Skip to main content Accessibility help
×
Hostname: page-component-848d4c4894-pjpqr Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-06-25T02:51:19.428Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Chapter 12 - Femininity in Flux: Gabriela Mistral’s Madwomen

from Part III - Solidarity

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  24 January 2023

Amanda Holmes
Affiliation:
McGill University, Montréal
Par Kumaraswami
Affiliation:
University of Reading
Get access

Summary

The perception of Gabriela Mistral and her poetry has transformed over the years: the image of Mistral as the traditionalist and conservative poet, fostered by the Pinochet dictatorship, has been replaced by that of a strong independent voice who, in part, stands for the liberation from society’s gender prescriptions. This chapter focuses on the series of poetry, Locas mujeres (Madwomen), published in Lagar (Winepress, 1954), to demonstrate how this new perception of Mistral holds true in her representation of women in these poems. In line with Mistral’s earlier poetry that underscores women’s voices that have typically not been heard, such as those of the pregnant women of Poemas de las madres (The Mothers’ Poems), the women from this series, designated “insane” by the title, and society, expose their true selves. This chapter first places this whole series in the context of Mistral’s poetry, and finally focuses on two poems, “La bailarina” (“The Dancer”) and “La que camina” (“She Who Walks”), to demonstrate their particular expressions of women’s liberty.

Type
Chapter
Information
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2022

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure coreplatform@cambridge.org is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

Available formats
×