Madwomen: The Locas Mujeres Poems of Gabriela Mistral, a Bilingual Edition (Hardcover) (ISBN-13: 9780226531908)

A stunning collection of poems in translation by a groundbreaking Chilean woman

A schoolteacher whose poetry catapulted her to early fame in her native Chile and an international diplomat whose boundary-defying sexuality still challenges scholars, Gabriela Mistral (1889-1957) is one of the most important and enigmatic figures in Latin American literature of the last century. The Locas mujeres poems collected here are among Mistral's most complex and compelling, exploring facets of the self in extremis--poems marked by the wound of blazing catastrophe and its aftermath of mourning.
From disquieting humor to balladlike lyricism to folkloric wisdom, these pieces enact a tragic sense of life, depicting "madwomen" who are anything but mad. Strong and intensely human, Mistral's poetic women confront impossible situations to which no sane response exists. This groundbreaking collection presents poems from Mistral's final published volume as well as new editions of posthumous work, featuring the first English-language appearance of many essential poems. Madwomen promises to reveal a profound poet to a new generation of Anglophone readers while reacquainting Spanish readers with a stranger, more complicated "madwoman" than most have ever known.

Author: Gabriela Mistral
ISBN-10: 0226531902
ISBN-13: 9780226531908
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
Language: English
Published: 04/15/2008
Pages: 160
Format: Hardcover
Weight: 0.79lbs
Size: 8.70h x 5.88w x 0.77d

Review Citation(s):
Chronicle of Higher Education 07/25/2008 pg. 17