Final published version
Research output: Contribution to Journal/Magazine › Journal article › peer-review
Research output: Contribution to Journal/Magazine › Journal article › peer-review
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TY - JOUR
T1 - Marx’s Minerva
T2 - Sex, Socialism and Soviet Russia in Matilde de la Torre’s 'El banquete de Saturno' (1931)
AU - Madden, Deborah
PY - 2021/3/1
Y1 - 2021/3/1
N2 - Focusing on the 1931 novel El banquete de Saturno: Novela social by Matilde de la Torre, one of the first diputadas in Spain, this article explores the feminist subtexts of a narrative that centres on a workers’ revolution dominated by male characters. In the novel, which is fundamentally a satirical critique of the Russian Revolution and Soviet Union that highlights the disastrous consequences that arise when socialist ideals are misrepresented, De la Torre reflects on socialist doctrine, women’s political autonomy and the debates and policies of the Partido Socialista Obrero Español (PSOE) – the party she officially joined in 1931 and would represent after winning a seat in the 1933 and 1936 elections. Drawing on a range of sources to contextualize the subject matter of the novel, including Marxist writings and criticism, socialist literary models, Spanish travelogues about Soviet Russia and feminist Marxist scholarship, I argue that De la Torre uses El banquete as a means of contributing to contemporary political debates, proposing a reconceptualization of socialist rhetoric and policy that would benefit from female input.
AB - Focusing on the 1931 novel El banquete de Saturno: Novela social by Matilde de la Torre, one of the first diputadas in Spain, this article explores the feminist subtexts of a narrative that centres on a workers’ revolution dominated by male characters. In the novel, which is fundamentally a satirical critique of the Russian Revolution and Soviet Union that highlights the disastrous consequences that arise when socialist ideals are misrepresented, De la Torre reflects on socialist doctrine, women’s political autonomy and the debates and policies of the Partido Socialista Obrero Español (PSOE) – the party she officially joined in 1931 and would represent after winning a seat in the 1933 and 1936 elections. Drawing on a range of sources to contextualize the subject matter of the novel, including Marxist writings and criticism, socialist literary models, Spanish travelogues about Soviet Russia and feminist Marxist scholarship, I argue that De la Torre uses El banquete as a means of contributing to contemporary political debates, proposing a reconceptualization of socialist rhetoric and policy that would benefit from female input.
KW - Socialism
KW - feminism
KW - women’s writing
KW - Second Republic
KW - Partido Socialista Obrero Español (PSOE)
U2 - 10.1080/14636204.2021.1880784
DO - 10.1080/14636204.2021.1880784
M3 - Journal article
VL - 22
SP - 39
EP - 57
JO - Journal of Spanish Cultural Studies
JF - Journal of Spanish Cultural Studies
SN - 1463-6204
IS - 1
ER -