Soriano Jara, Elena

b. 1917, Fuentidueña de Tajo (Madrid); d. 1997

   Writer

   Among Spain's most significant feminist intellectuals, Soriano remained essentially unknown during the Franco era, owing to the restrictions of censorship. Following a traditional, realist chronicle of family decadence, Caza menor (Small Game Hunting) (1951), she produced a trilogy, Mujer y hombre (Women and Men) (1955), comprising La playa de los locos (Madmen's Beach), Espejismos (Mirages), and Medea—all treating problematic male-female relationships—characterized by psychological acuity, socioethical preoccupations, and intellectual profundity. Testimonio materno (A Mother's Testimony) (1985), both memoir and confessions, recalls the drug-related death of Soriano's only son; La vida pequeña (Small Life) (1989) contains short stories. Soriano founded and oversaw the publication of El Urogallo, one of Spain's leading intellectual periodicals, for a quarter of a century.

   Further reading

   - Arkinstall, C. (1992) "Rewriting Genre, Rereading Gender in Elena Soriano's La playa de los locos", Monographic Review/Revista Monográfica 8: 99–113 (a feminist explication concentrating on the novel named).

   - Winecoff, J. (1964) "Existentialism in the Novels of Elena Soriano", Hispania 47, 2: 309–15 (life and works overview with thematic analysis).

   JANET PÉREZ