Content area
Abstract
In this dissertation I examine the romance novel written in the 1930s and 40s in Spain and Portugal, focusing on two popular writers of the genre, the Spaniard Carmen de Icaza (1904?–1979) and the Portuguese Alice Ogando (1904?–1979). Both published in the period coinciding with the rise of feminism and of greater opportunities for women in the public sphere, and then during the authoritarian, fascistic dictatorships of Francisco Franco in Spain and António Salazar in Portugal. This dissertation examines the possible influence of the various discourses and ideologies that shaped women's lives and beliefs on the novels of Icaza and Ogando. Because the romance novel has been generally perceived as a form of inferior literature, this study also seeks to challenge the unquestioned division between so-called high and low culture. In addition, it seeks to examine and problematize the role of popular literature, as well as the perceived inferiority of women readers. The issue of women's popular literature in relation to notions of high and low culture is also closely related to the problematic privileging of female writers who advocate liberal or leftist ideologies. Therefore, not only have female writers of popular novels been ignored and even attacked by the traditional masculine establishment that dictates the canon, but also by feminist critics who consider them too ideologically conservative and unoriginal. An important aim of this study, then, is to question the exclusion of these conservative, popular women writers, and to consider the ideas and beliefs that they may have defended in their works. In effect, literature written by women, regardless of their political beliefs, is worthy of study. At the very least, the inclusion of conservative women writers facilitates a greater understanding of the ideologies and experiences of all women.
