The Shattered Mirror: Representations of Women in Mexican Literature

by Valdes, Maria Elena De

• ISBN13: 9780292715912
• ISBN10: 0292715919
• eBook ISBN(s): 9780292786820
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 1998-03-01
• Publisher: Univ of Texas Pr

Summary

"This is a significant contribution to Latin American literature, specifically Mexican letters. It provides excellent analyses of well-known texts, rich and useful data about Mexico' social conditions, and a solid knowledge of theories coming from diverse disciplines."--Gabriela Mora, Professor of Spanish, Rutgers UniversityPopular images of women in Mexico--conveyed through literature and, more recently, film and television--were long restricted to either the stereotypically submissive wife and mother or the demonized fallen woman. But new representations of women and their roles in Mexican society have shattered the ideological mirrors that reflected these images. This book explores this major change in the literary representation of women in Mexico.María Elena de Valdés enters into a selective and hard-hitting examination of literary representation in its social context and a contestatory engagement of both the literary text and its place in the social reality of Mexico. Some of the topics she considers are Carlos Fuentes and the subversion of the social codes for women; the poetic ties between Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz and Octavio Paz; questions of female identity in the writings of Rosario Castellanos, Luisa Josefina Hernández, María Luisa Puga, and Elena Poniatowska; the Chicana writing of Sandra Cisneros; and the postmodern celebration--without reprobation--of being a woman in Laura Esquivel' Like Water for Chocolate.

Table of Contents

Preface	xi
Introduction	1	(11)
One The Politics of Representation of Women in Mexican Literature	12	(22)
Two Rulfo's Susana San Juan: Woman as Subject and Object of Desire	34	(17)
Three Carlos Fuentes and the Subversion of the Social Codes for Women	51	(22)
Four Juana Ines de la Cruz and Octavio Paz: The Crucible of Poetry	73	(17)
Five Questions of Female Identity: Rosario Castellanos, Luisa Josefina Hernandez, and Maria Luisa Puga	90	(24)
Six Identity and the Other as Myself: Elena Poniatowska	114	(30)
Seven The Hard Edge: Cristina Pacheco	144	(18)
Eight Poetry from the Margins: Sandra Cisneros	162	(21)
Nine Like Water for Chocolate: A Celebration of the Mexican Pre-Aesthetic	183	(8)
Ten Conclusion: There Must Be Another Way	191	(8)
Notes	199	(28)
Appendices	227	(14)
One Women's Education in Mexico	227	(3)
Two Other Leading Contemporary Women Writers of Mexico	230	(8)
Three Sor Juana Criticism	238	(3)
Works Cited	241	(18)
Index	259