TiTle: Like Mother, Like Daughter?: Generational Memory and Dialogue in Joseina Aldecoa’s Historical Memory Trilogy AuThor: Sarah homas AffiliATion: New York University AbsTrAcT: Joseina Aldecoa’s trilogy of historical memory—Historia de una maestra (1990), Mujeres de negro (1994) and La fuerza del destino (1997)—traces the personal and political experiences of a mother and daughter during the most pivotal period in Spain’s contempo- rary political history: the years spanning the Second Republic, Spanish Civil War, Franco dictatorship, and the nation’s transition to democracy. Against the backdrop of these tu- multuous political events, Aldecoa constructs a complex portrait of a mother and daughter, two women struggling not only to understand the events unfolding around them, but also to understand one another. his essay demonstrates how, in representing the women’s gen- erational diferences and attempts to overcome them, Aldecoa creates an intergenerational dialogue, bridging the gaps not only in memory and its transmission, but also between generations. Keywords: Joseina Aldecoa, memory, postmemory, mothers and daughters, Francoism, gen- erationality resumen: La trilogía de la memoria histórica de Joseina Aldecoa—Historia de una maestra (1990), Mujeres de negro (1994) y La fuerza del destino (1997)—sigue la experiencia per- sonal y política de una madre e hija durante una época fundamental en la historia política contemporánea de España: los años que abarcan la Segunda República, la Guerra Civil, la dictadura franquista, y la transición a la democracia. Usando estos eventos tumultuosos como telón de fondo, Aldecoa construye un complejo retrato de una madre e hija, dos mujeres que intentan entender no sólo los eventos pasando alrededor suyo, sino también entenderse entre sí. El presente ensayo demuestra cómo, al representar las diferencias ge- neracionales de las dos mujeres y sus esfuerzos para superarlas, Aldecoa crea un diálogo intergeneracional, zanjando las brechas no sólo de la memoria y su transmisión, sino tam- bién entre generaciones. PAlAbrAs clAve: Joseina Aldecoa, memoria, posmemoria, madres e hijas, Franquismo, gene- racionalidad dATe received: 11/02/2012 dATe Published: 12/31/2012 biogrAPhy: Sarah homas is a Ph.D. candidate in the New York University Department of Spanish and Portuguese. Her doctoral dissertation, “Imagining Otherwise: Childhood, Subjectivity, and the Violent Past in Spanish Film, 1970-1983,” examines the igure of the child and idea of childhood in ive ilms of Víctor Erice and Carlos Saura that emerged at the end of the Franco dictatorship and during Spain’s transition to democracy. ISSN: 1548-5633 Letras Hispanas Volume 8.2, Fall 2012