Latin American women's writing: feminist readings in theory and crisis

Abstract

The twelve essays in this volume on Latin American women's writing are written from an explicitly theoretical and academic feminist perspective. The contributors - leading female academics working in Latin America, the US, and Europe - rethink notions of gendered and cultural identity and examine the specific discursive practices of a range of female-authored texts. The volume has been designed to appeal to various academic needs. It offers fresh readings of canonized writers, such as Marie Luisa Bombal and Rosario Castellanos; studies of established writers, such as Elena Poniatowska, Griselda Gambaro, Alejandra Pizarnik and Sonia Coutinho; and essays on Latin American, Hispanic Caribbean and Latina writers currently building their literary reputation. The theoretical feminist approaches reflect some of the most influential strands in current Latin American feminist criticism; psychoanalysis, post-structuralist and Marxist approaches are represented with their diverse post-colonial and philosophical inflections. The editorial introduction draws out the theoretical assumptions of each essay and relates these to the general aims of the volume.