This dissertation assesses how the myth of Circe---Odysseus's encounter with this bewitching character in Homer's classic poem---is revisited in three important literary and historical periods in Spanish culture: first the Golden Age and the Counter Reformation era; then the Spain emerging in the early Twentieth Century after the loss of Empire, during the Avant-Garde, the advent of the Spanish Second Republic, and its demise with the Spanish Civil War (1936-1939). Lastly, during the Democratic Spain period, immediately after the nation's transition to democracy (1975-1982), during the first two mandates of Felipe Gonzalez (1942-), from the Partido Socialista Obrero Espanol (PSOE), as Prime Minister (1982-1989), and within the so-called boom of the "literatura de mujeres" of the 1980s.

I evaluate the transformations of Circe in Spanish literature during the above-mentioned cultural and historical moments by focusing on Lope de Vega's La Circe (1624), on Francisco Ayala's poem "A Circe cinematica," the conclusion to his 1929 Indagacion del cinema, and by paying attention to Lourdes Ortiz's 1988 collection of six short stories Los motivos de Circe, reissued in 2007 under a new title, Voces de mujer. My contribution to the topic centers on calling attention to the following aspects; in how in La Circe , Lope de Vega (1562-1635) revisits Classical sources by paying homage to both Homer's Odyssey and Ovid's Metamorphoses to offer a reflection on changing carnal love into spiritual love. I then highlight how the radical transformations brought about by the birth of cinema and by the uncompromising aesthetics of the Avant-Garde prompted Francisco Ayala (1906-2009) to rely on the Circe myth to discuss the ways in which film seduces the viewer.

I conclude by underscoring the continuity of Circe's allure and how she has been recovered as a feminist figure by Lourdes Ortiz (1943-) through her experimenting with the political tenets of French feminism and the 1970s and 1980s concept of l'ecriture feminine.