DOCSLIB.ORG

REMEMBER ME: IDENTITY FORMATION in CLARICE LISPECTOR, ISABEL ALLENDE, and MICHELLE CLIFF. Jeanine Luciana Lino Costa a Dissertat

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
REMEMBER ME: IDENTITY FORMATION in CLARICE LISPECTOR, ISABEL ALLENDE, and MICHELLE CLIFF. Jeanine Luciana Lino Costa a Dissertat REMEMBER ME: IDENTITY FORMATION IN CLARICE LISPECTOR, ISABEL ALLENDE, AND MICHELLE CLIFF. Jeanine Luciana Lino Costa A dissertation submitted to the faculty of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the Curriculum of Comparative Literature. Chapel Hill 2006 Approved by Advisor: Professor Diane R. Leonard Reader: Professor Fred Clark Reader: Professor Grant Farred Reader: Professor Juan Carlos González-Espitia Reader: Professor Alicia Rivero © 2006 Jeanine Luciana Lino Costa ALL RIGHTS RESERVED ii ABSTRACT JEANINE LUCIANA LINO COSTA: Remember Me: Identity Formation in Clarice Lispector, Isabel Allende, and Michelle Cliff (Under the direction of Diane R. Leonard) This dissertation deals with contemporary women writing in Spanish America, Brazil, and the Caribbean. I explore how identity is constructed in Clarice Lispector’s Perto do coração selvagem [Near to the Wild Heart], A paixão segundo G.H. [The Passion According to G.H.], Água viva [The Stream of Life], and A hora da estrela [The Hour of the Star]; Isabel Allende’s Eva Luna, Hija de la fortuna [Daughter of Fortune], Retrato en sepia [Portrait in Sepia], and La casa de los espíritus [The House of the Spirits]; Michelle Cliff’s Abeng, No Telephone to Heaven, and Free Enterprise. In these texts the characters have difficulty accepting their compulsory gender roles, which are for the most part attributable to a hierarchical, male-dominated society and perpetuated by almost everyone. I argue that this process of gender identity formation is both particular (individual, formed by the inner strength of each character) and collective (shaped by society’s demands). Since gender identity formation is an open-ended process, none of the characters can be said to have clearly defined their genders or to have definitively shaped their identities. Other issues, such as class and race, also play an important role in shaping identity and are dealt with in my analysis. The role of history is questioned in the works of Isabel Allende and Michelle Cliff, who attempt to bring new perspectives to historical facts. My theoretical approach iii synthesizes various analyses by scholars such as Judith Butler, Benedito Nunes, Hélène Cixous, Nancy Chodorow, and Stuart Hall. Chapter I discusses some complexities regarding the definition of gender as well as gender relations in Latin America and the necessity of mutual support among genders. Chapter II reads Clarice Lispector’s novels, paying particular attention to the journey within that composes the characters’ search for identity. The third chapter argues that Isabel Allende’s texts encompass a search for the self with rewritings of history from a woman’s point of view. Chapter IV examines Michelle Cliff’s novels, which present strong awakenings concerning racial as well as gender identity and the struggle for power in the relation between colonized and colonizer. iv To the great women in my life: my grandmother Jandira, my great-aunt Alice, my mother Jeanete, my aunt Joanice, and my daughters Joyce and Gabrielle. v ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I am grateful to Dr. Leonard and the committee members. To Dr. Gazzola for showing me the way to Chapel Hill and for inspiring me to like literature. To all my professors who guided me through this long and interesting journey. To my husband Edson José da Costa, for his support and for pushing me to finish—as fast as possible. To my friends, especially my dearest Robson Ferreira and Edna de Araújo. To my family: great-aunt Alice, for all the rosaries you prayed for me and my girls, uncles (Jadir, Jáime, Jarbas, José Lucas), aunts (Juracy, Jô, Joana d’Arc, Jandira), cousins (Leni, Uli, Carol, Débora, Marina, and all others), mother (you made all this possible), brother (I love you Jef), and daughters, Joy and Bibi, thank you so much. You are my inspiration. Chapel Hill, May 2006. vi TABLE OF CONTENTS Chapter Page I. PRELIMINARY CONSIDERATIONS ………………………………………………...