Faculty Publications

Subversive Desires and Bodies: Construction of a Female Paradigm in Mercedes Abad’s Sangre

Document Type

Article

Journal/Book/Conference Title

Hispanófila

Volume

170

First Page

39

Last Page

56

Abstract

In the novel Sangre (2000), Catalonian author Mercedes Abad portrays the discordant but nevertheless interdependent and parasitic relationship between Victoria and her daughter Marina.1 With Sangre, Abad joins an ongoing dialogue about mother/daughter relationships to which a plethora of contemporary Spanish authors have contributed, including Elvira Lindo, Lucia Etxebarría, and Esther Tusquets. The lives of Abad’s protagonists unfold in Spain during Francisco Franco’s dictatorship, a period of time in which it was particularly difficult for many women to achieve any type of personal agency.2 Although the masculine-dominated society in which Victoria and Marina live tries to categorize them as objects rather than subjects, focusing on their female bodies as mechanisms for producing children, these women refuse to be defined in the objectifying terms of the body imposed on them. Mother and daughter search out avenues for undermining the patriarchal society in which they live through their subversive desires and a rejection of society’s traditional conception of the female body. For Victoria, her struggle towards female agency consists of a rejection of motherhood that can be interpreted as either liberating or a repetition of the masculine paradigm, depending on the perspective from which it is read. For Marina, her various subversive desires culminate in the drinking of her mother’s blood, which can either be seen as a symbolic violation (rape) of Victoria’s being – perpetuating the male construct – or a rebellious union with another female in an attempt to break free from [End Page 39] the restricted patriarchal construction of the female body. This paper will examine whether or not the main characters’ efforts truly allow them to escape the limitations of their male-dominated political, religious, and social reality, or if they actually uphold the cycle of the masculine paradigm perpetuated under Franco’s rule that sought to confine women’s bodies and minds to a conservative, subservient state.

Department

Department of Languages and Literatures

Original Publication Date

1-1-2014

DOI of published version

10.1353/hsf.2014.0010

Link to Full Text

Comments?

Share

COinS