About Latin American Woman Writers

Subject
With 100,000 pages of prose, poetry, and essays, and 300 plays, Latin American Women Writers accomplishes the difficult task of bringing together the most important writers from 19 countries, as well as the works of the principal feminists, in one single collection.

The project begins with the autobiographical writing of nuns who, like their 17th-century European counterparts, wrote accounts of their spiritual journeys. Representative are the works of the Mexican mestiza Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz, a sister in the Convent in the Order of St. Jerome, a prolific writer of plays, poetry, and other meditative texts.

As the collection moves through 18th-century works into the 19th century, researchers will see how women writers incrementally gained access to the writing world outside of religious contexts. Initially, they wrote under pseudonyms or anonymously, but from this position they were able to start the critique of their own status within heavily patriarchal societies. Targeted for inclusion from this period are works by Clorinda Matto de Turner (Peru), Juana M. Gorriti (Argentina), Gertrudis Gomez de Avellaneda (Cuba), Delmira Agustini (Argentina), and Julia Lopes Almeida (Brazil), among others. A number of important figures from the early 20th century are also targeted for inclusion, such as Alfonsina Storni (Argentina), Juana de Ibarbourou (Uruguay), Gabriela Mistral (Chile), and Clarice Lispector (Brazil).

During the second half of the 20th century, the production and publication of women’s writing proliferated in Latin America. The database aims to include the works of authors such as Rosario Castellanos (Mexico), Elena Poniatowska (Mexico), Victoria Ocampo (Argentina), Griselda Gambaro (Argentina), Luisa Valenzuela (Argentina), Isabel Allende (Chile), and Cristina Peri Rossi (Uruguay).

Sources
Copyright materials from publishers, estates, archives, and the individual authors. There are 19,500 pages of prose and poetry in this release, as well as 36 plays.

Coverage
Beginning with the colonial period and moving through to the present.

Provider
Alexander Street Press

Help
Online help available after log on.

Access
NSU faculty, students and staff:  On campus and remote access.
Registered Broward patrons: On campus and remote access.
General Public: Walk in access within the library.

Close this window.

Created: 1/9/2008.