Memory and Postmemory in Lidia Falcón’s Play Las mujeres caminaron con el fuego del siglo

The role of women in Spanish history has gained greater attention in recent years among scholars as well as among creative artists. Particularly as women novelists, dramatists, and directors have increasingly focused on the plight of women under the Franco regime, more female characters have begun to emerge who give voice to women seeking to evoke and understand the past. Spanish author and feminist Lidia Falcón presents two women who speak of various traumatic experiences in their lives in an attempt to interrogate the past and their lack of representation within it in her play Las mujeres caminaron con el fuego del siglo (1994). Ultimately, the play considers Spain’s recent past from a place of trauma in order to recognize displaced female voices.