It is customary to regard gender roles and representation in nineteenth-century Spain as polarized and predictable. But in this wide-ranging discussion of women's writing and representations of gender, leading scholars from the US and UK not only examine the patriarchal emphasis of Spanish culture, but also demonstrate that this was a period in which relations between men and women were being constantly negotiated, challenged, and redefined as part of an ongoing transformation of political and national identities. The book ranges from the Romantic period to the fin de siècle and all quotations in Spanish are translated.