Kiosk Literature of Silver Age Spain ─ Modernity and Mass Culture

Spanning 1898–1939, the Silver Age of Spain was characterized by intense urbanization, class struggle and mobility, and a boom in mass culture. The new mass media of the time included weekly collections of short, pocket-sized books sold in urban kiosks at low prices. However, as some of the most popular series published erotica and Anarchist fiction, kiosk literature fell prey to censorship under the Franco dictatorship (1939-1975) and was omitted from Spain’s literary history. Only in recent decades have academics begun to realize the importance of kiosk literature in Spanish culture. Where was it sold in the early twentieth century? What models of womanhood and femininity are prevalent in kiosk texts? What happened when prominent sexologists penned kiosk novelettes? Building on existing catalogues and historical studies of kiosk literature, this innovative volume will examine the kiosk phenomenon through the lens of contemporary interdisciplinary theories of urban space, visuality, celebrity, gender and sexuality, and the digital humanities.
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Susan Larson is associate professor of Spanish literature, film, and cultural studies at the University of Kentucky. She is the author ofConstructing and Resisting Modernity: Madrid 1900–1936. Jeffrey Zamostny is assistant professor of Spanish and director of the minor in gender and sexuality studies at the University of West Georgia.