Silvia Mistral, Constancia de la Mora y Dolores Martí: Relatos y memorias del exilio de 1939

Abstract

This article discusses the autobiographical accounts of three Republican women from the first generation of Republican exiles, born between 1900 and 1910. The stories are those of Constancia de la Mora, Silvia Mistral and Dolores Martí, all written just following the Spanish Civil War, between 1939 and 1940, although for two of the authors this was the first stage of exile that finally took them on to Mexico. These accounts are examined within the framework of the socio-political context in which the authors lived during the first three decades of the twentieth century. The stories mix the personal and individual with the collective memory. The women harbour very contrary political views - communist and anarchist - within the Republican cause but the fact that they are women with a common plight helps to overcome these differences. The political nature of these narratives also provides a common theme, which forms a collective testimony in the Republican exile period.