''Zezé'' is a Spanish novel written by Ángeles Vicente and published in 1909. Its importance lies in the fact that it is the first Spanish-language novel to deal with lesbian themes, and one of the first in Europe and the Americas.

The author

Little is known about the author. Ángeles Vicente García was born in Murcia in 1878. Then, in 1888, when she was 10 years old, she moved to Argentina, from where she returned to Spain in 1906. After her return from Argentina, she settled with her husband, Cándido Elormendi, in Madrid. She worked as a collaborator for newspapers and magazines, and eventually published several books. After her first book was published, she separated from her husband and lived on what she earned from her writing, together with her father and a maid. In Madrid, she frequented intellectual circles and met

Rubén Darío Félix Rubén García Sarmiento (18 January 1867 – 6 February 1916), known as Rubén Darío ( , ), was a Nicaraguan poet who initiated the Spanish-language literary movement known as '' modernismo'' (modernism) that flourished at the end of ...

and

Miguel de Unamuno Miguel de Unamuno y Jugo (; ; 29 September 1864 – 31 December 1936) was a Spanish essayist, novelist, poet, playwright, philosopher, professor of Greek and Classics, and later rector at the University of Salamanca. His major philosophical ...

, among others.

Felipe Trigo Felipe Trigo (13 February 1864 in Villanueva de la Serena, Badajoz – 2 September 1916 in Madrid) was a 20th-century Spain, Spanish writer. He studied Medicine in Madrid and practised in several villages in Extremadura. He later become a ...

, the most successful Spanish author of erotic novels at the time, praised her for her beauty. He would eventually write the prologue to her first book, ''Teresilla'' (1907).

Plot

The novel takes place during a nocturnal sea voyage between

Buenos Aires Buenos Aires, controlled by the government of the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires, is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Argentina. It is located on the southwest of the Río de la Plata. Buenos Aires is classified as an Alpha− glob ...

and

Montevideo Montevideo (, ; ) is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Uruguay, largest city of Uruguay. According to the 2023 census, the city proper has a population of 1,302,954 (about 37.2% of the country's total population) in an area of . M ...

, although most of the action takes place in Madrid. During the night, Zezé (a cabaret singer ) and a writer (a stand-in for the author herself) share a cabin. Zezé tells the author her life story and her observations about the

human condition The human condition can be defined as the characteristics and key events of human life, including birth, learning, emotion, aspiration, reason, morality, conflict, and death. This is a very broad topic that has been and continues to be pondered ...

. She begins by talking about her time at a

convent school Catholic schools are parochial pre-primary, primary and secondary educational institutions administered in association with the Catholic Church. , the Catholic Church operates the world's largest religious, non-governmental school system. In 201 ...

, where she discovered sex with a female classmate, and then talks about her life in Madrid, where she struggled to make her way against misogyny and the problems posed by social conventions.

Analysis

Strictly speaking, the book is a

Bildungsroman In literary criticism, a bildungsroman () is a literary genre that focuses on the psychological and moral growth and change of the protagonist from childhood to adulthood (coming of age). The term comes from the German words ('formation' or 'edu ...

, with

picaresque The picaresque novel (Spanish: ''picaresca'', from ''pícaro'', for ' rogue' or 'rascal') is a genre of prose fiction. It depicts the adventures of a roguish but appealing hero, usually of low social class, who lives by his wits in a corrupt ...

undertones, about a woman searching for her identity and dignity. The novel speaks in favor of living a lifestyle as a single person, based on affection and regardless of gender. One of the novel's most remarkable traits is the way the plot deals with a

lesbian relationship A lesbian is a homosexual woman or girl. The word is also used for women in relation to their sexual identity or sexual behavior, regardless of sexual orientation, or as an adjective to characterize or associate nouns with female homosex ...

. The fact is so unusual as to be the first mention of its kind in a Spanish-language novel and one of the first in Europe and the Americas. The story denounces the marginalization of and lack of solidarity with women in early 20th-century society. It especially criticizes the predominant

machismo Machismo (; ; ; ) is the sense of being " manly" and self-reliant, a concept associated with "a strong sense of masculine pride: an exaggerated masculinity". Machismo is a term originating in the early 1940s and 1950s and its use more wi ...

and

Don Juanism Don Juanism or Don Juan syndrome is a non-clinical term for the desire, in a man, to have sex with many different female partners. The name derives from the Don Juan of opera and fiction. The term satyriasis is sometimes used as a synonym for Don J ...

of the time. Vicente criticizes three aspects of society: family, school, and the Church, all of which she blames for the oppression caused by sanctimonious morality and the

petite bourgeoisie ''Petite bourgeoisie'' (, ; also anglicised as petty bourgeoisie) is a term that refers to a social class composed of small business owners, shopkeepers, small-scale merchants, semi- autonomous peasants, and artisans. They are named as s ...

. The solution would have come through education. In the meantime, it would only leave the possibility of solitude and the company of simple people. The author cannot be categorized within either of the two currents of the time: the

Generation of '98 The Generation of '98 () was a group of novelists, poets, essayists, and philosophers active in Spain at the time of the Spanish–American War (1898), committed to cultural and aesthetic renewal, and associated with modernismo. The name was coin ...

and

Regenerationism Regenerationism () was an intellectual and political movement in late 19th century and early 20th century Spain. It sought to make objective and scientific study of the causes of Spain's decline as a nation and to propose remedies. It is largely s ...

. The novel is clearly in favor of naturalism, in

Rousseau Jean-Jacques Rousseau (, ; ; 28 June 1712 – 2 July 1778) was a Genevan philosopher ('' philosophe''), writer, and composer. His political philosophy influenced the progress of the Age of Enlightenment throughout Europe, as well as aspects ...

's sense, and against

conventionalism Conventionalism is the philosophical attitude that fundamental principles of a certain kind are grounded on (explicit or implicit) agreements in society, rather than on external reality. Unspoken rules play a key role in the philosophy's structure ...

, and the author is ''nostálgica de un romanticismo que ella misma entrevé caduco'' The novel was rescued from oblivion by Hispanic studies scholar Ángela Ena Bordonada in a 2005 reprint. It is considered one of the founding milestones of

LGBT literature in Spain LGBT literature in Spain, that is, literature that deals explicitly and primarily with characters and issues within the LGBT, LGBT+ spectrum, is linked to the progressive social acceptance of LGBT rights in Spain, sexual diversity in Spain. A gre ...

.. Th
Italian translation
of this novel has been published in 2025 by the

University of Bologna The University of Bologna (, abbreviated Unibo) is a Public university, public research university in Bologna, Italy. Teaching began around 1088, with the university becoming organised as guilds of students () by the late 12th century. It is the ...

.https://amsacta.unibo.it/id/eprint/8283/

Notes

References

Bibliography

* * * * * * * {{Authority control 1909 Spanish novels Spanish-language novels Spanish bildungsromans 20th-century Spanish literature Novels about lesbian topics Spanish LGBTQ novels 1900s LGBTQ novels