Killing Carmens: Women's Crime Fiction from Spain

by Shelley Godsland

Overview

The detective genre, or novela negra, is one of Spain’s most popular types of fiction: these books, many written by female writers, have obtained best-selling status and been translated into multiple languages. Killing Carmens, the first book-length study of women’s crime writing in Spain, offers a fresh approach to the study of Spanish crime fiction—combining literary criticism with sociological, feminist, and criminological theory. This innovative multidisciplinary volume examines how Spanish female authors have engaged with the traditionally masculine genre of crime writing, turning it into a literary form that has been used to address issues of particular concern to women in Spanish society, including debates about nationalism, gendered violence, and the role and position of their countrywomen. The result is a thought-provoking and fascinating read that will appeal to students of Hispanic and Catalan literature, as well as gender and cultural studies.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780708320167
Publisher:	University of Wales Press
Publication date:	02/15/2008
Series:	Iberian and Latin American Studies
Pages:	230
Product dimensions:	5.50(w) x 8.50(h) x 0.90(d)

About the Author

Shelley Godsland is senior lecturer in Spanish at Birmingham University and director of the Crime Fiction Research Center.

Table of Contents

Series Editors’ Foreword

Acknowledgements

Introduction

 

Chapter 1    From Feminism to Post-Feminism: The Strange Case of the Female Detective

Introduction

The Feminist Private Eye: Maria-Antònia Oliver’s Lònia Guiu

The Post-Feminist Policía: Alicia Giménez-Bartlett’s Inspector Petra Delicado

Chapter 2    Mujeres que Mueren, Mujeres que Matan: Female Victims and Women Criminals

 

The Female Victim

Women Criminals

Chapter 3    The ‘Crime’ of National Repression: Crime Fictions by Catalan Women

 

Introduction

Early Catalan Women Detective Writers: Mercè Rodoreda and Maria Aurèlia Capmany

Re-writing the Espionage Thriller: Anna Grau and Assumpta Maresma

Gender Nation

Conclusion

Works Cited

Index