Lost Ladies of Lit

Hildegart Rodríguez Carballeira — A Prodigy’s Meteoric Rise… and Murder

Subscriber Episode Amy Helmes & Kim Askew Episode 295

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“Mommy Dearest” meets 1930s Spain in this episode’s exploration of a young woman conceived and raised by her single mother to be a prodigy and prototype of the “perfect woman.” Hildegart Rodríguez Carballeira more than lived up to her mother’s exacting standards, publishing multiple intellectual tomes at an early age, garnering fame and winning the admiration of people like Havelock Ellis, Margaret Sanger and H.G. Wells. She was her mother’s perfect creation, but at the age of 18, Hildegart was murdered in her bed by the very same woman who “made” her. Learn more about this talented lost lady of lit as Amy discusses her tragic life story and the 2024 biopic it inspired.

Mentioned in this episode:

Hildegart Rodríguez Carballeira

Aurora Rodríguez Carballeira

The Red Virgin movie

Mommy Dearest

Frankenstein by Mary Shelley

Don’t Die: The Man Who Wants to Live Forever

Lost Ladies of Lit Episode No. 59 on Gertrude Trevelyan

What Not by Rose Macaulay

Lost Ladies of Lit Episode No. 266 on Radclyffe Hall

Appius and Virginia by Gertrude Trevelyan

Havelock Ellis

H.G. Wells

Margaret Sanger

The Red Virgin by Fernando Arrabal

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