Brigitte Bardot and the Lolita Syndrome, by Simone de Beauvoir: Censored under Francoism

Pilar Godayol

doi:10.12807/ti.11222.2020.a04

Abstract

This article deals with the failed attempt by the publishing house Horizonte to translate Simone de Beauvoir’s Brigitte Bardot and the Lolita Syndrome into Spanish at the beginning of the 1960s. On the one hand, I contextualize Beauvoir’s book from the production of the original, which appeared in English, up to the frustrated attempt to reproduce it in Spain during the Francoist dictatorship, when the National-Catholic social policies had silenced all the feminist voices since before the Civil War. On the other hand, I offer a brief introduction to the reception of Beauvoir’s work during Francoism. I also study the bureaucratic procedure of institutional censorship which the work on Bardot suffered after the Ministry of Information and Tourismopened a file on the Madrid publishing house in 1964.

Highlights

Beauvoir and FrancoismDuring the Spanish Civil War (1936-1939), the French writer Simone de Beauvoir supported the Republican cause
The Index was not abolished until 8 February 1966, under the papacy of Paul VI, just before the Second Vatican Council
Motivated by the need to combat the lack of literary mothers resulting from the earlier policies of the dictatorship, these publishing houses created new collections so as to promote foreign classic and contemporary works by women authors

Summary

Introduction

During the Spanish Civil War (1936-1939), the French writer Simone de Beauvoir supported the Republican cause. The first period of Franco’s dictatorship entailed an autocracy which extended from the end of the Civil War in 1939 to 1959, when the National Plan for Economic Stability was introduced, which opened up Spain’s economy. During this period, Beauvoir’s works were prohibited in Spain, with very few exceptions, and writings on her work were scarce (see, amongst others, López Pardina, 1998; Nielfa, 2002; Corbí, 2010). The second period of Franco’s dictatorship ran from 1960 to 1970 This was an era of reduced isolation and spectacular economic growth, which led to a significant social transformation, even though it was not accompanied by important political changes. This concept of history of translation encourages us to continually ask questions about the production, reception, circumstances and agents involved in the translations

Notes on women and women writers under Francoism

Criteria of Francoist censorship

The censor’s files on Beauvoir before 1966

28 April 1962 3 October 1964

Beauvoir after the Fraga Law

Coda: Francoism detested “les femmes libres”