In
Rewriting Womanhood
, Nancy LaGreca explores the subversive refigurings of womanhood in three novels by women writers:
La hija del bandido
(1887) by Refugio Barragán de Toscano (Mexico; 1846–1916),
Blanca Sol
(1888) by Mercedes Cabello de Carbonera (Peru; 1845–1909), and
Luz y sombra
(1903) by Ana Roqué (Puerto Rico; 1853–1933). While these women were both acclaimed and critiqued in their day, they have been largely overlooked by contemporary mainstream criticism. Detailed enough for experts yet accessible to undergraduates, graduate students, and the general reader,
provides ample historical context for understanding the key women’s issues of nineteenth-century Mexico, Peru, and Puerto Rico; clear definitions of the psychoanalytic theories used to unearth the rewriting of the female self; and in-depth literary analyses of the feminine agency that Barragán, Cabello, and Roqué highlight in their fiction.
reaffirms the value of three women novelists who wished to broaden the ruling-class definition of
woman as mother and wife
to include
woman as individual
for a modern era. As such, it is an important contribution to women’s studies, nineteenth-century Hispanic studies, and sexuality and gender studies.