"A WORKSPACE FOR INTERRELATING": FEMINIST ESSAYS TRANSLATED BY LASAL, EDICIONS DE LES DONES

Abstract

After the death of Francisco Franco, in the midst of the appearance
of women’s social and cultural movements, feminist
publishing houses and collections emerged. In Barcelona, the
hybrid, cultural-cum-political cafe-bar laSal was born in 1977, and,
a year later, the first feminist publishing house in Spain, laSal,
edicions de les dones (1978-1990), was founded.
In this article, after contextualising feminisms during the
Spanish transition to democracy, and briefly summarizing the
catalog of laSal, edicions de les dones, as well as examining their
way of working “interrelating”, we will study the two series that
were devoted to feminist essays: laSal Ensayo (1978-1989) and
Cuadernos Inacabados (1981-1988). Both projects incorporated
texts by autochthonous and foreign authors. We will verify that, in
order to fight against the chronic maternal orphanhood that
Francoism had imposed, the importation of foreign feminist
literature was key to restoring the historical memory of women
and generating debate about their identity.