Amazons and Artists : a Study of Ecuadorian Women's Prose
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AMAZONS AND ARTISTS: A STUDY OF ECUADORIAN WOMEN'S PROSE By MICHAEL H. HANDELSMAN A DISSERTATION PRESENTED TO THE GRADUATE COUNCIL OF THE UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA 1976 IM&.TPF FLORIDA 3 1262 08666 407 4 Because of all their love and the many sacrifices they have made for me during the years, I dedicate this dissertation to my mother and father. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I wish to express my sincere appreciation to my supervisory committee chairman, Dr. Ivan A. Schulman, for his valuable insight and guidance during the preparation of this dissertation; to Dr. Irving R. Wershow, for his continued support during my graduate program at the University of Florida; and to Dr. Richard R. Renner, for having served as a member of the supervisory committee. In addition, a special note of thanks must be extended to the Organization of American States for having funded nine months of doctoral research in Ecuador (December IS?** to September 1975)- Because successful completion of this study would not have been possible without the assistance of many Ecuadorian friends and acquaint- ances, I also would like to thank the following people: Manuel Almeida, Benjamfn Carrion, Zoila MarTa Castro, Laura de Crespo, Mireya de Insua, Piedad Larrea Borja, Germania Moncayo de Monge, Isabel Moscoso Davila, Francisco Perez Febres Cordero, Angel Rojas, Lupe Rumazo, Eugenia Viteri, and Alicia Yanez Cossfo. Finally, a special note of gratitude is extended to my wife, Toya, for her constant encouragement and understanding. I I t TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS iii ABSTRACT ^j INTRODUCTION I Notes ^ CHAPTER I HISTORICAL HEROINES AND PROSE WRITERS: A CONTRAST IN FEMALE IMAGES IN ECUADOR 5 Notes 20 CHAPTER II EARLY FEMALE VOICES IN ECUADORIAN PROSE LITERATURE ... 23 Notes. 32 CHAPTER III THE FEMINIST JOURNALS: A SOURCE OF LITERARY DEVELOPMENT 3h Early Feminist Magazines: The Alfarista Era (1895-1912) 37 Major Feminist Journals Published During the Years 1917-1928 ^6 Feminist Magazine Literature and the 1930's 50 Notes 61 CHAPTER IV THE ESSAY 66 Women Writers: 1922-19'45 67 Women Writers: 19^*5 to Present 8k Notes 97 CHAPTER V THE NOVEL 102 Notes 1^43 CHAPTER VI SHORT STORY 1 '<6 The Short Story as a Reflection of Women's Problems. 1^*9 Women's Concern for Urban Problems 156 The Indian Motif 170 The Theme of Contemporary Anguish in the Short Story . 175 Notes 183 I V CONCLUSION 187 Notes 190 BIBLIOGRAPHY OF WORKS CONSULTED. , 191 Works by Ecuadorian Women 191 Works About Ecuadorian Women 201 General Works About Women and Feminism 20^ Other Works Consulted 206 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH 208 Abstract of Dissertation Presented to tfie Graduate Council of the University of Florida in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy AMAZONS AND ARTISTS: A STUDY OF ECUADORIAN WOMEN'S PROSE By Michael H. Handelsman June, 1976 Chairman: Ivan A. Schulman Major Department: Romance Languages and Literatures (Spanish) Despite current efforts to analyze the role of women in Latin America, only minimal information is available about Ecuadorian women. Excluding traditional references to such vaunted national heroines as Manuela Saenz, Manuela Canizares, and Mariana de Jesijs, little is known about the principal concerns and aspirations of Ecuador's women. Similarly, because literary critics rarely have offered more than a cursory mention of the works published by Ecuadorian women, there is a dearth of information on the extent to which female writers have participated in national letters. The purpose of this dissertation, therefore, is to fill these voids by analyzing the essays and fiction Ecuadorian women have published to date. More specifically, attention is given to what women have said about their role in society, about male-female relationships in Ecuador, and about their chief aims, problems, and fears. In short, this study is primarily concerned with two major goals: (1) to refute traditional claims that women have not VI — written prose literature in Ecuador; and (2) to demonstrate that the major themes found in their works offer a penetrating view of the female's place in Ecuadorian society. Regarding the first objective, after considering the authors and works analyzed, it is apparent critics have neglected many women writers who have turned to literature as a means of expressing themselves. Their numbers might be larger were it not for the fact that they have been "victimized," so to speak, by a body of literary criticism that over- looks their work and denies them artistic status. The few writers who have overcome this prejudice and have ultimately been recognized in anthologies