My dissertation Woman, Nation and Identity in the Narrative of Juana Manuela Gorriti and Clorinda Matto de Turner follows the construction of female identity in the emergent Latin American imaginary, and uses the regional zeitgeist as a framework for the analysis of the works of Juana Manuela Gorriti (Argentina, 1819 - 1892) and Clorinda Matto de Turner (Peru, 1852 - 1909), the latter known as the author of the first widely-read novel about indigenous issues in Latin America. I intend to shed light on the parallels between the turbulent intellectual lives of these two authors, the uncommon voice conferred upon them as members of a privileged upper class, and their active involvement in national politics. My work on these authors and their texts, some of them understudied, focus on the concept of gender in relation to the national project in the violent post-independence era to understand the development of identity in Latin America. I elaborate on these topics by analyzing the feminine subject, the domestic space, and the national imaginary and exploring their textual articulations to demonstrate their relevance in the emergent nations. It is impossible to read these novels without noticing the contradictions between gender performance and the actions of the female characters. The reading of this counter discourse reveals the process by which the agency of the feminine subject subverts the symbolic order and changes the national imaginary. I trace the transfer of power from the male in the public sphere to the female in the private sphere, as well as the role of women in the national project as portrayed in these works. This analysis intends to demonstrate how opening up the private spaces serves to better illustrate, or illustrate in a detailed way, national actuality in opposition to written authorized History. / text
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:UTEXAS/oai:repositories.lib.utexas.edu:2152/ETD-UT-2011-12-4823 |
| Date | 07 February 2012 |
| Creators | Del Aguila, Rocío Carreno |
| Source Sets | University of Texas |
| Language | Spanish |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | thesis |
| Format | application/pdf |
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