… 1 II. CLARICE LISPECTOR: FEMALE AWAKENINGS…...................................................16 A. Perto do coração selvagem [Near to the Wild Heart], A Paixão segundo G.H. [The Passion According to G.H.], and Água viva [The Stream of Life].………………...16 B. Historical and Literary Context ……………………………………………………...20 C. Perto do coração selvagem: Paths of Awareness.....……………………………..…...25 1. Joana and her Personal Quest(s) ……………………………………..……....25 2. Evil and Joana …………………………………………………..…………... 35 3. Yara-Lilith-Lídia ………………………………………......…………………38 4. Desire in Perto do coração selvagem ……..…………..…………………..….42 D. A Paixão Segundo G.H.: G.H.’s Re-Birth…….………......……………………..…...44 E. Água viva: Flow of Thoughts ……….………………...……………………………..56 1. The Writer, the Narrator, and the Style …........................................................57 2. Recurrent Symbols and Evolution …..……………………………………….58 F. A hora da estrela: The Subtle Strength of a Certain Macabéa …….………………….62 III. ISABEL ALLENDE AND WOMEN’S STRUGGLES FOR FAIR TREATMENT IN LATIN AMERICA …...………………………………………….…………...……...71 A. The Novels: Eva Luna, Hija de la fortuna [Daughter of Fortune], Retrato en sepia [Portrait in Sepia], and La casa de los espíritus [The House of the Spirits]………………………………………………………………………...............71 B. Eva Luna: A Colorful Portrait of Latin America …...…………………………..........74 vii C. Allende: Hija de la fortuna, Retrato en sepia, and La casa de los espíritus ………….84 1. Hija de la fortuna: a Latino Woman’s Journey in the Mid-Nineteenth Century …….…………….…………..……........…………...…84 2. Retrato en sepia: a Latin Woman at the Turn of the Twentieth Century ..........89 3. La casa de los espíritus: Four Generations of Twentieth-Century Chilean Women ………………..……………………………………………..…98 IV. MICHELLE CLIFF: WOMEN IN SEARCH OF IDENTITIES THEY WERE TAUGHT TO DESPISE …..………………….……………………..…………………113 A. Abeng and No Telephone to Heaven: Clare’s Journey and Shaping of Identity …...113 B. Abeng: the Blooming of a Jamaican Girl ......……………………………………….117 C. No Telephone to Heaven: Clare’s Teenage and Adult Years…………………….....128 D. Free Enterprise: Identity and the Fight for Human Rights ………………………….140 V. CONCLUSION ………………………………………………………………………... 155 BIBLIOGRAPHY ……………….………………………………………………................162 viii CHAPTER I PRELIMINARY CONSIDERATIONS “This is an important book, the critic assumes, because it deals with war. This is an insignificant book because it deals with the feelings of women in a drawing room.” Virginia Woolf1 “Genders can be neither true nor false, neither real nor apparent, neither original nor derived. As credible bearers of those attributes, however, genders can also be rendered thoroughly and radically incredible.” - Judith Butler2 Clarice Lispector, Isabel Allende, and Michelle Cliff are twentieth-century writers from three different cultural backgrounds. Lispector (1920-1977) was born into a Russian- Jewish family; she grew up in Brazil, becoming officially Brazilian as an adult. She traveled extensively around Europe while married to a diplomat; at that time she had already published her first novel and several short stories. Isabel Allende was born in Peru, grew up in Chile (where her family originated) and has lived abroad for most of her life, now residing in Southern California. Michelle Cliff was born in Jamaica, and grew up on that island and in the United States. She attended graduate school in England and now lives in the United States. These three women writers with such diverse backgrounds have written a great deal about women’s journeys in Latin America, the Caribbean, and Europe. Their work contains reflections on women’s conditions in their home countries and elsewhere. 1 Woolf 128. 