Female Writers in Latin America

Female Writers in Latin America 

Gabriela Mistral was the first Latin writer to be awarded the Nobel prize for literature, and the only woman we will study in this class. Throughout literary history, men and Europeans have been most recognized for their work. Latin American women writers are a particularly marginalized group, whose points of views have been underappreciated and overlooked. While Gabriela Mistral, a Chilean poet, won the Nobel prize in 1945, many other important Latin American female authors have not been recognized in such ways. 

Gabriela Mistral

Celia de Zapata, an Argentinian writer and academic, published an article in the Spring 1975 edition of the Latin American Literary Review called “One Hundred Years of Women Writers in Latin America” that attempted to shine light on some of these women writers. De Zapata writes that “some female names are to be found here and there in certain books on ancient history or in rare poetry anthologies, but even they are almost always modestly hidden - or forced by pragmatic impulse - under a nom de plume” (de Zapata 1975). Indeed, Gabriela Mistral used a pen name, following this trend among female writers. De Zapata notes the example of Sor Juana Inéz de la Cruz, known simply as “Sor Juana”, the “The Tenth Muse of America”, who has been recognized in the history of literature. However, most male literary critics and historians note her for being an exceptional woman as well - it is not enough simply to be an exceptional writer. 

Sor Juana

 This article was interesting to me because it was written in the 19th century, at a time when female and latinoamerican authors were even less recognized than they are now, in the third decade of the 21st century. De Zapata wrote, “As the 19th century comes to a close, the woman writer of Ibero-America is still inarticulate, isolated for centuries from her North American sister who is in a heated rebellion against a Puritan morality as she attacks Victorian convictions” (de Zapata 1975). While female writers in the United States had somewhat higher standing in the literary world compared to those in Latin America, their writing was still accused of being insipid and meaningless, especially when it dealt with sexual themes. In the United States, Kate Chopin wrote The Awakening (1899) which was the first American novel dealing with a woman becoming sexually aware. In Latin America, the landscape was very different and these themes were even less accepted. Perhaps “the only writer of exceptional quality in the Spanish language who dares to depict an amorous surrender openly is the Chilean, Maria Luisa Bombal” in her first novel, la última niebla in 1935 (de Zapata 1975). 

Maria Luisa Bombol

 Maria Luisa Bombal was another notable Chilean woman author. She was born in Chile in 1910 and was primarily a novelist and short-story writer. The heroines in her work often create “fantasy worlds in order to escape from unfulfilling love relationships and restricted social roles” (Britannica). Her narrative style was surrealist and influenced the magical realism movement later on. Bombol was born into an affluent family and moved to Paris in 1922 to attend the Sorbonne at the University of Paris. She then returned to Chile briefly before settling into the literary movement in Buenos Aires, Argentina. After spending 30 years in the United States, she finally returned to Chile. Her second novel, La amortajada, (1938- “the shrouded woman”) tells the story of the protagonist, who is dead, contemplating her failed relationships while witnessing her own funeral, finally embracing her “second death”. Later on, Bombal used her first work, la última niebla, as the basis for an English-language novel, The House of Mist (1947). Bombal’s work creates “a vague sensation of unreality” (de Zapata 1975) and is notable for describing the amorous feelings of a woman. 

 The third source I read on this topic was an article by Celia C. Esplugas titled “Maria Luisa Bombol and Sherwood Anderson: Early Twentieth-Century Pan American Feminism”, published in the journal “College Literature” in Spring 2013. Esplugas comments on the importance of Bombal’s work, stating that her novels “reflect the patriarchal constitution of their societies that, largely ignoring women's emotional needs, shattered their personal development and often their psychological balance” (Esplugas 2013). Bombol was an early critic of machismo and her work investigated the roles of women in society, and her plots gave surreal life to the effects the patriarchy has on women. Esplugas’ article investigates deeper the plot of la ultima niebla, and dissects the ways it was revolutionary in both its contributions to the surrealist and magical realism genres, and the ties it has to early feminist literature. 

 Maria Luisa Bombol and Gabriela Mistral are just two important Latin American authors that more people should know. Almost all of the most famous writers of the past few centuries are white, male, European or American men - most people could name Hemingway, Salinger, Steinbeck, Tolstoy, Dickens, but what about Mistral? Female Latin American writers have been marginalized and under-appreciated for their contributions to important literary movements such as magical realism. 

 Bibliography 

 Britannica, The Editors of Encyclopaedia. "María Luisa Bombal". Encyclopedia Britannica, 4 Jun. 2023, https://www.britannica.com/biography/Maria-Luisa-Bombal. Accessed 26 February 2024. de Zapata, Celia. “One Hundred Years of Women Writers in Latin America.” Latin American Literary Review, vol. 3, no. 6, 1975, pp. 7–16. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/20118956. Accessed 26 Feb. 2024. ESPLUGAS, CELIA C. “MARÌA LUISA BOMBAL AND SHERWOOD ANDERSON: EARLY TWENTIETH-CENTURY PAN-AMERICAN FEMINISM(S).” College Literature, vol. 40, no. 2, 2013, pp. 155–70. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/24543173. Accessed 26 Feb. 2024.

