Women WRITERS of the Generation of '98

In the history of literature we find that there is a great void when it comes to mentioning women writers of earlier times. Currently, there is more information and visibility of literary women, however, in the XIX or early XX, historians did not leave a reflection of the footprint of female authors. In unPROFESOR we want to echo the presence of women in literature and, therefore, in this lesson we are going to discover the female writers of the Generation of '98, a generation well known and studied by all and in which a large number of literary women also participated, silenced by historians.

Index

1. Introduction to Generation '98
2. Emilia Pardo Bazán
3. Faustina Sáez de Melgar
4. Carmen de Burgos
5. Shell Thorn
6. María de la O Lejárraga García
7. Clara Campoamor
8. Carmen karr

The Generation of 98 was one of the generations of Spanish authors with the most relevance of modernity. Children of literary Modernism, these writers bet on texts more committed to the moment and with

Although there are not many traditional studies on the female presence in Spanish literature, the truth is that there were women who were dedicated to writing. And they were not few. Historiography has put them aside because Spain experienced a democratic and social recess with the arrival of the Franco dictatorship, which relegated women to household chores. However, there are women writers from the Generation of '98 that are worth knowing and that we want to recover from the oblivion imposed by patriarchal society.

We must not forget, moreover, that in the nineteenth century the feminist movements and the women of the West were beginning to make themselves heard and felt in capitalist societies. This led the women that we will study in this lesson to defend feminism and bet on an egalitarian society in which men and women have the same rights. For this, they created novels, poetry, theater and essays that are essential to know our most recent cultural and social history.

One of the most well-known and studied women writers of the Generation of 98 is Emilia Pardo Bazán, which, in fact, is one of the few that have been studied in a traditional way in schools and institutes. We include her as a member of the Generation of '98 because she, by time and chronology, could have been part of the movement.

She is a well-known author who wrote works that are part of the realistic and naturalistic movement. In fact, her best known work is The Pazos de Ulloa, a novel that is usually required reading in high school. She was a very prominent personality in the cultural and literary world of the time and, in fact, she worked in periodicals and did literary criticism.

She was a fervent defender of feminism, but she never opted for the recognition of the scholars of the time.

But in addition to Pardo Bazán (who is well known to all), there are other names of women writers from the Generation of '98 that have been totally forgotten. This is the case of Faustina Sáez de Melgar, an important literary woman of the time who she founded the Liceo Femenino de la Villa y la Corte; her goal was to promote the work of women artists.

He was a poet and novelist. She published her first poem when she was only 17 years old and, at 18, she became a regular contributor to magazines of the time such as "Ellas" or "Album de Señoritas", magazines that allowed female authors. Due to her marriage to a state official, Faustina was able to focus on her literary career and she published a collection of poems entitled "La lira del Tajo". But it was not until 1860 that she achieved great success with her novel "La pastora de Guadiela" and, since then, she became a very popular writer with very regular publications.

She was part of the Ladies Committee of the Spanish Abolitionist Society and was the president of important literary entities such as the Ladies' Artistic and Literary Athenaeum.

We continue to meet the most outstanding women writers of the Generation of 98 to speak, now, of Carmen de Burgos. This Andalusian by birth, she decided to separate from her husband and start a new life in Madrid. She worked as a journalist, counting on a fund of plus four thousand articles written with her pen. The publications of these texts went to the publications of what was known as "women's journalism", but under her pseudonym "Columbine" she launched sharp opinions on current issues.

She had a relationship with an important writer of the time, Ramón Gómez de la Serna, with whom she did not marry but maintained a loving relationship that lasted many years (something totally unthinkable at the time). In her articles, she positioned herself as a faithful defender of women's suffrage. He wrote on very diverse subjects that were moved by aesthetics, or the Republic. She founded the Alianza Hispano Israelita and was one of the essential personalities in the culture of the time, in fact, she was related to great authors such as Pérez Galdós, Juan Ramón Jiménez, Blasco Ibáñez, etc.

Within his literary production, in addition to newspaper articles we also highlight his novels as "Dagger of carnations" (which, in fact, is based on the same story that Lorca was inspired by for his Bodas de Sangre). Carmen de Burgos is considered one of the first defenders of the role of women, something that she made clear in her work "The modern woman and her rights" (1927):

"It is not the struggle of the sexes, nor the enmity with the man, but rather that the woman wishes to collaborate with him and work alongside her."

Concha Espina is also considered another of the women writers of the Generation of 98 who were silenced by historians. This author wrote both theater, such as stories and novels, works with which she achieved great recognition in her time.

Some of her works were "Mujeres del Quijote", a research work published in 1903; she also published "My Flowers", a collection of poems that was very successful. She worked as a contributor to magazines and newspapers of the time and in 1909 is when she published her novel "La Niña de Luzmela".

Living in Madrid, Concha Espina premiered hers in 1918 ortheater bra "El jayón", a piece that is inspired by a short story that she wrote herself. In Spain it was not very successful, but in Brazil this work was adapted to the opera format and it was called "L'Innocente". This work was pclothing for the Nobe Awardl.

María de la O Lejárraga García is another of the essential authors of the Generation of '98. She was a writer and defender of feminism who signed her texts with the pseudonym María Martínez Sierra, surnames adopted from her husband (Gregorio Martínez Sierra).

Today there is evidence that María often signed her works with the name of her husband so that her works would be read by a greater number of audiences. In her literary production, the plays and musical librettos; in fact, she had great success as a playwright.

Her theatrical pieces were ideological in character and uttered a great criticism of the concept of romantic love. Among her works, we highlight pieces such as "El ama de casa" (1910), "Mujer" (1925) or "La hora del diablo" (1926) are some of the most outstanding titles of her production.

Another of the great names in Spanish women's literature is Clara Campoamor, one of the women who they promoted the feminine vote in Spain. She was a lawyer, writer and politician, founder of the Republican Women's Union.

Her works stand out for their political and feminist content. And she was a fervent advocate for her ideas with posts like:

• The right of women in Spain (1931)
• The feminine vote and I: my mortal sin (1935).
• The Spanish revolution as seen by a republican (1819)
• Creole heroism: the Argentine Navy in the Spanish drama (1939-1983)
• Of love and other passions. Literary articles

In addition, she also conducted studies of other very prominent women in culture such as Concepción Arenal or Sor Juana Ines De La Cruz.

We finish this lesson on the women writers of the Generation of '98 to talk about another great literary woman of the time: Carmen Karr. Originally from Barcelona, ​​she was journalist, writer and musicologist; she is also a defender of 20th century Catalan feminism. She signed her works as Carmen Karr or with him pseudonym of Joana Romeu.

Her first writings were published in 1902 in the magazine "Joventut"; of all the production of it is considered that "Clichés" (1906) is her best novel. Here she tells us the life of a middle class woman and her problems in society. She also published plays such as "Un ray de sol" or "Los ídolos".

If you want to read more articles similar to Female Writers of the Generation of '98, we recommend that you enter our category of History of Literature.

• Zubiaurre, M. (2004). Of identities, forgetfulness and mystification: Female protagonism and Generation of 98. Mester, 33 (1).
• Serrano, M. I. (2003). The writers of the generation of '98: an forgotten dimension (Doctoral dissertation, Montclair State University).
• Núñez, C. (1999). Carmen de Burgos in the generation of 98.