Ophelia: Shakespeare and Gender in Contemporary Spain(Iberian and Latin American Studies)

It is astonishing how deeply the figure of Ophelia has woven itself into the fabric of Spanish literature and the visual arts, from her first appearance in the eighteenth century (translations of Hamlet), through depictions in seminal authors such as Espronceda, Bécquer, and Lorca, to turn-of-the millennium figurations. This provocative, gendered figure has become what male and female authors and artists need her to be. Is she invisible? A victim? Mad? Controlled by the masculine gaze? An agent of her own identity? Ugalde’s well-documented study addresses these questions in the context of Iberia. Poets, novelists, and dramatists, penning works in Spanish, Catalan, and Galician, and painters and art photographers bring Shakespeare's heroine to life in new guises. She performs as an authoritative female author, a sexually fulfilled woman, in a male body, as a cyborg, a lesbian, and as a historical marker of past oppression. New looks both reflect and authorize the gender diversity that has gained legitimacy in Spanish society since the political Transition.

Table of Contents:
Epigraph [Series Forward] Acknowledgements List of Figures Introduction Chapter 1: Breaking Silence: Ophelia in the Lyric Tradition of Spain and the Pioneer Innovations of Blanca de los Ríos Chapter 2: Talking Back: Ophelia in Turn-of-the-Millennium Poetry Chapter 3: The Myth of Ophelia in the Narratives of Clara Janés and Menchu Gutiérrez Chapter 4: Ophelia Takes Center Stage Chapter 5: From Madwoman to Cyborg: Artist Marina Núñez’s Ophelias Chapter 6: Ophelia in Front of the Camera Epilogue: Ophelia: Refigurations in the Arts, Reiterations in the Fashion Industry Bibliography

About the Author :
This book will be of interest to students and academics who are interested in Hispanic Studies, Cultural studies and Gender Studies.

Review :
“A masterful and comprehensive study of the myriad manifestations of Ophelia in post-Franco Spain. The book includes all the literary genres—poetry, novel, drama—and the visual arts with stunning illustrations. Shakespeare’s tragic female character has taken on a wide variety of meanings in Spain’s recent culture, displaying an amazing adaptability to new circumstances.”   “The author offers a stunning, double-stranded approach to Spanish cultural production in twentieth- and twenty-first-century literature and art. The Shakespearian figure of Ophelia serves as the grounding from which the evolutionary genetics of gender and Spanish cultural history is made visible. This reference to DNA is deliberate: the imprint of Ophelia on contemporary Spanish art and culture is indelible.”