Alós, Concha

b. 1922, Valencia

   Writer

   This transitional figure between post-war "social" novelists and post-neo-realist experimentalism expresses many feminist concerns, reiterating typical themes and motifs including the "war between the sexes", woman as sex-object in Os habla Electra (Electra Speaks) (1975), feminine alienation and oppression in Os habla Electra and El asesino de los sueños (The Assassin of Dreams) (1986), and woman as predator in Rey de gatos (King of Cats) 1972. Thematics range from naturalist scenes, in Los enanos (The Dwarves) (1962) and La madama (The Madam) (1969), to Civil War experiences, in El caballo rojo (The Red Horse) (1966), hunger and misery in La madama, and ecological issues in Las hogueras (Bonfires) (1964) and El asesino de los sueños. Republican refugees" perspective of the Spanish Civil War is portrayed in El caballo rojo (1966). Symbolic colouration, in Argeo ha muerto, supongo (Argeo is Dead, I Suppose) (1982), intertextual dialogues, binary oppositions, and experimental narrative techniques appear in later novels. Perhaps because she was something of a precursor, Spanish critics have neglected Alós" novels and short stories, reacting negatively to her "unwomanly" vocabulary and topics which anticipate works written fifteen or twenty years later.

   Further reading

   - Ortúzar-Young, A. (1993) "Concha Alós", in L.G. Levine, Marson and G.F.Waldman (eds) Spanish Women Writers: A Bio- Bibliographical Source Book, Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, pp. 23–31 (very comprehensive survey of life and works and thematic analysis in English).

   - Pérez, Genaro J. (1993) La narrativa de Concha Alós: Texto, pretexto y contexto, London: Tamesis (a useful book-length study in Spanish).

   GENARO J. PÉREZ