Recognizing the generational feminist agenda within the road novel: The case of Erica Lopez’s Flaming Iguanas

Abstract: This paper examines Erica Lopez’s road novel Flaming Iguanas and how it blurs the tensions of various feuding feminism ideas. Belonging to the genre of chick-lit, Lopez’s novel is not focused on advancing the cause of feminism in a straightforward and politically evident manner. Instead, it practices the popularization of the movement by incorporating the agenda of the movement in the protagonist’s everyday life with a humorous tone. Therefore causing friction with second-wave feminists, who stand against the spread of the movement to popular media, which according to them distorts the initial message. Thus, this thesis analyses how despite the concerns of second- as well as third-wave feminists Flaming Iguanas advances the complexity of exploring an intersectional character, as well as the call for women‘s physical mobilization in road novels.