Reviewed Work(s): Latin-American Women Writers. Class, Race, and Gender by MyriamYvonne Jehenson (original) (raw)

Introduction to Cambridge History of Latin American Women's Literature

The Cambridge History of Latin American Women’s Literature is an essential resource for anyone interested in the development of women’s writing in Latin America. Ambitious in scope, it explores women’s literature from ancient indigenous cultures to the beginning of the twenty-fi rst century. Organized chronologically and written by a host of leading scholars, this History off ers an array of approaches that contribute to current dialogues about translation, literary genres, oral and written cultures, and the complex relationship between literature and the political sphere. Covering subjects from cronistas in colonial Latin America and nation building to feminicide and literature of the indigenous elite, this History traces the development of a literary tradition while remaining grounded in contemporary scholarship. The Cambridge History of Latin American Women’s Literature will not only engage readers in ongoing debates but also serve as a defi nitive reference for years to come.

Women and Writing in Latin America from Colonial Times to 1936

Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Literature, 2016

This is an advance summary of a forthcoming article in the Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Literature. Please check back later for the full article.As with other Western literary traditions, women’s relationship to writing in Latin America had been problematic since the period of early modernity. From colonial times, their emergence on the writing scene as authors went hand in hand with a re-description of the feminine that allowed them to become producers of written culture and to find a decent entry into the public sphere from which they had previously been excluded. Latin American feminine tradition from the 16th through the 20th century may be read as a gradual, heterogeneous, and difficult, but nonetheless sustained and very productive, occupation of new ground. Authorization of their word passes through the reading of the male tradition, the establishment of a female tradition, and the re-description of a subjectivity that would make it possible for them to take up the pen and...

Cambridge History of Latin American Women's Literature

The Cambridge History of Latin American Women’s Literature is an essential resource for anyone interested in the development of women’s writing in Latin America. Ambitious in scope, it explores women’s literature from ancient indigenous cultures to the beginning of the twenty-fi rst century. Organized chronologically and written by a host of leading scholars, this History off ers an array of approaches that contribute to current dialogues about translation, literary genres, oral and written cultures, and the complex relationship between literature and the political sphere. Covering subjects from cronistas in colonial Latin America and nation building to feminicide and literature of the indigenous elite, this History traces the development of a literary tradition while remaining grounded in contemporary scholarship. The Cambridge History of Latin American Women’s Literature will not only engage readers in ongoing debates but also serve as a defi nitive reference for years to come.

Feminist Criticism of Latin American Literature: Bibliographic Notes

Latin American Research Review, 1980

Recent years have witnessed a massive resurgence of interest in the question of socially determined sex roles. Investigators, both rigorous and popular-essayistic, have inquired into the ways in which society regulates which attitudes and behaviors are appropriate to men and which to women. There have been widespread expressions of dissatisfaction with the excessive constraints inherent in the traditional female role, along with numerous proposals for affording women greater freedom. The consideration of this set of related issues might most accurately be described as the critical questioning of sex roles, but it is generally referred to as feminism. This article looks at the impact of feminism on several aspects of Latin American literature: the diffusion and promotion of that literature as well as the critical response to it. Above all, it seeks to provide a guide to the feminist criticism now emerging in this field. By feminist criticism, I mean literary commentary in which principles of sex-role analysis derivable from modern-day feminism playa significant part. Because of the diversity of elements examined here, a preliminary outline of contents is in order. The first section looks at the elements of sex-role analysis that have traditionally been present in the criticism of Latin American literature. The following segment surveys the impact of 1970s feminism on the field of Latin American letters: the tendency, early established, to promote female writers rather than to attack male ones; the attempt to reorganize literary promotion and

Spanish American Women Writers: Simmering Identity over a Low Fire

Studies in Twentieth Century Literature, 1996

After establishing the parallel between the kitchen and the alchemist's laboratory, this article shows that traditionally, the kitchen has come to symbolize the space associated with the marginalization of women. However, the recent explosion of the novels dedicated to the resemantization and reevaluation of the realm of the kitchen is the best evidence that it is also a space from which much creativity emanates. A close reading of two such cookbook/novels, Like Water for Chocolate by Laura Esquivel and Like Potatoes for Varenike by Sylvia Plager, points toward a quite parodic and critical gender perspective. Furthermore, it calls for a reinterpretation of stereotypical power relations and of male and female identity symbols.