La grande fille

Abstract

The "big girl" is the mythical figure under which the rebelled unconscious of a feminine character appears in the narratives, stories or novels written by women in Spain ; but one comes also across her in French and English literatures, and one is entitled to assume that it plays an important part in other texts produced by women writing with a purpose or by those who have a political commitment. This figure has to do with, or shall we say, represents the deep literality of their writings. Beyond the narrated story, and whatever the age and status of the heroine or narrating heroine, the big girl keeps an unflagging stand as the figure-head of the feminine filiation, and tenders an image at once critical and innovating of society. This study has laid the stress on the Spanish Literature of  the twentieth century, while alluding to other literary bodies, even to works belonging to the early twenty-first century.