings by Spanish contemporary authors María Reimóndez, Rosa Montero, and Julia Otxoa display, not only a deep awareness of local and national matters, but also a noteworthy engagement with broader issues of a global nature. Their works highlight, furthermore, the diversity of female voices in Spanish literature as well as the pluralism of languages, cultures, and geographies that make up the Iberian Peninsula today. This article provides a brief description of this research project as a whole, a concise critical introduction to each of the author’s works, and interviews with the three writers. The introduction to María Reimóndez’s work focuses on the role of feminism and postcolonialism in the Galician author’s understanding of identity and nation. Her novels often explore issues of gender and social justice within a context of marginal identities. Rosa Montero’s introduction describes the self- referential and metafictional qualities of Montero’s fiction and looks at the novelist’s portrayal of existential, political, and ethical themes. The introduction to Julia Otxoa’s oeuvre focuses on the poet’s depiction of our dehumanizing time through short minimalist poems that propose reflection, solidarity, and introspection as an antidote to our depthless progress and environmental indifference. The interviews are edited versions of longer conversations with the authors in which we discussed their views on the role of literature in the 21st century, the most important global challenges of our time, and their own works

La escritura como instrumento de resistencia cultural y reivindicación de la diferencia: Entrevista a Emma Pedreira

Dentro de la literatura peninsular la obra de la escritora gallega Emma Pedreira representa una postura de autonomía lingüística y de resistencia a la cultura oficial hegemónica. A través de su poesía, en particular las obras Antídoto (2017) y Libro das mentiras (2012), la autora universaliza la experiencia íntima del dolor y la pérdida a la vez que explora la identidad femenina dentro de contextos patriarcales alienantes. Usando el discurso poético como vehículo de transgresión, Pedreira desafía los mitos tradicionales que han condicionado el comportamiento de la mujer y defiende el derecho a la diferencia y las experiencias no normativas. El humor y la comicidad constituyen armas críticas en sus obras narrativas Bibliópatas e fobólogos (2017) y Corazón e demáis tripas (2016), empleándose para denunciar las incongruencias del sistema literario y para parodiar lo erótico sacro, respectivamente. El enfoque minucioso en la anomalía psicológica, la intersexualidad y la mitología en torno al hombre lobo en Besta do seu sangue (2018) le permite a la autora contar la historia del mayor asesino en serie de Galicia, Manuel Blanco Romasanta. Su última novela, As fauces feroces (2019), ilumina las agresiones que los cambios biológicos producen en el cuerpo femenino y denuncia la ferocidad con que la sociedad juzga a la mujer en sus diferentes roles sociales