| Abstract
|
:
|
Manuel Rivas has been traditionally recognized as an important participant in the recuperation of historical memory through his novels and film. The majority of these studies focus on his most famous works; the short story La lengua de las mariposas and the novel El lápiz del carpintero . The importance of this dissertation lies in moving beyond these seminal works toward an in-depth study of his depiction of gender from the feminist point of view. Through the analysis of novels, short stories, essays and journalism, and the films inspired by his fictions, I will demonstrate how Rivas utilizes technical and esthetic, as well as ideological tools to subvert patriarchy in the creation of symbolic identities. This study will focus on the gender representations in seven of Manuel Riva's works. These include the short stories, articles, and novels: En Salvaje Compañía (1994), El periodismo es un cuento (1997), Ella Maldita Alma (1999), El lápiz del carpintero (2001), Las llamadas perdidas (2002), Mujer en el baño (2003), Los libros arden mal (2006) and A cuerpo abierto (2008). Furthermore, this dissertation will analyze the position of the marginalized subjects Rivas portrays, especially women, and the strategies these subjects use to subvert the patriarchal system. Furthermore, this research project will explore how Rivas' subversion of the generally accepted image of Galician women, via his esthetics, undermines the canonic precedent of a predominantly male literary creation in contemporary Spain. This analysis will serve to inquire how Rivas' work creates a feminine, and often feminist, literary space. As a secondary subject, this dissertation explores how his works have been made into films ¿ Qué me quieres, amor ? (1996), by José Luís Cuerda as La lengua de las mariposas , and El lápiz del carpintero , directed by Antón Reixa. Within these films, the female characters will be analyzed focusing on whether they depart or remain within Rivas' same discursive space.
|