Voces Femeninas De Hispanoamerica (Pitt Latin American Series/Spanish)

Rating:
Summary: Women in Latin American Literature
Review: I have long been a student of the Spanish language, and in my classes time and time again the reading assignments have been all but limited to pieces written by men. Last semester, a group of women at my college undertook an independent study project focusing on short stories written by Latin American women, and we used Voces Femininas as one of our primary texts for the study.

I was very pleased with this book, because it gave a variety of works - poems, short stories, and theatrical pieces. These varied widely in style and content. Further, the authors are not all from the same time period. Perhaps the only common thread is that they are Latin American women authors.

The editor provides historical backgrounds which give some insight into the time frame and life history of the authors, and although these do vary in detail and objectivity, they were useful.

I highly reccomend this book to anyone who is interested in Latin American literature, feminist literature, or both.

Rating:
Summary: Great up-to-date Latin American writing by women
Review: This is a great collection of writing by Latin- American women from Spanish-speaking countries. It includes poetry, theater, and one essay (by well-known Chilean writer Isabel Allende), from the earliest colonial period through the most recent outstanding writers. The best-known, to American readers, are doubtless Allende, Angeles Mastretta, and Cristina Peri Rossi. But you will also discover the great 17th-century Mexican nun, Sor Juana Ines de la Cruz, 19th-cent. Cuban poet Gertrudis Gomez de Avellaneda; modern Chilean Gabriela Mistral, and stories by Maria Luisa Bom bal, Rosario Castellanos, Luisa Valenzuela, Rosario Ferre (known here for "House on the Lagoon " and "Eccentric Neighborhoods"), and two theater pieces, by Argentine Griselda Gambaro and Lucia Quintero. The editor has prefaced each piece with interesting biographical and literary intros for the author, as well as a bibliography of critical works. >This book is a must for general readers who love Latin American writing, and would also be a good selection for an advanced Spanish lit college class. I'm really enjoying it.