Several works emerge on both sides of the gender debate in Spain as well. According to Ornstein, many associate the works Arcipreste de Talavera o Corbacho (1438) by Alfonso Martínez de Toledo and Maldezir de mugeres (1445) by Pere Torrellas with the intensification of the debate in Spain. While several critics designate Corbacho’s author as accountable for the initiation of the debate in Spain, Ornstein asserts that the lack of responses to the work indicate the public was not as concerned about this literary material as with Torrellas’ Maldezir which was the target of many of the defenders of women in Spain (223). While the length of text may have played a role, it is still unlikely Corbacho had the same response as Giovanni Boccaccio's work. An interesting point made …show more content…
Goldberg describes the jocular tales as “perplexing if we choose to consider them as tales aimed at attacking women” (69). Emily Francomano in her introduction to Three Spanish Querelle Texts states “humor abounds in the texts of the Spanish querelle, leading many readers to consider medieval debate texts as part of a courtly game, entertainment without serious cultural importance or consequences” (6). She continues that while the texts may have been a ludic activity, there were certainly more serious issues at stake “each text is in reality grounded in particular ideologies, in the historical, political, and economic circumstances, as well as in the literary trends of its time and place” (6). While Maldezir is the work most critics agree initiated the debate, others followed such as Juan de Tapia’s Glosa- Juan II, Fray Iñigo López de Mendoҫa’s Dictado en vituperio de las malas mujeres y alabanza de las buenas, Hernán Mexía’s Verses, Fernando de Rojas’ La Celestina, and Luis de Lucena’s Repetición de amores
Palmas, at this time, took the task of retelling a traditional religious tale with his own twist, and that twist allowed him to entertain as well as criticize his own material. Criticizing religious folklore with methods of “costumbrismo” was vital in teaching his Latin American audience to be able to find the humor and irony in what they absorb through literature, and that is especially important with religious text. In a time when social and political reform went hand in hand with Latin American writing, Palmas did not just want to entertain with this humorous and enthralling piece, he wanted his audience to learn to be able to challenge religion in literature, and finally and most importantly, within the government in order to form a more liberal, secular
The poet Rosario Castellanos challenges the belief of the patriarchal couple as she writes about the potential of women to be more than just a domestic worker. In her poem “Poesía no eres tú”, she counters the idea of women written in the poem by Bécquer “Rimas”. A woman is more than just physical beauty. A woman is valued by her skills and intellect, characteristics that are often oppressed by men.
Sor Juana de la Cruz is born into a wealthy family in 1648 that lived near Mexico City, Mexico. After being a part of the Viceregal court and a lady in waiting, Cruz begins her spiritual journey and joins the convent. Here, Cruz explores both secular and non-secular studies. She is an exceptionally talented writer with a passion for reading, learning, and writing. She is scolded for the information she writes and is told to focus exclusively on religious dogma. Soon after the Bishop of Pubela reads one of her letters, he publishes it (without her knowing), and she responds with a respectful yet sarcastic letter (Lawall and Chinua 155-156). Cruz’s “Reply to Sor Filotea de la Cruz” was written during the period of Enlightenment of Europe (1660- 1770). This era in Europe casted an opaque shadow over women’s rights to educate themselves and self-expression. Sor Juana’s piece however is both inspirational and empoweri...
Contreras’s writings exhibited issues that were of great concern to women. She explored single parenthood, violence, both physical a psychological against women, lesbianism, and growing old. On the contrary, she used her stories to depict the weakness of men. Her writings included sterility, jealousy, and homosexuality amongst the male sex. Her stories revealed a distinctive concern for emotions and psychological motivation. Emotions such as terror that many women are exposed to in their relations with men are prevalent in her literary works.
Azulejo: Anthology & Guide to the AP Spanish Literature Course (2 ed., ). Wayside Publishing. Cortazar, Julio. “La Noche Boca Arriba.” Literatura.
Looking back into the history of certain events affords the modern researcher the ability to examine a variety of documents and artifacts. It is important, however, to take into account biases, inaccuracies, errors in translation, and overall misinformation when examining primary sources, particularly historical documents. Examining the history of the conquest of the Aztec empire is no different, and in a scenario as tense as it was it is extremely important to consider the authorship of the text. Bernal Diaz’ The Conquest of New Spain and Miguel Leon-Portilla’s The Broken Spears: The Aztec Account of the Conquest of Mexico offer two distinct looks into the same event in history. Both documents offer differing takes of the same events, so when
Vega, Ed “Spanish Roulette” Reading Literature and Writing Argument. Ed. James, Missy and Merickel, Alan P. 5th ed. Boston: Longman, 2013. 417-423. Print.
Socolow starts the book off with a look at the women who would play significant roles in colonial Latin America. She talks about Iberian women and their combined Islamic and Catholic heritage that resulted in contradictory ideals. Women were to be protected, virgins, and cloistered, but were given many rights over property and inheritance their other European contemporaries were not. Before the conquest native women did not hold any authority and were relegated to gender specified tasks and work. Men were seen as more important than women. Native women were used as sexual objects but Spanish soldiers and officials, who did not often marry them. This is ...
Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz lived in New Spain during the 17th century. She became a nun so that she could pursue her intellectual interests and she ended up becoming New Spain’s premier Baroque poet. Her education ended at primary school, but she continued to educate herself through reading. Not only was she an intellectual, but she was a nonconformist. Sor Juana was continually challenging the male dominated society that she was living in. She largely advocated the intellectual rights of women. Sor Juana was well known in New Spain and the first thing that helped her gain a sort of celebrity status was her letter of critique of Father Vieyra. After this letter, she was judged and her superiors wanted her “rebellious spirit” to be brought under control (Cruz ). Sor Juana’s rebellious spirit grew stronger every time she was challenged. For example, when Fernández de Santa Cruz wrote her a letter under a female pseudonym, Sor Juana chose to respond by “reinventing” her feminine side since Santa Cruz was attacking her presence in the male order (Cruz). Her letter, Response to Sor Filotea, represented her lifelong struggle for individual expression and it was in support of secularism. Sor Juana knew that her search for knowledge would bring her glory but it would also be her downfall. Her poems deal with many topics including the “shallowness of social behavior” and the “vulnerability of women to male demands” (Cruz).
This was likely due to the confusion of power that these ladies could have: ‘a reflection of military thinking, which seeks to use women when necessary but yet keeps them marginal in what is essentially a male preserve’ (Salas, 1990). The main two labels for female ‘revolucionarias’ that appear within the Mexican Revolution are: ‘soldadera’ and ‘soldada’. The differences between these indicate the corresponding respect that the labelled female maintained. Therefore, “Camila is the epitome of the benign soldadera: a helpmate and companion to Demetrio. In contrast, Pintada embodies the active and malevolent soldada” (Baker, 2012). These two given labels show how each of these characters and stereotypes were viewed in this period. Camila, is only a helper to the revolution, not taking part in any of the actual activites and just aiding the male. On the other hand, Pintada takes an active role within the fighting, looting and other activities giving her the respect of being a soldier and not just a carer, which previously most females had been. However, often this respect that Pintada carried was not maintained. When many of the Mexican intellectuals revised these texts after the revolution the fighting was romanticised, thus overtime the thought of women involved in the revolution has become heavily idealised. This idea has led to the label of an ‘Adelita’
The use of humor and satire is only effective when the reader identifies with the kernel of truth at the core of the joke. The entertaining story of Periquillo’s misadventures was not just a funny story but also contained a bitter commentary on the state of colonial rule. Serialized publication in the native language allowed for the story to reach the masses and kept the issues in the public eye by spoon feeding weekly accounts that built up public awareness and increased discontent with the status quo. De Lizardi’s unapologetic fictionalized first person account of life in New Spain exposed the corruption, injustice, prejudice and inequities in society caused by the colonial caste system and encouraged public support for a revolution.
Jorge Luis Borges possesses writing styles unlike others of his time. Through his series of works, he has acquired the title of "the greatest living writer in the Spanish language." The particular example of work that I read, titled "Ficciones," was a definite portrayal of his culture. The book was not merely a list of facts from his birth country; instead the real cultural knowledge came from his writing style. The book consisted of two parts; each part was broken up into stories. Each one, despite being fiction, is a painting of his experiences, and the cultures of Buenos Aires. Among his themes are myths passed down through the families in his country. I thought that the stories that were contained in this collection were very educational. When finally taking a minute to analyze, and find deeper meaning to the tales, I discovered that they all posses what he has known in his life. He is easily distinguishable in his works. Now that I have thoroughly made it clear of his uniqueness, it will be easier for me to explain my next opinion. I thought that the writing style of Jorge Luis Borges was extremely exciting. He possesses the ability to capture his readers by fully utilizing the writing style known as irony. I found that irony is a large part of his works. He makes sure that the climax of the particular piece is not revealed until the conclusion of the story. A strong example of this was in a piece entitled "The Garden of Forking Paths." Bo...
The story of Marcela is first encountered second hand through a male character who describes her in the most negative way. In his criticism “Competing Narrative Discourses: (fe)male Fabulation in the Episode of Grisóstomo and Marcela,” John P. Gabriele agrees that Marcela is misinterpreted by the male characters who describe her to Don Quixote (509). The men plea that she is very cruel and “does more harm in this land than the plague” (Cervantes 85). Even though Marcela has asserted her independence and rejected a countless number of men desiring to obtain her love, the men still objectify her by “waiting to see where her haughtiness will end and who will be the fortunate man to conquer so difficult a nature” (Cervantes 85). Referring to her as something to be “conquered” demonstrates how women were respected as nothing more than property and a source of pride. Yvonne Jehenson describes Marcela’s situation as “a male fantasy, a microcosmic image of man’s gender-inflected wish fulfillment” (Gabriele 510). This explains why the men have so much built up frustration towards Marcela for being the complete opposite of their
Miguel de Cervantes' greatest literary work, Don Quixote, maintains an enduring, if somewhat stereotypical image in the popular culture: the tale of the obsessed knight and his clownish squire who embark on a faith-driven, adventure-seeking quest. However, although this simple premise has survived since the novel's inception, and spawned such universally known concepts or images as quixotic idealism and charging headlong at a group of "giants" which are actually windmills, Cervantes' motivation for writing Don Quixote remains an untold story. Looking at late fifteenth- and early sixteenth-century Spain from the viewpoint of a Renaissance man, Cervantes came to dislike many aspects of the age in which he lived, and decided to satirize what he saw as its failings; however, throughout the writing of what would become his most famous work, Cervantes was torn by a philosophical conflict which pervaded the Renaissance and its intellectuals--the clash of faith and reason.
Anti-female discourse was ‘widely available’ to Renaissance readers, as inheritors of ‘medieval misogyny’ (Wayne 155), evident in, for example, Jankyn’s ‘boke of wikked wives’ from Chaucer’s The Wife of Bath’s Prologue (144.685). Likewise, Le Jaloux’s tirades against women, popularised by Jean de Meun’s part of The Romance of the Rose (Wayne 155), were particularly damning of “the weaker