Mother and Myth in Spanish Novels

Book excerpt: Remembering the forgotten mother is a major theme in Myth and Mother in Spanish Novels and reflects the current interest in the recuperation of historic memory in Spain. The novels in this study feature mature protagonists who recall their mothers as a way to define their own identities and to nullify the fictional matricide prevalent in post-war Spanish novels; this twenty-first-century fiction highlights the haunting presence of the mother and begs comparison with myth.