ROSA ARCINIEGA AND THE CINEMA: Vidas de Celuloide. La Novela de Hollywood; Light Behind the Limelight

Martin I.L. · Journal of Iberian Women Writers (2022) · DOI: 10.5944/rei.vol.9.2021.28786

Resumen

A novel spectacle elevated into the category of an art, the cinema was an object of interest for intellectuals in the early decades of the twentieth century. It also exercised a powerful seduction over the general public, giving rise to the new star system and fame mythology. Within this context, the Peruvian avant-garde writer Rosa Arciniega, who lived in Spain in the 1930s, published her novel Vidas de celuloide. La novela de Hollywood (1934). Deploying a critical gaze and ideological outlook attentive to social concerns, the author illuminates the shadows hidden behind the bright lights of success, showing through the vibrant narration of the story of Eric Freyer, a German actor who manages to triumph in Hollywood, the personal and vital toll that fame takes.