Leggott, S: Memory, War, and Dictatorship in Recent Spanish

Sarah Leggott is professor of Spanish in the School of Languages and Cultures at Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand.

This book discusses a number of recent novels by Spanish women writers that present women's experiences in Spain during the years of the Spanish Civil War and Franco dictatorship. It considers these works in the context of the "memory boom" in contemporary Spain and draws on work from the fields of memory and trauma studies.

IntroductionChapter One:Narrating the Legacy of War and Dictatorship in Contemporary Spain: Gender, Trauma, and the Historical Memory DebatesChapter Two: Dulce Chacón (1954¿2003)Constructing a Gendered Postmemory: Repression, Resistance, and Transgenerational Transmission in La voz dormida (2002)Chapter Three: Rosa Regàs (1933¿)Expiating the Sins of the Mother: Childhood Memories of Retribution and Loss in Luna lunera (1999)Chapter Four: Josefina Aldecoa (1926¿2011)Challenging Cultural Taboos of Age and Gender: The Voice of the Elderly Mother and Returned Exile in La fuerza del destino (1997)Chapter Five: Carme Riera (1948¿)Reconstructing the Maternal Story: The Quest for Historical ¿Truth¿ and Self-Understanding in La mitad del alma (2005)Chapter Six: Almudena Grandes (1960¿)Inscribing the Transgenerational Legacy of Exile: A Son¿s Inherited Guilt and a Granddaughter¿s Quest for Reparation in El corazón helado (2007)ConclusionBibliography