Rewriting Womanhood, Nancy Lagreca Explores the Subversive Refigurings of I T Womanhood in Three Novels by Women Writers: La Hija Del Bandido (1887) by I N
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ANHOOD 1887–1903 greca OM a W G nancy l nancy Angel of the House in the Feminism, Subjectivity, and the Subjectivity, Feminism, Latin American Novel, PENN STATE ROMANCE STUDIES PENN STATE REWRITIN Feminism, Subjectivity, and the Angel of the lagreca REWRITING WOMANHOOD House in the Latin American Novel, 1887–1903 state penn press ting i (1903) wr e R (1887) by (1888) by Luz y sombra Blanca Sol La hija del bandido ms the value of three women novelists who wished novelists of three women ms the value aduate students, and the general reader, fir Nancy LaGreca explores the subversive refigurings of LaGreca explores the subversive Nancy f , ant Professor in the Department of Modern Languages, Department the in ant Professor t ea r tes, gr ssis vides ample historical context for understanding the key adua o pr isbn 978-0-271-03439-3 eca is A dergr 90000 e, and Linguistics at the University of Oklahoma. e, and Linguistics at the University tur ting Womanhood anhood i a cy LaGr Rewriting Womanhood wr om ter an oman as individual for a modern era. As such, it is an important contribu- 9 780271 034393 e Mercedes Cabello de Carbonera 1845 (Peru, –1909), and Refugio Barragán de Toscano (Mexico, 1846–1916), BarragánRefugio de Toscano W penn state romance studies romance series penn state university press state the pennsylvania pennsylvania university park, www.psupress.org by Ana Roqué (Puertoby Ana Roqué Rico, 1853 both –1933). were While these women by been largely overlooked have they and critiquedacclaimed in their day, contemporary mainstream criticism. accessi- Detailed enough for experts yet ble to un R In womanhood in three novels by women writers: by women in three novels womanhood women’s issues of nineteenth-century and Puerto Mexico, Peru, Rico; clear women’s definitions of the psychoanalytic theories used to unearth the rewriting of the female self; and in-depth literary analyses that of the feminine agency Barragán, highlight in their fiction. Cabello, and Roqué Li N to broaden the ruling-class definition of woman as mother and wife to include to broaden the ruling-class definition of woman w studies, nineteenth-century Hispanic studies, and sexuality tion to women’s and gender studies. RewRiting womanhood FM.indd 1 1/12/09 10:36:33 AM THE PENN STATE ROMANCE STUDIES SERIES editors Robert Blue • Kathryn M. Grossman • Thomas A. Hale • Djelal Kadir Norris J. Lacy • John M. Lipski • Sherry L. Roush • Allan Stoekl advisory board Theodore J. Cachey Jr. • Priscilla Ferguson • Hazel Gold • Cathy L. Jrade William Kennedy • Gwen Kirkpatrick • Rosemary Lloyd • Gerald Prince Joseph T. Snow • Ronald W. Tobin • Noël Valis Reconstructing Woman: From Fiction to Reality in the Nineteenth-Century French Novel by dorothy kelly Career Stories: Belle Epoque Novels of Professional Development by juliette m. rogers Territories of History: Humanism, Rhetoric, and the Historical Imagination in the Early Chronicles of Spanish America by sarah h. beckjord The Book of Peace by christine de pizan Translated and edited by Karen Green, Constant J. Mews, and Janice Pinder with the assistance of Alan Crosier Consensus and Debate in Salazar’s Portugal: Visual and Literary Negotiations of the National Text, 1933 –1948 by ellen w. sapega FM.indd 2 1/12/09 10:36:34 AM rewriting womanhood Feminism, Subjectivity, and the Angel of the House in the Latin American Novel, 1887–1903 Nancy LaGreca the pennsylvania state university press university park, pennsylvania FM.indd 3 1/12/09 10:36:34 AM Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data LaGreca, Nancy, 1972– Rewriting womanhood : feminism, subjectivity, and the angel of the house in the Latin American novel, 1887–1903 / Nancy LaGreca. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. Summary: “An historical and theoretical literary study of three Latin American women writers, Refugio Barragón of Mexico, Mercedes Cabello de Carbonera of Peru, and Ana Roqué of Puerto Rico. Examines how these novelists subversively rewrote womanhood vis à vis the prescribed comportment for women during a conservative era”—Provided by publisher. isbn 978-0-271-03438-6 (cloth : alk. paper) isbn 978-0-271-03439-3 (pbk. : alk. paper) 1. Spanish American literature—Women authors—History and criticism. 2. Spanish American literature—19th century—History and criticism. 3. Feminism and literature—Latin America. 