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A dream of light & shadow: portraits of Latin American women writers PDF

642 Pages·1995·1.38 MB·English
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A Dream of Light & Shadow : Portraits of title: Latin American Women Writers author: Agosin, Marjorie. publisher: University of New Mexico isbn10 | asin: 0826316336 print isbn13: 9780826316332 ebook isbn13: 9780585187198 language: English Women authors, Latin American-- Biography, Latin American literature-- subject Women authors--History and criticism, Women and literature--Latin America. publication date: 1995 lcc: PQ7081.3.D74 1995eb ddc: 860.9/9287/098 Women authors, Latin American-- Biography, Latin American literature-- subject: Women authors--History and criticism, Women and literature--Latin America. Page iii A Dream of Light & Shadow Portraits of Latin American Women Writers Edited by Marjorie Agosín UNIVERSITY OF NEW MEXICO PRESS Albuquerque Page iv Library Of Congress Cataloging-In-Publication Data A Dream Of Light And Shadows : Portraits Of Latin American Women Writers / Edited By Marjorie Agosin. 1st Ed. P. Cm. Includes Bibliographical References. ISBN 0-8263-1633-6 1. Women Authors, Latin AmericanBiography. 2. Latin American LiteratureWomen AuthorsHistory And Criticism. 3. Women And LiteratureLatin America. 1. Agosín, Marjorie. PQ7081.3.D74 1995 860.9192871098Dc20 94-48679 CIP © 1995 by the University of New Mexico Press. All rights reserved. First edition Many of the essays were translated from the Spanish by Nancy Abraham Hall. designed by linda mae tratechaud Page v Contents Introduction: 1 From a Room of One's Own to the Garden Marjorie Agosín 1 41 Sofía Ospina de Navarro: Wise Advice from an Optimistic Grandmother Mary G. Berg 2 55 Victoria Ocampo & Spiritual Energy Doris Meyer 3 75 Clementina Suárez: Poetry & Womanhood Janet Gold 4 95 The Creation of Alfonsina Storni Gwen Kirkpatrick 5 119 Gabriela Mistral: Language Is the Only Homeland Elizabeth Horan 6 143 Violeta Parra: Singer of Life Inés Dölz-Blackburn 7 159 Cecilia Ansaldo: Woman between the Private and Public Space Patricia Varas 8 179 Marta Traba: A Life of Images & Words Gloria Bautista Gutiérrez 9 195 Carmen Naranjo: From Poet to Minister Patricia Rubio 10 207 Rigoberta Menchú: The Art of Rebellion Mary Jane Treacy 11 221 Julia de Burgos: Woman, Poet, Legend Carmen Esteves 12 237 Elena Poniatowska: Search for the Voiceless Kay S. García 13 253 Delmira Agustini: Portraits & Reflections Renée Scott 14 271 Clarice Lispector: Dreams of Language Giovanni Pontiero 15 291 Alejandra Pizarnik: The Self & Its Impossible Landscapes Alicia Borinsky 16 303 Marosa Di Giorgio: Uruguay's Sacred Poet of the Garden Teresa Porzecanski Notes 315 Bibliography 329 Page 1 Introduction From a Room of One's Own to the Garden Marjorie Agosín Translated By Nancy Abraham Hall A Dream Of Light And Shadow: Portraits of Latin American Women Writers is a unique collection of essays about the most outstanding female figures in Latin American culture. Like all anthologies, this one is arbitrary, the product of my own readings, and to a certain extent, my personal selection and vision. By design I have included many prominent voices, as well as some that have yet to receive the recognition they deserve. Rather than simply selecting authors by country and placing them in chronological order, I have focused on women who have forged a destiny and contributed a sense of vision to the cultural landscape of Latin America. Each woman profiled in this book is vitally aware of the artistry, obsessions, and voices through which she creates her own sense of identity and reaches out to other women. None ever acts as a guardian or promoter of male culture. By bringing these authors together in a single collection, I hope to shed light on a shared tradition, and to show how each woman's individual vision responds Page 2 to a feminine form of expression, a certain way of looking at writing and at the society in which she chooses to live. A common thread unites these writers. Each creates her own culture in keeping with a distinctly feminine sensibility. From Sofía Ospina's recipes and books about Antioquian culture to Violeta Parra's autobiography in verse, each writer constructs a creative space in defiance of the limits imposed by society and is able to find freedom through creative imagination. Thus, in order to escape the confines of home and country, Delmira Agustini forges a dual identity for herself, breaking all of society's rules and setting herself free through her erotic poetry. Alejandra Pizarnik also chooses the violence of desire, as well as the liberating power of surrealism, in a stunning journey across the hallucinatory space of poetic language and imaginative discourse. It would appear that several creative women from the Southern Cone, and more specifically from the River Plate areawomen such as Agustini, Pizarnik, and Di Giorgioresort to a series of "personae," or creative masks, that allow them to invent alternate ways of being and to pursue their true vocation, the search for creative possibilities. We read, for example, in Teresa Porzcekanski's article about Marosa Di Giorgio, of the poet's haunting appearance on a Montevideo stage, and of her secret place of honor, the garden of the imagination. Porzcekanski points out the essential elementsthe garden, Di Giorgio's personality, and the kitchen, that feminine realm of magical altars and potionsthat fuse to form the essence of Marosa's poetic stage: "[The] altar appeared made of nothing but Bromelias, kitchens, beds. The country brides carried [snails] in baskets . . . stiff as rocks, as eggs, their white shells and bulging rose-colored eyes." Despite the deep prejudices all the women in this anthology faced during their lifetimes, each was able to overcome obstacles and claim a legitimate place as a writer on the cultural stage. The prejudice was notorious in the case of Gabriela Mistral, who received recognition in her homeland only after she was awarded the

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