Echegaray, and the Generation of 1898

Echegaray, and the Generation of 1898 

     Jose Echegaray, Spanish dramatist, was born in 1832 and died in 1916. He was awarded the nobel prize for literature in December 1904, and his defining work was “The Great Galeoto” (1895). His work has often been criticized for being undeserving of such a prestigious prize. During our unit on Echegaray, we briefly learned about the Generation of 1898 and how they were part of these critiques. I was interested to learn more about the Generation of 1898, which was a literary movement which emerged after the Spanish-American war, and contrast the works of these writers to the works of Echegaray.

     Echegaray’s chapter in “The Nobel Prize Winners: Literature” by Frank N. Magill provides background information on Echegaray, contextualizing his works and overviewing the critical reception he received at the time. Magill stated that although Echegaray may have been “the darling of the Spanish people…he was repudiated by the emerging new generation of writers, the Generation of 1898. Their outrage and response was immediate and bitter.” The award being presented to Echegaray seemed to these writers “a betrayal of all for which they had fought in their literary careers” (Magill 1987). In fact, several writers of the Generation of 1898 (often called simply “The Generation”) prepared a formal manifesto to present to the Nobel Committee to signify their ire with their decision. These writers included Miguel de Unamuno y Jugo, Rubén Darío, Pío Baroja, and Antonio Machado y Ruiz. Magill then goes on to comment on the more sympathetic response that some other critics had to Echegaray. They believed that Echegaray was awarded the Nobel Prize too late, because his theater did not belong in the modern period, and could not be held to represent the beginning of the twentieth century. Benavente, the second Spanish Nobel Prize winner, said that Echegaray “made multitudes think and feel….In half a century there is no theatrical writing that can compare with his in quantity, variety or creative force” (Magill 1987). 

     The Generation of 1898 in Spain included the novelists, poets, essayists, and thinkers who were actively producing works at the time of the Spanish-American War. For an overview on The Generation of 1898, I read a Britannica article. The article provides historical context for The Generation of 1898, including events which preceded this new generation and the characteristics of its members. The article also lists and describes some of the prominent figures of the movement. 

     The Generation of 1898 ranged from 1898-1910. The Generation sought to reinvigorate Spanish literature and restore it to a high level of intellectual prominence that it had been lacking for centuries (Britannica). It stemmed from the defeat of Spain by America in the Spanish-American war (1898), which left Spain shocked and stripped of Cuba, Guam, Puerto Rico, and the Philippines. This led to an opportunity for Spain’s writers and thinkers to be introspective and analyze the problems of the country post-defeat. The term “The Generation of 1898” was coined by the literary critic Azorín around the turn of the century. The term was then applied to writers who focused on Spain, its heritage, and its new position in the modern world. It was not an organized movement or school, but rather a loose and diverse group of thinkers from different fields who aimed to jolt Spanish people “out of what they saw as apathy and restore a sense of national pride” (Britannica). The outcome of the work of The Generation of 1898 was a revitalization of Spanish literature and a new sense of gravity and purpose of the novel. These writers “elevated the essay- critical, psychological, philosophical- to a position of literary importance At the same time, they brought to Spain an awareness of foreign trends in literature and thought that enabled the Spanish people to reassess their own values in the context of the modern world, thus awakening a national consciousness that paved the way for Spanish cultural development in the 20th century (Britannica). 

     The third source I read while researching this topic was an article titled “THE SPANISH ‘GENERATION OF 1898’: I. THE HISTORY OF A CONCEPT” by a professor of Spanish Language and Literature at the University of Manchester, H. Ramsden (1974). In this article, Ramsden investigates the origin of the concept of The Generation of 1898. Ramsden describes the characteristics of that new generation through the eyes of contemporary commentators. He states, “...first, that it is a generation of protest against the social, moral and intellectual state of Spain, and secondly, that it is a generation that seizes eagerly on influences from abroad’ (Ramsden 1974). A Spanish novelist, essayist, and philosopher of the time, Miguel de Unamuno, observed the signs of a literary awakening, noting a “desintegración de antiguas categorías” and stated that “viejos y jóvenes son habitantes de distintos planetas” (Ramsden 1974). The generation was further characterized by their tendency towards idealism or utopianism. Thinkers such as Unamuno, Azorin, Baroja, and Maeztu drew a distinction between Modernism and the ideas of The Generation of 1898. It was narrower to them, and they often used the words “decadentismo” and “esteticismo”, and categorized it by the generation’s commitment to critical intellectualism. Of course, there were a lot of divisions and variety in the themes and values of each individual writer of The Generation of 1898. However, it can be broadly summarized by the above ideals. The Generation of 1898 contrasts heavily with Echegaray, who was producing works at the same time. After investigating some of the core concepts of the generation, it is easy to see why the writers of The Generation of 1898 would have taken offense to Echegaray’s selection as Nobel Prize winner. Echegaray tended to replicate or “revitalize” classic Spanish drama, whereas The Generation of 1898 aimed to do things that were new, different, and more auto critical of their country. 

 Bibliography Magill, Frank N. The Nobel Prize Winners: Literature. vol. 1, Pasadena, CA, Salem Press, 1987. “Generation of 1898 | Modernismo, Symbolism, Naturalism.” Britannica, https://www.britannica.com/topic/Generation-of-1898. Accessed 12 February 2024. Ramsden, H. (1974). the Spanish "generation Of 1898": I. The History Of A Concept. Bulletin of the John Rylands Library 56 (2):463-491.