2 Butler, Gender Trouble 141. Women struggle to balance their desires to care for others, to have positive relationships, and to seek knowledge with the need to claim their own identities. This dynamic lies at the center of Clarice Lispector’s Perto do coração selvagem [Near to the Wild Heart], A paixão segundo G.H. [The Passion According to G.H.], Água viva [The Stream of Life], and A hora da estrela [The Hour of the Star]; Isabel Allende’s Eva Luna, Hija de la fortuna [Daughter of Fortune], Retrato en sepia [Portrait in Sepia], and La casa de los espíritus [The House of the Spirits]; Michelle Cliff’s Abeng, No Telephone to Heaven, and Free Enterprise. This study investigates the work of the three novelists in relation to the manner in which some of the characters—protagonists or not—develop their identities. I am concerned with the ways through which identity is shaped. The process of identity formation involves issues such as gender, class, and race. More specifically, my point of view focuses on the study of how much the environment where the characters develop influences their formation. Due to the cultural background of each country, characters learn different values and fight for different causes. One of my main aims in doing this study is to draw attention to the fact that Latin America and the Caribbean have in fact many points of convergence in the ways that characters form their identities. Brazil is often left outside discourses on Latin America due to the fact that its language is not Spanish. The Caribbean also is usually dealt with separately from Latin America. It is important to foster dialogue among Latin American and Caribbean countries. This study is a corrective step in the direction of building such relationships. 2 The number of studies on Latin American and Caribbean women writers has flourished in the last few decades, although there are still few that include Brazilian authors.3 A few works compare Brazilian and Spanish American literature, such as Judith Payne and Earl E. Fitz’s Ambiguity and Gender in the New Novel of Brazil and Spanish America: a Comparative Assessment. The authors claim that some of Isabel Allende’s novels are examples of texts that redefine traditional gender roles and relationships, a phenomenon which they claim has long been noticeable in Brazilian narratives by women. They also maintain that Brazilian literary traditions differ considerably from Spanish American traditions (193), and cite Clarice Lispector as an outstanding writer.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Celso Furtado a Esperança Militante (Interpretações) Vol 1 Celso Furtado a Esperança Militante (Interpretações): Vol
    Celso Furtado a esperança militante (Interpretações) Vol 1 Celso Furtado a esperança militante (Interpretações): vol. 1 Cidoval Morais de Sousa Ivo Marcos Theis José Luciano Albino Barbosa (orgs.) SciELO Books / SciELO Livros / SciELO Libros SOUSA, C. M., THEIS, I. M., and BARBOSA, J. L. A., eds. Celso Furtado: a esperança militante (Interpretações): vol. 1 [online]. Campina Grande: EDUEPB, 2020, 401 p. Projeto editorial 100 anos de Celso Furtado collection. ISBN: 978-65-86221-08-4. https://doi.org/10.7476/9786586221695. All the contents of this work, except where otherwise noted, is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license. Todo o conteúdo deste trabalho, exceto quando houver ressalva, é publicado sob a licença Creative Commons Atribição 4.0. Todo el contenido de esta obra, excepto donde se indique lo contrario, está bajo licencia de la licencia Creative Commons Reconocimento 4.0. Universidade Estadual da Paraíba Prof. Antonio Guedes Rangel Junior | Reitor Prof. Flávio Romero Guimarães | Vice-Reitor Editora da Universidade Estadual da Paraíba Luciano Nascimento Silva | Diretor Antonio Roberto Faustino da Costa | Editor Assistente Cidoval Morais de Sousa | Editor Assistente Conselho Editorial Luciano Nascimento Silva (UEPB) | José Luciano Albino Barbosa (UEPB) Antonio Roberto Faustino da Costa (UEPB) | Antônio Guedes Rangel Junior (UEPB) Cidoval Morais de Sousa (UEPB) | Flávio Romero Guimarães (UEPB) Conselho Científico Afrânio Silva Jardim (UERJ) Jonas Eduardo Gonzalez Lemos (IFRN) Anne Augusta Alencar Leite
