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In so-called “crisis novels” that appeared in Spain following the economic collapse of 2008, the city comes to represent not only the scene of the explicit dramatic situations of the characters (poverty, precarity, unemployment, evictions, homelessness, occupy movement, street protests, or gaps in social services) but also the imagery of decay and conflict. The city comes across as an uncomfortable space, characterised by inhospitable peripheries and abandoned constructions, which is consonant with the sense of helplessness and extreme loneliness of the protagonists. However, in contrast to the paralysis and the nervous breakdown evident in La trabajadora (2014) by Elvira Navarro (alienating perspective), Cristina Morales’s Lectura fácil (2018) represents the urban space as a battlefield that leads to the awareness-raising and the politicization of the experience of a crisis (revolutionary perspective).Both novels, focused on “the right to housing”, come to reveal a great deal of indignation and protest against the neo-liberal policies and the contemporary capitalist city, responsible for exclusion and inequality. Their demands coincide with the political proposal of “the right to the city” (Lefebvre, 1968; Harvey 2013), which raises the possibility of living a worthy life in the city, with an equitable distribution of resources and respect for different sensitivities.

In so-called "crisis novels" that appeared in Spain following the economic collapse of 2008, the city comes to represent not only the scene of the explicit dramatic situations of the characters (poverty, precarity, unemployment, evictions, homelessness, occupy movement, street protests, or gaps in social services) but also the imagery of decay and conflict. The city comes across as an uncomfortable space, characterised by inhospitable peripheries and abandoned constructions, which is consonant with the sense of helplessness and extreme loneliness of the protagonists. However, in contrast to the paralysis and the nervous breakdown evident in La trabajadora (2014) by Elvira Navarro (alienating perspective), Cristina Morales's Lectura fácil (2018) represents the urban space as a battlefield that leads to the awareness-raising and the politicization of the experience of a crisis (revolutionary perspective). Both novels, focused on "the right to housing", come to reveal a great deal of indignation and protest against the neo-liberal policies and the contemporary capitalist city, responsible for exclusion and inequality. Their demands coincide with the political proposal of "the right to the city" (Lefebvre, 1968; Harvey 2013), which raises the possibility of living a worthy life in the city, with an equitable distribution of resources and respect for different sensitivities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

For the last two decades, especially since the 2008 economic crisis, there has been a notable increase in literary works exploring social, political and economic themes in Spain. The growing number of “crisis novels” has reignited the debate about the political role of literature and its ability to challenge and modify existing social models. This article seeks to highlight the female perspective within this dis- cussion. The aim of my analysis of the five novels written by contemporary Spanish female authors (Belén Gopegui, Cristina Fallarás, Cristina Morales, Elvira Navarro and Marta Sanz) and published between 2007 and 2018 is to expose the distinctive female experience as represented in the literature, where it often turns into undermining the system. If women’s literary practice takes the form of political intervention, it is not just because of the collapse of the fundamental trust in the state and its institutions, but mainly due to the shifts in the distribution of the sensible, as we tend to understand the politics of literature after Jacques Rancière.

For the last two decades, especially since the 2008 economic crisis, there has been a notable increase in literary works exploring social, political and economic themes in Spain. The growing number of "crisis novels" has reignited the debate about the political role of literature and its ability to challenge and modify existing social models. This article seeks to highlight the female perspective within this discussion. The aim of my analysis of the five novels written by contemporary Spanish female authors (Belén Gopegui, Cristina Fallarás, Cristina Morales, Elvira Navarro and Marta Sanz) and published between 2007 and 2018 is to expose the distinctive female experience as represented in the literature, where it often turns into undermining the system. If women's literary practice takes the form of political intervention, it is not just because of the collapse of the fundamental trust in the state and its institutions, but mainly due to the shifts in the distribution of the sensible, as we tend to understand the politics of literature after Jacques Rancière. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article explores relationships between the traditionalBildungsromannovel and theories related to landscape in two novels by Valencian writer Elvira Navarro,La ciudad en invierno(2008) andLa ciudad feliz(2009). Through a close reading of both texts, urban theory provides a way to understand Navarro's novels as incomplete coming-of-age stories. Instead of a male subject finding citizenship and happiness through marriage and labour—the standard climax of the traditional form—Navarro's male and female protagonists' identity is plotted through violence and alienation. The transformation to adolescence occurs in a Valencia under intense economic speculation and aggressive changes to its landscape. This article argues that both novels signal the protagonists' dissociation from family, friends, and community as a process vital to the creation of the urban environment itself. The protagonists are mirrors of their city and their very inability to define themselves is that which ironically defines Valencia. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]