The Woman in Latin American and Spanish Literature

by Bueno, Eva Paulino; Andre, Maria Claudia; Agosin, Marjorie

• ISBN13: 9780786465996
• ISBN10: 0786465999
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2012-03-22
• Publisher: McFarland Publishing

Summary

Noted scholars of Latin American and Spanish literature here explore the literary history of Latin America through the representation of iconic female characters. Focusing both on canonical novels and on works virtually unknown outside their original countries, the essays discuss the important ways in which these characters represent nature, history, race and sex, the effects of globalization, and the unknowable other. They examine how both male and female writers portray Latin American women, reinterpreting the dynamics between the genders across boundaries and historical periods. Supported by recent theories in literary criticism, gender, and Latin American studies, this compendium provides a deep understanding of the role of women as conduits for the appreciation of their countries and cultures.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments	p. vi
Foreword	p. 1
Introduction	p. 3
Woman as Nature
Gender and Nation from Past to Present: From María to Macabéa	p. 14
Intoxicating Outlaws: Dominance and Sexuality in Rómulo Gallegos' Doña Bárbara	p. 30
Through the Eyes of the Child: The Narrator of Balún Canán	p. 46
Woman in History
María Eugenia Alonso: The Modern Iphigenia Sacrificed to Society	p. 60
Jesusa in the Context of Testimonios: Witness to an Age or Witness to Herself?	p. 74
La cómplice oficial: Catalina in Angeles Mastretta's Arráncame la vida	p. 86
Cultural and Literary Ethos as Represented in García Lorca's La casa de Bernarda Alba	p. 101
Woman as the Perverse Powers of Race and Sex
Blackness, Otherness, Woman(ness): Sierva María de Todos los Ángeles or the Death Throes of Colonial Cartagena	p. 116
Gabriela, or Freedom Versus Marriage	p. 129
Woman and the Burden of Globalization
Sex and the Two Cartagenas in Óscar Collazos' Rencor	p. 146
Reality by the Garbage Truckload: The Case of Unica Oconitrillo	p. 162
Woman as the Unknowable Other
Women in Borges: Teodelina Villar in "El Zahir"	p. 178
Life Amidst the Ashes: Irene's Search for Meaning and Connection in María Flora Yáñez's Las cenizas	p. 194
Can the Feminine Speak? Narrating Madalena and Macabéa	p. 207
About the Contributors	p. 223
Index	p. 227
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