    [Show full text]
  • New Orleans Review LOYOLA UNIVERSITY VOLUM E 16 NUMBER 21$9.00
    New Orleans Review LOYOLA UNIVERSITY VOLUM E 16 NUMBER 21$9.00 ) ) New Orleans Review Summer 1989 Editors John Biguenet John Mosier Managing Editor Sarah Elizabeth Spain Design Vilma Pesciallo Contributing Editors Bert Cardullo David Estes Jacek Fuksiewicz Alexis Gonzales, F.S.C. Andrew Horton Peggy McCormack Rainer Schulte Fourzding Editor Miller Williams Advisory Editors Richard Berg Doris Betts Joseph Fichter, S.J. John Irwin Murray Krieger Wesley Morris Walker Percy Herman Rapaport Robert Scholes Miller Williams The New Orleans Review is published by Loyola University, New Orleans, Louisiana 70118, United States. Copyright !fJ 1989 by Loyola University. Critical essays relating to film or literature of up to ten thousand words should be prepared to conform with the new MLA guidelines. All essays, fiction, poetry, photography, or related artwork should be sent to the New Orleans Review, together with a stamped, self-addressed envelope. The address is New Orleans Review, Box 195, Loyola University, New Orleans, Louisiana 70118. Reasonable care is taken in the handling of material, but no responsibility is assumed for the loss of unsolicited material. Accepted manuscripts are the property of the NOR. Rejected manuscripts without stamped, self-addressed envelopes will not be returned. The New Orleans Review is published in February, May, August, and November. Annual Subscription Rate: Institutions $30.00, Individuals $25.00, Foreign Subscribers $35.00. Contents listed in the PMLA Bibliography and the Index of American Periodical Verse. US lSSN 0028-6400 NEW ORLEANS REVIEW CONTENTS SUMMER 1989 VOLUME 16 NUMBER 2 Interrogation Ryszard Bugajski/fr. Michael Szporer 5 Ode to a Pantheress Pablo Nerudaltr.
    [Show full text]
  • Um Nome, Um Destino: Uma Onomástica Na Ficção De Nelson Rodrigues
    UM NOME, UM DESTINO: UMA ONOMÁSTICA NA FICÇÃO DE NELSON RODRIGUES A NAME, A DESTINY: AN ONOMASTIC IN NELSON RODRIGUES’ FICTIONAL WORKS Adriano de Paula Rabelo Professor de Literatura Brasileira na Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais. Via Atlântica, São Paulo, n. 38, pp. 338-362, dez. 2020. doi: 10.11606/va.i38.172207 Resumo : Os nomes dos personagens são uma das mais importantes chaves de interpretação de uma- obra ficcional, a ponto de chegarem a determinar os rumos da ação. Muito especialmente, eles dizem mui to sobre quem são tais personagens, por que fazem o- que fazem, como representam aspectos da realidade de uma determinada sociedade. Nas peças, roman ces, contos e folhetins de Nelson Rodrigues, escritor que tinha plena consciência desse poder expressivo dos nomes, a ponto de refletir frequentemente sobre isso em de suas crônicas ensaísticas, os nomes dados a seus personagens constituem um dos elementos- a que o leitor ou espectador de seus trabalhos deve prestar grande atenção. Este artigo resulta de um am- plo levantamento dos nomes de seus personagens,- classificando-os em categorias e analisando breve mente seus sentidos, suas peculiaridades, suas rela ções com as personalidades que nomeiam. Palavras-chave - : Nelson Rodrigues, nomes, persona gens, criação literária. 339 Abstract - : Characters’ names are one of the most im portant keys to interpreting a fictional work. They- can even determine the course of the story’s action.- Especially, they express a lot about who these charac ters are, why they do what they do, how they repre sent aspects of a specific social reality. In the plays,- novels, short stories and newspaper serial narratives by Nelson Rodrigues, a writer who was fully awa re of the expressive power of names, to the point of frequently reflecting on this issue in his essayistic newspaper columns, his characters’ names are one of the aspects the reader or viewer of the his works should pay close attention.
