A brief approach to the marginalization of Spanish female authors in the Group of '27

Abstract

This article presents an argument about the reasons for the exclusion of Spanish women and their literary production in relation with the rest of the Group of '27 literary canon. In order to evidence the marginalization of these authors and demonstrate their absence in the cultural Spanish landscape, the article begins with an explanation of the historical and sociopolitical context of Spain during the early decades of the 20th century. Afterward, this paper presents a conceptualization of literary canon as a starting point to approach the polemic associated with the —commonly referred to as— Generation of '27 as well as the configuration of poetry as a characteristic genre in comparison to the other literary work, and the role that critics and history played in the conformation of the canon of the '27 movement. Finally, it is concluded that women were not part of the modernization attempts in Spain at the beginning of the 20th century for different reasons: relegation of them to the domestic sphere, the high representation of men in the Group of '27, the significant role of anthologies and magazines in shaping the canon, and the repression caused by the dictatorship of the Franco regime.