The Bandit's Three Mothers: Women and the Nation in Spain in the 1930s and 1940s

Abstract

In the mid twentieth century, the role of women in the Spanish nation was contested by people with different ideological and political affiliations. During the Second Republic, progressive legislation was passed to introduce women's suffrage, civil marriage and divorce, but right-wing traditionalist groups were also active in encouraging women and engaging their support. This article uses popular literature—in particular Jesús García Ricote’s bandit ‘bestseller’ Juan León, el rey de la serranía—to examine ways in which the relationship between womanhood and the nation was explored by writers and their readers through the medium of the bandit story. The well-established models of the pious mother and the evil temptress were used in Juan León to demonstrate the importance of traditional mothering in the destiny of the Spanish nation. However, the depiction of womanhood—and specifically motherhood—in Juan León goes beyond these models and ambiguities were explored through the relationship between the bandit hero and his adoptive gypsy mother. It is argued here that the exploration of complexities and ambiguities in popular literature reflects the critical and sometimes subversive way in which a wide readership consumed politicized ideals of womanhood.