    [Show full text]
  • Powered by TCPDF (
    Powered by TCPDF (www.tcpdf.org) Magical Realism in Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni’s The Mistress of Spices R. Palani, Assistant Professor, Department of English, Adhiyamaan College of Engineering, Hosur-635 109. Page | 1 Abstract Magical Realism is a genre of fiction in which elements blend with the real world. Magical Realism supposedly began in 1935 with its golden age occurring between 1940 and 1950. The term magical realism described contemporary fiction, usually associated with Latin America, whose narrative blends magical or fantastical elements with reality. Magical Realism is the writing of Spanish and Latin American authors. Two people have been credited for coining the term magical realism, Dudly Fitts and Franz Roh. ********* Author: Mr. K. Muthu Murugan Magical Realism is known for changing the way in which one thinks. Instead of seeing the ordinary and mundane, the magical realism brings a spark of life to the imagination, which turn excites the mind of the readers. Magical Realism is an amalgamation of realism and fantasy. It is also known for showing a different view point on life and the way in which people think or Page | 2 act. It does not use dream motifs, nor does it create false words. Magical Realism is unlike other writing style that try to change or dominate the existing seemed to be forced on people and in turn demand attention and gratification. The extraordinary in magical realism is rarely presented in the form of a dream or a psychological experience because doing so takes the magic out of recognizable material reality and placed it into the little understood world of the imagination.
    [Show full text]
  • A Feminist Analysis of the Narrative Structure Of
    A FEMINIST ANALYSIS OF THE NARRATIVE STRUCTURE OF ISABEL ALLENDE'S THE INFINITE PLAN by ELIZABETH M. SORELLE, B.A. A THESIS IN ENGLISH Submitted to the Graduate Faculty of Texas Tech University in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of MASTER OF ARTS Approved December, 1996 SOS «r-s ^^' "I 3 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS /\jo I 'I I would like to thank Professor Wendell Aycock and Professor David '•,> Leon Higdon for their advice and support during the writing of tliis thesis. I would also like to thank Paula Allen, M.A. for her help in finding feminist criticism and Lilianna Anglada, M.A. for her help in translating the Spanish epigraph from Violeta Parra. ]Much gratitude also goes to my husband, Jeffrey SoRelle, without whose patience and encouragement I would have never finished the project. And thanks also to my parents, who have believed in me all along. n TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ii CHAPTER L INTRODUCTION 1 II. NARRATIVE PRESENCES: THE FOUNDATION OF THE FEMINIST TEXT 9 III. UNDERMINING THE TRADITIONAL MALE NARRATION: THE OMNISCIENT FEMALE NARRATOR'S CONTROL OF THE NOVEL 19 IV. THE NAl^RATIONS OF GREGORY REEVES: HIS GROWTH INTO THE FEJVIININE REALM 30 V. CONCLUSION 46 BIBLIOGRAPHY 48 in CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION Isabel Allende is one of the most important female writers in modern Latin America. In a period of roughly ten years, she has produced six major works of literature: The House of Spirits, Of Love and Shadows, Eva Luna, The Stories of Eva Luna, The Infinite Plan, and Paula. Allende is a masterful storyteller who combines the wondrous of life ~ passion, magic, and childhood ~ with the reality of a war-torn, patriarchal South America.
