Abstract
In this paper I examine the recados of Gabriela Mistral, and their contribution to the establishment of a new feminine consciousness in Latin America. Mistral’s lyrical compositions have been canonized as consummate expressions of the most lofty of feminine virtues, particularly those of chastity, magnanimity, and selflessness. Only recently have critics reconsidered Mistral’s prose writing, in critical re-readings of her essays which attempt to establish the relationships between gender and genre, and to identify the coordinates of an alternate canon which, while maintaining dialogue with the established tradition of the male canon, transgress those established boundaries in order to chart a new landscape of Latin American cultural production. Through the essay, Mistral is able to reconfigure the space of interpretive practice, once the exclusive domain of male writers within the context of Latin American patriarchal hegemony. The essay’s shifting, porous nature proved the perfect discursive form for Mistral to freely express her opinions on a diversity of topics, and to construct a sense of self or subjectivity, to chart a new topography of feminine self-identity through the representation of others in the text. Mistral, the essayist, appropriates the public sphere of male critical discourse by infusing the traditionally distant, objective essay form with the informal, intimate and anecdotal, in order to engage in untraditional practices of interpretive power, to identify and respond to the concerns of a rapidly emergent feminine readership, and ultimately to reconfigure women’s place within the cultural cartographies of Latin America.
Presenters
Jacqueline NanfitoAssociate Professor of Spanish (Latin American Literature), Modern Languages & Literatures, Case Western Reserve University, Ohio, United States
Details
Presentation Type
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session
Theme
KEYWORDS
Gabriela Mistral, Recados, Ecofeminism, Americanness, Institute for International, Intellectual Cooperation
