Letras Femeninas: Numero especial sobre Luisa Valenzuela.
Case, Thomas E.
Juanamaria Cordones-Cook, ed. Madison. Asociacion de Literatura
Femenina Hispanica. 2001. 256 pages. ISSN 0277-4356
THE COLLECTION OF STUDIES in volume 27, number 1 (spring 2000) of
Letras Femeninas, the official publication of the Association of
Hispanic Feminine Literature, consists principally of papers read at the
symposium of Spanish American Women Writers at the University of
Missouri-Columbia in 1998. It brings together an introduction by the
guest editor, poems by the Argentine Luisa Valenzuela and her brief
statement regarding her writing career, ten scholarly interpretations of
her works, two bibliographical notes, and an interview.
The heart of the volume is the ten focused, well-documented studies
of Valenzuela's craft, mainly of short stories (Cambio de armas,
1982; Simetrias, 1993) and novels (Cola de lagartija, 1983; Realidad
nacional desde la cama, 1990; Novela negra con argentinos, 1991), by
respected specialists in contemporary Spanish American women writers
(see also WLT 69:4, pp. 668-756). Much of the focus is Valenzuela's
stand against the traditional male domination in Western and Argentine
culture, with special protest against the atrocities of the 1976-1983
military rule in Argentina, the "Dirty War." The first two
studies, by Diane E. Marting and Willy O. Mufioz, lead the way in their
deconstruction of "Escaleran" and "Cuarta version,"
stories that employ techniques which allow women to create their own
identities against male dominance. Marta Ines Lagos also explores the
metafictional role of the narrator in "Cuarta version." Sandra
Messinger and Gwendolyn Dias both analyze how Valenzuela achieves a
feminist rewriting of the fairy tale in her "Cuentos de hades"
(from Simetrias), whereas Sharon Magnarelli examines the daughter-mother
relationship in "Cuchillo y madre." Z. Nelly Martinez delves
even further into the male-dominated aspects of the fairy tale to reveal
Valenzuela turning the tables on tradition through new versions
involving the rebellious woman. Juanamaria Cordones-Cook treats the
historiographic aspects of Cola de lagartija, showing how the
distinction between fiction and history, the sacred and the profane, are
worn away during the repression of the "Dirty War." The short
novel Realidad nacional desde la cama, perhaps partly autobiographical,
is the subject of Helene M. Anderson's study. Ksenija Bilbija
examines metaphor and metafiction in Novela negra con argentinos, also
based on the Dirty War." Guillermo Saavedra and Alicia Dujovne
Ortiz add complimentary remarks on the appearance in 1999 of
Valenzuela's Cuentos completos y uno mas. A final piece is the
chatty, informative August 2002 interview of Valenzuela by Bilbija, in
which two itinerant women intellectuals exchange views on life and
literature.
These are carefully edited, well documented critical studies on one
of the foremost women writers of our time that address essential
feminist issues. They overlap in their coverage--yet only deal with a
fraction of Valenzuela's remarkable production--and tend to be
somewhat pedagogical, but they remain compelling contributions to
understanding Valenzuela's works and feminine literature in
general. A delightful addition is Valenzuela's poems, which round
out another aspect of this exceptional writer.
Thomas E. Case
San Diego State University