4. Women in literature. I. Title. PQ7081.5.L35 2009 863’.5099287—dc22 2008034080 Copyright © 2009 The Pennsylvania State University All rights reserved Printed in the United States of America Published by The Pennsylvania State University Press, University Park, PA 16802–1003 The Pennsylvania State University Press is a member of the Association of American University Presses. It is the policy of The Pennsylvania State University Press to use acid-free paper. Publications on uncoated stock satisfy the minimum requirements of American National Standard for Information Sciences—Permanence of Paper for Printed Library Material, ansi z39.48–1992. This book can be viewed at http://publications.libraries.psu.edu/eresources/978-0-271-03438-6 FM.indd 4 1/16/09 2:49:31 PM to Anne and Roy, for all their love and support, and to the memory of Rose and Josephine, for providing me early examples of women who thought and lived against the grain. FM.indd 5 1/12/09 10:36:35 AM FM.indd 6 1/12/09 10:36:35 AM contents d Acknowledgments ix introduction 1 1 women’s imagined Roles in nineteenth-Century mexico: Seclusion in the midst of Progress and early Feminist Reactions 28 2 Coming of age(ncy): Refugio Barragán de toscano’s La hija del bandido 53 3 women in Peru: national and Private Struggles for independence 78 4 new models for new women: Rethinking Cinderella’s Virtues and humanizing the Stepmother in mercedes Cabello de Carbonera’s Blanca Sol 102 5 women as Body in Puerto Rico: medicine, morality, and institutionalizations of Sexual oppression in the Long nineteenth Century 124 FM.indd 7 1/12/09 10:36:35 AM viii d contents 6 Sexual agency in ana Roqué’s Luz y sombra: a Subversion of the essentialized woman 149 Conclusions 171 Works Cited 177 Index 195 FM.indd 8 1/12/09 10:36:35 AM acknowledgments d this project has benefited from the support and insight of people i hold in the highest esteem. many thanks to naomi Lindstrom for reading an early version of this manuscript and providing, with good humor and encourage- ment, invaluable detailed feedback on the content and writing. i am grateful to my colleagues Benigno trigo and Katie arens for their knowledgeable guidance regarding the theoretical frame of the analyses. i would like to thank Kimberly hamlin, Virginia higginbotham, Jacque- line Loss, and Belinda mora for their warm encouragement. Special thanks go to Betsy Phillips for her feedback regarding the writing and organization during the final stages of the preparation of this manuscript. i am indebted to the two anonymous Penn State University Press readers whose thought- ful comments aided in fine-tuning the content of this book.i am grateful to my fine colleagues at the University of oklahoma, who have offered their advice and support, and my graduate students, who have provided encour- agement through their lively and insightful discussions on the works studied herein. in particular i would like to thank a. Robert Lauer and Pamela genova for always being on call to offer advice, Lourdes Yen for her help as my research assistant, and Kathy Peters for her cheerful help with the many administrative tasks involved in moving forward with this project. my deep appreciation goes to my husband, Jack douglas eure iii, one of my most trusted readers, and to my brother Charles for his enthusiastic moral support. Funding for this project was provided by the Continuing Fellowship, administered through the graduate School of the University of texas at austin. additional research and preparation in the final stages of this manu- script were made possible with a Junior Faculty Research grant from the University of oklahoma’s office of the Vice President for Research and a Faculty enrichment grant from the College of arts and Sciences at the University of oklahoma. FM.indd 9 1/12/09 10:36:36 AM FM.indd 10 1/12/09 10:36:36 AM introductiond Ahora bien, la marcada repugnancia que inspira a la mujer toda observación abstracta, profunda y prolongada, a causa de la invincible fatiga que a poco le sobreviene, pone bien de manifiesto la debilidad relativa de sus órganos cerebrales que corresponden a las funciones de abstracción. En cambio, la meditación concreta, la observación sintética de las cosas reales, admite en ella un ejercicio mucho más sostenido; lo cual indica una aptitud cerebral mayor para ese género de observaciones. La poca energía y vigor de sus facultades abstractas y analíticas ocasiona que la inteligencia femenina aprecie mejor las diferencias de los objectos que sus semejanzas. [Now then, the marked repugnance that any type of abstract, profound, and prolonged obser- vation inspires in women, owing to the invincible fatigue that sets in shortly afterward, is an obvious manifestation of the relative weakness of their cerebral organs that control the func- tions of abstraction. Conversely, concrete thought, the synthetic observation of real things, allow them a more sustained activity; this indicates a greater cerebral aptitude for this kind of observation. The abstract and analytical faculties’ meager energy and vigor cause feminine intelligence to better appreciate the differences among objects, rather than their similarities.] —Horacio Barreda, El siglo XX ante el feminismo, 1909 horacio barreda, son of the illustrious Mexican Positivist philosopher Gabino Barreda, edited the periodical Revista Positiva (Positivist Journal) from 1901 to 1913.