    [Show full text]
  • Tese De Doutorado Universidade Estadual De
    View metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk brought to you by CORE provided by Repositorio da Producao Cientifica e Intelectual da Unicamp TESE DE DOUTORADO UNIVERSIDADE ESTADUAL DE CAMPINAS ANGELA HARUMI TAMARU A CONSTRUÇÃO LITERÁRIA DA MULHER NORDESTINA EM RACHEL DE QUEIROZ Tese apresentada ao Curso de Teoria Literária do Instituto de Estudos da Linguagem da Universidade Estadual de Campinas para obtenção do título de Doutor em Letras na Área de Teoria Literária. Orientadora: Profa. Dra. Enid Yatsuda Frederico Banca: Prof. Dr. Haquira Osakabe Profa. Dra. Maria Betania Amoroso Prof. Dr. Luís Gonçales Bueno de Camargo Profa. Dra. Cilaine Alves Cunha UNIVERSIDADE ESTADUAL DE CAMPINAS INSTITUTO DE ESTUDOS DA LINGUAGEM 2004 1 FICHA CATALOGRÁFICA ELABORADA PELA BIBLIOTECA IEL - UNICAMP Tamaru, Angela Harumi. T15c A construção literária da mulher nordestina em Rachel de Queiroz / Angela Harumi Tamaru. - Campinas, SP : [s.n.], 2004. Orientadora : Profa. Dra. Enid Yatsuda Frederico. Tese (doutorado) - Universidade Estadual de Campinas, Instituto de Estudos da Linguagem. 1. Modernismo (Literatura) - Brasil. 2. Queiroz, Rachel de, 1910- 2003 – Personagens - Mulheres. 3. Matriarcado. I. Frederico, Enid Yatsuda. II. Universidade Estadual de Campinas. Instituto de Estudos da Linguagem. III. Título. 2 Nota e agradecimentos Foi já no fechamento deste trabalho que, subitamente, Rachel de Queiroz interrompe sua existência de quase 93 anos. Sua posição de mulher forte, que marcou o século 20 no Brasil, aponta-a como uma figura feminina importante do Brasil, a ser lembrada tanto pela sua obra como pelo que representou, pois abriu espaço para a mulher na vida brasileira. Por ter sobrevivido a quase todos os seus amigos, Rachel dizia-se pesarosa: “meus amigos eram todos mais velhos que eu, de forma que fui perdendo todos eles, de um em um.
    [Show full text]
  • Affective Memory and Dignified Childhood in the Production by Brazilian Writer Clarice Lispector
    ANAMORPHOSIS – Revista Internacional de Direito e Literatura v. 2, n. 1, janeiro-junho 2016 © 2016 by RDL – doi: 10.21119/anamps.21.169-181 AFFECTIVE MEMORY AND DIGNIFIED CHILDHOOD IN THE PRODUCTION BY BRAZILIAN WRITER CLARICE LISPECTOR MÍRIAM COUTINHO DE FARIA ALVES1 TRANSLATED BY FELIPE ZOBARAN ABSTRACT: This article aims at analyzing the concept of affective memory as a category in the imaginary of children’s rights from the perspective of Law and Literature. The focus are the connections between childhood memories and adult personality, regarding the character Virgínia in the novel The chandelier (O lustre), by Clarice Lispector, in order to exemplify the function of affective memory and the universal right to a dignified childhood. The function of affective memories is an important trace in the process of identity formation, which contributes to the development of a legal theory regarding children’s rights. Affection is considered a foundation for dignified life, and literary legal reflections contribute to the rethinking of childhood, in the eyes of Law and social studies. KEYWORDS: affective memory; Clarice Lispector; right to a dignified childhood. INITIAL THOUGHTS Benedito Nunes (1989, p. 105), as an exponent in analyzing the production by Brazilian writer Clarice Lispector, indicates the reflexive, uncanny features of the fictional characters created by her, and emphasizes the density of her narrative regarding consciousness. Such a deep attempt of acknowledging the human condition seems linked to legal studies, as it reveals bonds between Law and Literature. 1 Doctor degree in Law (Universidade Federal da Bahia (UFBA). Professor at the Law Department of Universidade Federal de Sergipe (UFS).
