Kastration als 'ultima ratio': die katalanischen Frauenkrimis der Maria Antònia Oliver

Abstract

In recent years, Barcelona has stood out as the center of crime novels in Spain. In addition to works in Spanish, there is also a tradition of Catalan crime fiction. Maria Antònia Oliver is currently the representative of this tradition, largely due to the worldwide rise of the female crime novel. The article situates the author within the Catalan-Spanish crime novel movement in Catalonia. Secondly, it seeks out the traditions of the genre that explicitly or implicitly influence the three novels by Maria Antònia Oliver studied in some detail. It furthermore analyzes the character of the private detective Lònia Guiu and her relationship with the central theme of the trilogy: sexuality and sexual violence. Finally, the widespread use of concepts such as female crime novel and feminist crime novel is discussed based on these novels.