Prefeminismo azul: La poetica modernista de Maria Enriqueta Camarillo

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2015-08

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Abstract

The canon of Spanish American modernism rarely includes voices of female poets. Lack of female representation in the literary canon gives the false impression that women were not writing in that literary period (1888-1920) in Latin America. Female poets of that period are frequently omitted, silenced and forgotten by literary critics, historians and the literary canon in general. I propose to identify Mexican poet María Enriqueta Camarillo y Roa de Pereyra (María Enriqueta Camarillo) as the first major woman poet of the Spanish Modernism in Latin America at the end of the 19th century. I argue that the type of language effects that she uses (rhythm, tone, metaphors, images, colors, symbols, melody) in her poetry is part of the modernism movement led by Rubén Darío. Julián Perez in his book La Poética de Rubén Darío: crisis post-romántica y modelos literarios modernistas is the theoretical frame work used. My findings, based on newly recovered historical documents, contradict the commonly believed idea that there was no major woman poet modernist contemporary to Rubén Darío during the last decade of the 19th century publishing her poetry alongside her male counterparts. I also argue that, through hidden metaphors and symbols, Camarillo is creating poetry to challenge patriarchal beliefs that marginalize women’s freedoms and aspirations as understood by John C. Wilcox in his book Women poets of Spain, 1860-1990: Towards a Gynocentric Vision de John C. Wilcox, used to interpret feminist and feminine symbols and methaphors.

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Keywords

Women Writers, Hispanic/Latina Writers, Spanish Modernismo, Latin American Literature 19th Century, Women Poets, Modernist Poetry, Feminism

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