    [Show full text]
  • The Beautiful Game? Hegemonic Masculinity, Women and Football in Brazil and Argentina DAVID WOOD University of Sheffield, UK
    Bulletin of Latin American Research, Vol. 37, No. 5, pp. 567–581, 2018 The Beautiful Game? Hegemonic Masculinity, Women and Football in Brazil and Argentina DAVID WOOD University of Sheffield, UK The practice of football by women in Latin America is an integral part of historical patterns around the performance of gender roles and offers insights into how power, both symbolic and political, is subject to ongoing processes of negotiation. A study of women’s involvement as spectators and players in Brazil and Argentina since the early twentieth century sees football emerge as a field in which the construction of gender identities, both personal and national, may be contested. More recently, a growing presence of female players, writers and academics suggests that female agency through football in Latin America is an increasingly realistic goal. Keywords: Argentina, Brazil, football, Latin America, Marta, women. Taking the Field Football in Latin America has become firmly established as a subject of study for historians, sociologists, anthropologists and literary scholars, especially in relation to Argentina and Brazil, but the great majority of publications arising from such work focus entirely on the game as played by men. Indeed, some influential authors have depicted football in the region as an entirely male affair: Argentinian anthropologist Eduardo Archetti, for example, wrote in 1994 that football was and still is a typical and exclusively masculine sport in Argentina (Archetti, 1994: 226), reiterating almost a decade later that the world of football is exclusively male, an encounter in the stadium [ … ] between competing groups of male players and supporters (Archetti, 2003: 220).
    [Show full text]
  • New Approaches Toward Recent Gay Chicano Authors and Their Audience
    Selling a Feeling: New Approaches Toward Recent Gay Chicano Authors and Their Audience Dissertation Presented in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Doctor of Philosophy in the Graduate School of The Ohio State University By Douglas Paul William Bush, M.A. Graduate Program in Spanish and Portuguese The Ohio State University 2013 Dissertation Committee: Ignacio Corona, Advisor Frederick Luis Aldama Fernando Unzueta Copyright by Douglas Paul William Bush 2013 Abstract Gay Chicano authors have been criticized for not forming the same type of strong literary identity and community as their Chicana feminist counterparts, a counterpublic that has given voice not only to themselves as authors, but also to countless readers who see themselves reflected in their texts. One of the strengths of the Chicana feminist movement is that they have not only produced their own works, but have made sense of them as well, creating a female-to-female tradition that was previously lacking. Instead of merely reiterating that gay Chicano authors have not formed this community and common identity, this dissertation instead turns the conversation toward the reader. Specifically, I move from how authors make sense of their texts and form community, to how readers may make sense of texts, and finally, to how readers form community. I limit this conversation to three authors in particular—Alex Espinoza, Rigoberto González, and Manuel Muñoz— whom I label the second generation of gay Chicano writers. In González, I combine the cognitive study of empathy and sympathy to examine how he constructs affective planes that pull the reader into feeling for and with the characters that he draws.
    [Show full text]
  • The Craft of Emotion in Isabel Allende's Paula
    Studies in 20th Century Literature Volume 27 Issue 2 Article 2 6-1-2003 The Craft of Emotion in Isabel Allende's Paula Susan Carvalho University of Kentucky Follow this and additional works at: https://newprairiepress.org/sttcl Part of the American Literature Commons, and the Latin American Literature Commons This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 License. Recommended Citation Carvalho, Susan (2003) "The Craft of Emotion in Isabel Allende's Paula ," Studies in 20th Century Literature: Vol. 27: Iss. 2, Article 2. https://doi.org/10.4148/2334-4415.1554 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by New Prairie Press. It has been accepted for inclusion in Studies in 20th Century Literature by an authorized administrator of New Prairie Press. For more information, please contact [email protected]. The Craft of Emotion in Isabel Allende's Paula Abstract Isabel Allende's narrative, from her first novel The House of the Spirits (1982) through the most recent works, has often been branded as "sentimental..." Keywords The House of the Spirits, sentimental, emotion, Isabel Allende This article is available in Studies in 20th Century Literature: https://newprairiepress.org/sttcl/vol27/iss2/2 Carvalho: The Craft of Emotion in Isabel Allende's Paula The Craft of Emotion in Isabel Allende's Paula Susan Carvalho University of Kentucky Isabel Allende's narrative, from her first novel The House of the Spirits (1982) through the most recent works, has often been branded as "sentimental."' This label implies a kind of literary second tier, as "serious" literature is supposed to rely more on the rational and less on the emotional, on the part of both writer and reader.
