Not available / text

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Texas at Austin, 1999. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 233-260). Available also in a digital version from Dissertation Abstracts.

No description available.

Thesis (M.A.) -- Central Connecticut State University, 2009. / Thesis advisor: Antonio García-Lozada. "... in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in Spanish Language and Hispanic Cultures." Includes bibliographical references (leaves 191-201). Abstract available via the World Wide Web.

En la medida en que la representación conlleva semánticamente la idea de adoptar un rol para hacer presente y dar voz a un personaje, la teoría literaria ha utilizado con frecuencia el concepto para referirse a la forma en que un escritor recurre a unos determinados roles a fin de distanciarse de su propio ser. Como sabemos, el término persona, etimológicamente, se refiere a: "máscara de actor", "personaje teatral" y "personalidad, persona". Por lo tanto, si ser persona es también adoptar una máscara para hacer presente y darle voz a la propia personalidad, ¿no podríamos aplicar también ese concepto a la forma en que los poetas adoptan, en el poema, unos papeles particulares para obtener visibilidad y ser escuchados? A mi me interesaba detenerme en la forma en que una mujer determinada construye un yo poético: cómo teje su representación literaria estableciendo una dialéctica entre el propio ser y la imagen que proyecta. Alejandra Pizarnik aludió en "Solo un nombre", al problema aquí planteado: "alejandra alejandra / debajo estoy yo / alejandra". Pizarnik parece aceptar el desdoblamiento entre el ser y el personaje, al hablarnos de Alejandra, debajo de la cual está yo, también Alejandra. Así, el nombre es la máscara de identidad (personaje, verdad literaria) y yo es intimidad (verdad subjetiva). Pero, ¿de qué forma ese yo ha creado, construido, un personaje poético que lo represente (hable de sí y de su espacio vivencial) en el contexto del poema configurado como escenario?, y ¿cómo es ese personaje poético?El propósito principal de esta tesis ha sido la indagación biográfica y el examen de textos autobiográficos en estrecha relación con las obras poéticas de cuatro autoras hispanoamericanas: María Eugenia Vaz Ferreira, Delmira Agustini, Alfonsina Storni y Julia de Burgos. A lo largo de la investigación de dicho proceso dialéctico (entre el propio ser y su representación) intervinieron múltiples factores, la mayoría enraizados en un imaginario que precede a estas autoras, es decir, heredado, que ellas adoptan, pero también matizan, invierten, subvierten o del que ironizan abiertamente: mitos, arquetipos, imágenes, figuras femeninas creadas por el imaginario tradicional. Pero más que desentrañar los roles conocidos a los que ellas acuden para definir su identidad, mi propósito era examinar sus capacidades de aventurar roles hasta entonces inéditos, contribuyendo decisivamente a la gestación de un nuevo imaginario de lo femenino, uno en pugna con el imaginario convencional reservado a las mujeres. Estas autoras representan un fiel testimonio de una época especialmente restrictiva con las mujeres y estrechamente relacionada a aquella "maquinaría simbólica", como la llama Pierre Bourdieu, que ha predeterminado lo femenino, algo también violento a un nivel psicológico y emocional, ya que muchos de esos símbolos/arquetipos/mitos/modelos femeninos patriarcales no son precisamente positivos: la identidad femenina ha estado adherida a un sinnúmero de imágenes especulares estrechamente dependientes de ideologías en la mayoría de las veces misóginas. Por lo tanto, me comprometí a estudiar a estas cuatro poetas considerándolas sobre todo como sujetos culturales, sujetos que sufren un confinamiento dentro de esa "maquinaria simbólica", situación que las lleva a reinventarse como sujetos en su poesía. / How does a poet represent herself in the context of a poem at a certain moment of her life, and why? What metamorphosis does the lyrical self goes through as she makes her poetic journey? Certain authors use traditional archetypes that typically belong to the masculine imagination, especially those poets writing at the beginning of the 20th century. Some express their desires and needs by tinging those archetypes with a new gaze; others by rejecting those archetypes and constructing new ways to represent themselves, therefore subverting tradition. According to various theories, the number of selves a subject can adopt is directly proportional to the number of contexts -predictable and unpredictable- he or she moves in: every space and circumstance implies a new or different record of the self. Therefore, the possibilities can be extensive and diverse. The question is: where does identity reside if the possible ways to be are unlimited? Some authors propose that it lives in each one's memory. With this in mind, I have studied the poetic works of four Spanish American poets: María Eugenia Vaz Ferreira, Delmira Agustini, Alfonsina Storni and Julia de Burgos. I have used autobiographical writings to examine their vital and cultural contexts and how those have influenced their construction of selves in the context of the poem. In other words, I have concentrated on identifying the different ways these poets are in the poem (who they are and how they fantasize, hate, love, desire, fight), and why they have adopted or subverted a certain myth, a cultural or historical reference, etc., to express themselves. Specific bibliography has helped me to embark on an extensive journey through traditional feminine archetypes, especially those that have dominated Western imaginarium. This way, I have been able to study the way these authors have created new proposals of the Feminine and also how these relate to the traditional Masculine.

