From the casino to the bar: the democratization of female public space in the work of Carmen Martín Gaite. From Entre visillos to Irse de casa

Del casino al bar: la democratización del espacio público femenino en la obra de Carmen Martín Gaite. De Entre visillos a Irse de casa

Abstract

The Spaces, both interior and exterior, are one of the constants in the work of Carmen Martín Gaite. From Entre visillos to her first trip to New York in the 1980s, there was a shift in perspective and gaze: the women who, in her early novels, told their stories from the inside, began to do so from the outside—from the street and public spaces. One of the quintessential public spaces in Spanish society has been bars, in their various forms throughout history: chocolaterías (chocolate cafés), taverns, cafeterias, ice cream parlors, or simply bars (night bars, corner bars). In this work, I aim to trace the process of occupying and using bars as a marker of modernity, understood as women's access to the public sphere, focusing on two of her novels: Entre visillos, published in the late 1950s, and Irse de casa, in the late 1990s.