and literary histories (i.e., Dolores Veintemilla de Galindo, Marietta de Veintemilla, and Blanca Martfnez de Tinajero) have neverthe- less been treated as secondary figures whose works are assumed to be of scant importance or undeserving of serious critical attention. Thus, in our study we have shouldered the burden of reexamining women's place in national letters, with the express purpose of demonstrating that a meritorious literary tradition exists among Ecuador's women writers. Some major figures examined are Zoila Ltgarte, Rosa Borja, Hipatia Cardenas, Eugenia Viteri, Lupe Rumazo, and Alicia Yanez Cosslo. The treatment of female images in Ecuadorian women's prose demonstrates that women have not been totally satisfied with their secondary role in national development. Contrary to Benajmfn Carrion's belief that Ecuador is a "pueblo hi jo de mujer" (i.e., a country which has depended heavily on its women throughout the course of national history), women's literary works point out that the female has had to fight continually against male domination political, cultural, and sexual. Thus, Ecuador's women frequently have used prose literature VI to champion feminist issues, reject inequities, injustices and sources of repression. The writers' comments about women in Ecuador presented in this study only reflect the viewpoint of the urban middle-class female intellectual. Up to the present, Indian women, the montuvias (rural women from the coast), and marginal women from the city have yet to describe their own situation. Similarly lacking are studies on women journalists and poetesses; the image of women in male writers' works; a reevaluation of women's participation in history; sexual attitudes among women; and women in the labor force. In short, because much work remains to be done in terms of investigating the attitudes and problems of the Ecuadorian female, it is hoped that this dissertation will underscore the voids in our knowledge and stimulate the continued redressing of traditional prejudices about Ecuadorian women through studies on their numerous and diverse contributions to society. I VI I INTRODUCTION in spite of current efforts to interpret and understand clearly the role of women in Latin America, researchers have offered minimal information about Ecuadorian women. Consequently, the purpose of this dissertation is to fill this void, to study the Ecuadorian woman's role in society by means of a detailed analysis of the prose works (essay and fiction) that Ecuadorian women writers have published to date. Attention will be given to what the women have said about their own role in society, about male-female relationships in Ecuador, and about their chief concerns, aspirations, and fears. In short, the following study of Ecuador's women writers will achieve two goals: (1) establish the extent of women's contribution to Ecuadorian letters; and (2) illustrate women's position in Ecuadorian society. With respect to the first objective, because few critics have been aware of the existence of female writers in Ecuador, critical attention devoted to women's literary production has been rare. Even such leading scholars of national letters as Benjam'n Carrion, Isaac Barrera, Angel Rojas, and Edmundo Ribadeneira have done little more than acknowledge some names and titles in their general comments about Ecuadorian literature. Furthermore, although critics occasionally have alluded to women's limited participation in national letters when explaining the absence of research on female writers, at no time has anyone attempted to analyze the complex reasons which account for this scarcity. In effect, due to the overall lack of interest in investigating 1 women's place in literature, current knowledge about the female writers has been based on a series of suppositions which people through the years 2 have considered conclusive. While it would be incorrect to suggest that women have been prolific writers in Ecuador, this dissertation will demonstrate that they have written more prose than is generally assumed. Indeed female literary production goes far beyond the critics' traditional, limited references to Marietta de Veintemilla (I858-I907) and Blanca Martfnez de Tinajero (1897). Regarding Ecuadorian women and their place in society, the female writers frequently have used prose literature as a platform for their major concerns and problems, offering the reader a clear idea of many of the realities that characterize women's lives in Ecuador. In short, the importance of literature when studying certain aspects of a society becomes evident upon reading Erich Koehler's assertion that "es posible partiendo de la literatura explicar una sociedad, es decir, conocer su esp'ritu y los hechos que constituyen su.caracter fundamental; una de las funciones de la literatura en la historia