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My two cents on women in contemporary literature in Spanish?
I'm noticing a trend, as of lately. I'm not sure if it's because I've been mainly reading classics in English and contemporary literature in Spanish as of lately, but... women are sometimes better written by Spanish-speaking authors than by their English counterpart. I am not generalizing, okay? I can't say this ALWAYS happens, because it doesn't. But. In pretty much all of the books in Spanish I've been reading for the last, what, year and a half? Women are, if not the main characters, the main drive of the story, what makes it tick. It's not always good women, or even smart or compassionate or kick ass women, but mainly, strong, real human beings.
I have the feeling this has a lot to do with upbringing. Women are a weird dichotomy for men, here in Latin America. There's few places where there's more machismo than in here, and yet, we worship the Virgin Mary and assorted female saints more than we do God, and the worst insult possible is 'puta madre' or 'chinga tu madre' (according to locality) - you do not mess with the women in someone else's life, that's something you learn from birth, which is both degrading and uplifting and so very confusing, much like this place. That's why I've never really gotten the 'and your mother' jokes in the US - it IS serious business in here.
A year ago, an Italian singer bitched about how Mexican women were ugly and had moustaches (lol). There was an OUTRAGE. Women mostly snickered, but men? Men started demanding the dude would never again step on Mexican soil. There's a certain fascination with all things female in here, that steems from the total worshipping we have of mothers in here.
So I guess... it reflects in literature? I dunno. Again, it might just be a contemporary vs. classic thing, which is why I usually don't like classics. I mean, I read somewhere that Wuthering Heights had brought feminism to life 200 hundred years early and that there was no 16 year old girl that could resist Heathcliff, which made me see red. And then want to cry for the women that would let themselves be dragged around like all the females in WH were.
I'm not saying that this portrayal is exactly feminist, either. I just finished reading Boquitas Pintadas by Manuel Puig, which is basically about a group of women whose lives revolve around Juan Carlos, who loves no one but himself. It's set in the 30s, and all of these women are miserable and are trapped in loveless marriages and social expectances and the never ending routine and yet, they never stop walking with their head held high. It's a painful portrait of women when they don't have nothing to expect but a good marriage and a house to keep because society won't let them be anything else, and how they still make do of what they have, manage to achieve some happiness. It is a wonderful book, by the way, innovatively told.
And I'm reading La Novia Oscura by Laura Restrepo right now, which is about whores, and yet all of these girls are so outstanding and brave and strong in the own ways, especially with all they have to go through with. Like I said - good or bad or vain, etc, all of these characters are written so... lovingly, in a way.
Mmm, I'm not sure I'm explaining myself all that well. SO ANYWAY. Rec me good books in English that feature that feature women so wonderful it hurts? Because I know they're out there, but I sure haven't been reading them as of lately. Woe.
I have the feeling this has a lot to do with upbringing. Women are a weird dichotomy for men, here in Latin America. There's few places where there's more machismo than in here, and yet, we worship the Virgin Mary and assorted female saints more than we do God, and the worst insult possible is 'puta madre' or 'chinga tu madre' (according to locality) - you do not mess with the women in someone else's life, that's something you learn from birth, which is both degrading and uplifting and so very confusing, much like this place. That's why I've never really gotten the 'and your mother' jokes in the US - it IS serious business in here.
A year ago, an Italian singer bitched about how Mexican women were ugly and had moustaches (lol). There was an OUTRAGE. Women mostly snickered, but men? Men started demanding the dude would never again step on Mexican soil. There's a certain fascination with all things female in here, that steems from the total worshipping we have of mothers in here.
So I guess... it reflects in literature? I dunno. Again, it might just be a contemporary vs. classic thing, which is why I usually don't like classics. I mean, I read somewhere that Wuthering Heights had brought feminism to life 200 hundred years early and that there was no 16 year old girl that could resist Heathcliff, which made me see red. And then want to cry for the women that would let themselves be dragged around like all the females in WH were.
I'm not saying that this portrayal is exactly feminist, either. I just finished reading Boquitas Pintadas by Manuel Puig, which is basically about a group of women whose lives revolve around Juan Carlos, who loves no one but himself. It's set in the 30s, and all of these women are miserable and are trapped in loveless marriages and social expectances and the never ending routine and yet, they never stop walking with their head held high. It's a painful portrait of women when they don't have nothing to expect but a good marriage and a house to keep because society won't let them be anything else, and how they still make do of what they have, manage to achieve some happiness. It is a wonderful book, by the way, innovatively told.
And I'm reading La Novia Oscura by Laura Restrepo right now, which is about whores, and yet all of these girls are so outstanding and brave and strong in the own ways, especially with all they have to go through with. Like I said - good or bad or vain, etc, all of these characters are written so... lovingly, in a way.
Mmm, I'm not sure I'm explaining myself all that well. SO ANYWAY. Rec me good books in English that feature that feature women so wonderful it hurts? Because I know they're out there, but I sure haven't been reading them as of lately. Woe.
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The Little Friend by Donna Tartt. Main character is a young girl, but she comes across a PERSON.
The Last Samurai by Helen DeWitt. About an unusual mother and her relationship with her young son.
Possession by A.S. Byatt. Oh dear god, I love this book but more importantly I love the women in this book.
Anything by Margaret Atwood, although OUCH!. Octavia Butler's Dawn
no subject
And the Attwood rec? Definitively seconded. The woman is incredible.