Countess Urraca Lope de Haro was the daughter of the noble Lord Diego Lope de Haro, friend and advisor to King Alfonso VIII of Castilla-León and granddaughter of Lord Lope Díaz de Haro and Lady Aldonza Ruiz de Castro, aristocratic courtiers as well as popular monastic patrons. As a young and wealthy widow, Countess Urraca took monastic vows at the Cistercian nunnery of Santa María de Cañas founded by her grandparents. Within a short time of uniting herself to this monastery, she was chosen as its fourth abbess in 1225, a position she held for thirty-seven years until her death in 1262. Following the tradition of monastic patronage established by her noble family members, Countess Urraca expanded the monastery's small real estate holdings, oversaw extensive building projects to create permanent structures for the nunnery, and patronized artistic projects including statuettes of the Virgin Mary and St. Peter in addition to her own decorative stone sarcophagus during her term as abbess. This thesis examines the artistic decoration and architectural patronage of this powerful woman and the influences she incorporated into the monastic structures at Cañas as she oversaw their construction. In dating the original buildings of the monastery at Cañas to the period of Countess Urraca's leadership, the predominant architectural features and decorative details of female Cistercian foundations in northern Spain are discussed. Comparisons with additional thirteenth-century Cistercian monasteries from the same region in northern Spain are offered to demonstrate the artistic connections with the structures Countess Urraca patronized. In addition, this thesis examines Countess Urraca's obvious devotion to the Virgin Mary and St. Peter by considering the medieval monastic world in which she lived and the strong emphasis the Cistercian Order placed on such worship practices. The potent spiritual connections Countess Urraca made by commissioning images of essential, holy intercessors testifies to her devotion to them and the powerful salvatory role she herself played in the lives of the nuns for whom she was responsible. As a nun and abbess, Countess Urraca was urged to emulate Mary's mothering, nurturing qualities, and, as she did so was simultaneously empowered by the Virgin's heavenly authority as administrator of mercy. Indeed, through studying her art it is clear that she saw herself as an intercessor on behalf of the nuns for whom she was responsible. Furthermore, discussion of the imagery displayed on Countess Urraca's decorative stone sarcophagus demonstrates not only a similar message of salvation through intercessors such as Peter and Mary, but also testifies of Abbess Urraca's aristocratic lineage. Through this artistic commission, the Abbess creates another direct, personal link between herself and the Virgin by including the symbol of the rosary throughout the iconography of her tomb. Such a symbol represents her devotion to Mary as Queen of Heaven and simultaneously empowers Countess Urraca as an intercessor herself. All of these architectural and artistic commissions confirm that she was a powerful woman who wielded a great deal of influence.