The Spiritual Consciousness Of Carmen Mart N Gaite

Spanish writer Carmen Martín Gaite (1925-2000) defined religioso as the reconnection of that which was previously united, namely, the day-to-day and supernatural worlds - here defined as consciousness and the unconscious, bringing awareness and wholeness. In this book, Martín Gaite's religious outlook is explored through the inner journeys of five female characters in El balneario, Lo raro es vivir, Irse de casa and Nubosidad variable. Spanish writer Carmen Martín Gaite (1925-2000) defined religioso as the reconnection of that which was previously united, namely, the day-to-day and supernatural worlds - here defined as consciousness and the unconscious, bringing awareness and wholeness. In this book, Martín Gaite's religious outlook is explored through the inner journeys of five female characters in El balneario, Lo raro es vivir, Irse de casa and Nubosidad variable. For Martín Gaite, a truly religious, or spiritual, perspective requires conscious attention to the products of the unconscious (dreams, images, memories, premonitions), followed by reflection and action, as well as a similar attentiveness and responsiveness to external events both large and small. This reconnection of the supernatural and day-to-day worlds also involves descent to the unconscious - the way to wholeness - as depicted in so many myths and fairy tales, including those which Martín Gaite used to retell or enhance the works analysed in this book: Sleeping Beauty, The Little Mermaid, Amor and Psyche, Demeter and Persephone, and the Descent of the Goddess Inanna. Looking at the extent to which these female characters attend to, reflect on, and respond to their dreams, images, memories and events, the analysis suggests that Martín Gaite uses her stories to try to communicate both the road to her own enlightenment and warnings about paths that lead away from this.

She calls attention to the hypocrisy of the system, to the image versus the reality, and to how certain watchwords like "rationing" and "restriction" went beyond their economic applications to touch on personal behavior and attitudes." "Themes she touches on in the nine chapters (and epilogue) include proper dress and behavior for women; a young woman's limited future; the influence of the Falange (Fascist) party on society and on individual behaviour; the "rebel" girl; family life; sex; cinema and the Spaniard; and courtship and the stages of relationship."

This collection of essays examines current trends in scholarly research on Spanish author Carmen Martín Gaite (1925-2000). It concentrates on the least explored areas of Martín Gaite's oeuvre, such as her collage artwork, the relationship between image and text in her work, and her close relationship with themes such as genre writing, the fairy tale, and textual/physical notions of space, as well as her personal theories on orality and narration. As we pass the tenth anniversary of her death, Martín Gaite continues to be an increasing focus of study, as scholars start to identify and comprehend the breadth and scope of her work. The essays in the volume complement previous studies of Martín Gaite's major works from the 1960s and 1970s by focusing largely on her later novels, together with in-depth analysis of the manuscripts and artistic materials that have been made available since her death.

Written by an acclaimed scholar to enrich and complete the vision offered by traditional Western spirituality, Women and Spirituality demonstrates that women, as women, have a valuable contribution to make to religion. This new edition is revised and updated in light of thirteen years of feminism, including new biblical role models and a new chapter on women's special relationship to time. Prodding readers to pay attention to their own experiences, Ochs challenges traditional religious concepts such as solitary struggle, otherworldliness, and the spiritual journey to a distant goal, and shows how women's spirituality focuses on relationships with others, commitment to this world, and engagement with the present.

This study, originally published in 1990, assesses a shift in the presentation of self-consciousness in two pairs of novels by Doris Lessing and Carmen Martín Gaite: 1) Lessing’s The Summer Before the Dark (1973) and Martín Gaite’s Retahílas (1974) and 2) Lessing’s The Memoirs of a Survivor (1974) and Martín Gaite’s The Back Room (1978). Three major structural divisions facilitate examining implications of the novels for 1) feminism 2) literary narrative and 3) the lives of people-at-large.

A comprehensive examination of the full range of Carmen Martín Gaite's work.

Thirty-three girlhood memoirs by a diverse group of Catholic women, including Sarah Bernhardt and Simone de Beauvoir, are the focus of this pioneering study.