En busca de una voz propia: entre la exacerbación y la rebeldía

Abstract

The spanish contemporary author lucía Extebarría brings in one of her first novels called Beatrice and the Heavenly Bodies, a type of a rebel heroine, unwilling to submit to the traditional patterns. a closer view reveals that we encounter a similar character as andrea  from carmen  laforet`s  novel Nothing (Nada) from 1942, considered by carmen Martín Gaite a prototype of a “strange girl” (“chica rara”). although  Etxebarria`s heroine lives in completely different times, she, just as andrea, rejects to accept traditional roles and tries to find her own way. nevertheless, unlike andrea, she is not quite sure which direction she wants to take in her life and which her main objectives actually are. This insecurity reflects the disillusion and nihilism that became evident particularly in the nineties. In this sense it is very interesting to focus on the philosophic attitudes of Etxebarria`s protagonists, mainly on their general view of the sense of life and human existence. It is equally interesting to pay attention to those questions that are related to the position of women in the contemporary society.