    [Show full text]
  • Teaching the Short Story: a Guide to Using Stories from Around the World. INSTITUTION National Council of Teachers of English, Urbana
    DOCUMENT RESUME ED 397 453 CS 215 435 AUTHOR Neumann, Bonnie H., Ed.; McDonnell, Helen M., Ed. TITLE Teaching the Short Story: A Guide to Using Stories from around the World. INSTITUTION National Council of Teachers of English, Urbana, REPORT NO ISBN-0-8141-1947-6 PUB DATE 96 NOTE 311p. AVAILABLE FROM National Council of Teachers of English, 1111 W. Kenyon Road, Urbana, IL 61801-1096 (Stock No. 19476: $15.95 members, $21.95 nonmembers). PUB 'TYPE Guides Classroom Use Teaching Guides (For Teacher) (052) Collected Works General (020) Books (010) EDRS PRICE MF01/PC13 Plus Postage. DESCRIPTORS Authors; Higher Education; High Schools; *Literary Criticism; Literary Devices; *Literature Appreciation; Multicultural Education; *Short Stories; *World Literature IDENTIFIERS *Comparative Literature; *Literature in Translation; Response to Literature ABSTRACT An innovative and practical resource for teachers looking to move beyond English and American works, this book explores 175 highly teachable short stories from nearly 50 countries, highlighting the work of recognized authors from practically every continent, authors such as Chinua Achebe, Anita Desai, Nadine Gordimer, Milan Kundera, Isak Dinesen, Octavio Paz, Jorge Amado, and Yukio Mishima. The stories in the book were selected and annotated by experienced teachers, and include information about the author, a synopsis of the story, and comparisons to frequently anthologized stories and readily available literary and artistic works. Also provided are six practical indexes, including those'that help teachers select short stories by title, country of origin, English-languag- source, comparison by themes, or comparison by literary devices. The final index, the cross-reference index, summarizes all the comparative material cited within the book,with the titles of annotated books appearing in capital letters.
    [Show full text]
  • 1 Isabel Allende: Carnalismo and Female Identity
    UNIVERSITY OF MAURITIUS RESEARCH JOURNAL – Volume 21 – 2015 University of Mauritius, Réduit, Mauritius Isabel Allende: Carnalismo and Female Identity S Kotiah Department of English Studies Faculty of Social Studies and Humanities University of Mauritius Reduit E-mail: [email protected] Paper accepted on 27 April 2015 Abstract This article proposes a comparative study of two novels, The House of the Spirits (1982) and Portrait in Sepia (2000) by Chilean author, Isabel Allende. In an attempt to represent various facets of Latin American female identity, this article uses carnalismo as recurring trope while reinstating the particular marginalized positions of these women as a subversive discourse altogether. These women do not rewrite, refashion or expropriate stories merely to satisfy some game-playing or some totalizing impulse. Instead, they juxtapose what we think we know of the past with alternative representations. The running argument in the article is therefore based on a celebration of subversive forms of matriarchy that rule untraditional domestic spaces. Furthermore, different storytelling formulations by the same author reflect certain trends in contemporary narrative, namely the ways in which narratives can turn one`s attention away from an aesthetic past towards a more broadly conceived sense of history as textually mediated and constructed. To this end, theoretical frameworks of carnalismo suggest a desire to attract attention to unequal power relations and a consequent desire to celebrate these women. Keywords: Allende, feminism, Latin American literature, magical realism, narrative, postmodernism. *For correspondences and reprints 1 Isabel Allende: Carnalismo and Female Identity 1. INTRODUCTION This article analyses two of Isabel Allende`s Allende`s family chronicles, The House of the Spirits (1982) and Portrait in Sepia (2000), where a form of female carnalismo works in parallel with magical realism.
    [Show full text]