Despotic Bodies and Transgressive Bodies

Spanish Culture from Francisco Franco to Jesus Franco

By Tatjana Pavlovic

Subjects: Spanish Studies
Series: SUNY series in Latin American and Iberian Thought and Culture
Paperback : 9780791455708, 167 pages, November 2002
Hardcover : 9780791455692, 167 pages, November 2002

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Table of contents

Acknowledgments

Introduction

1. THE DESPOTIC BODY:
Raza: Espíritu de Franco (1939–1952)

2. THE TRAUMATIZED BODY:
Tormenta de verano (1952–1962)

3. THE AUTHORITARIAN BODY IN AGONY:
El extraño viaje (1962–1975)

4. THE PERVERSE BODY:
Fuego en las entrañas (1975–1985)

Epilogue
TRANSGRESSIVE BODIES OF THE OTHER FRANCO

Notes

Bibliography

Index

Examines crucial moments of transition in Spanish culture and society during both dictatorship and democracy.

Description

Focusing on Spanish culture and society in the second half of the twentieth century, Despotic Bodies and Transgressive Bodies traverses a variety of disciplines: literature, film studies, cultural studies, feminist theory, and history, to examine crucial moments of cultural transition. Beginning with an analysis of the period of autarky—Spain's economic, cultural, and ideological isolation under Francisco Franco's regime— Pavlović then explores the tumultuous passage to capitalism in the late 1950s and 1960s. She follows this by revisiting the complex political situation following Franco's death and points out the difficulties in Spain's transition from dictatorship to democracy. Combining a strong theoretical background with a detailed study of marginalized texts (La fiel infantería), genres (the Spanish comedy known as the comedia sexy celtibérica), and film directors (Jesús Franco), Pavlović reveals the construction of Spanish national identity through years of cultural tensions.

Tatjana Pavlović is Assistant Professor of Spanish at Tulane University.

Reviews

"…the intellectually titillating nature of Pavlović's book … will certainly leave readers desiring to view even more despotic and transgressive bodies." — Arizona Journal of Hispanic Cultural Studies

"Pavlović's study of the Spanish national body politic is a truly original reading of contemporary Spanish culture and cinema. Her framing of Spanish cultural production between the body of dictator Francisco Franco, displayed as a form of public spectacle, and the disruptive cinematic bodies deployed in the career of B-film director Jesús Franco is a brilliant move that sets the stage for a profound revision of recent Spanish history." — Kathleen Vernon, University at Stony Brook, State University of New York