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This study by Cristina Ferreira-Pinto explores the poetic and
narrative strategies twentieth-century Brazilian women writers
use to achieve new forms of representation of the female
body,
sexuality, and desire. Female writers discussed include: Gilka
Machado, Lygia Fagundes Telles, Márcia Denser, and
Marina Colasanti. While creating new forms, these writers
are also
deconstructing cultural myths of femininity and female behavior.
In order to understand these myths, the book also presents
new
readings of some male-authored canonical novels by José
de Alencar, Machado de Assis, Manuel Antônio de Almeida,
and Aluísio Azevedo.
The specific focus on female sexuality and desire acknowledges the intrinsic
link between sexuality and an individual’s sense of identity, and
its importance for female identity, given the historical repression of
women’s bodies and the double standard of morality still pervasive
in many Western cultures.
In the discussion of the strategies Brazilian female poets and fiction
writers employ, Ferreira-Pinto addresses some social and cultural issues
that relate to a woman’s sense of her own body and sexuality: the
characterization of women based on racial features and class hierarchy;
marriage; motherhood; the silencing of the lesbian subject; and aging.
Ferreira-Pinto’s analysis is informed by the works of various and
diverse critics and theoreticians, among them Hélène Cixous,
Teresa De Lauretis, Adrienne Rich, Gloria Anzaldúa, Georges Bataille,
and Wilhelm Reich.
"Ferreira-Pinto often establishes bridges and connections
between the texts discussed, always questioning the dominant
male discourse. She combines careful research with new interpretative
approaches, drawing on the work of well-established literary
critics and adding new perspectives."—María
José Somerlate Barbosa, University of Iowa
"Gender, Discourse, and Desire ... deals
with multifaceted issues in connection with female eroticism
and sexual life and examines how these issues have found
expression in women-authored Brazilian literature. It also
examines ties between constructions of sexuality, socio-ethnic
dynamics and national identity. This book is both a valuable
study and a stimulating invitation for further research
on a number of demanding areas of inquiry."—Manuela
Cook, Lusotopie
For the full text, see Lusotopie 13.1 (2006):
194-96.
"Cristina Ferreira-Piinto has produced an incisive
book on twentieth-century Brazilian women's literature.
Her highly detailed account is a worthy contribution to
critical revisionism in this field." —Maria Figueredo,
Hispania
For the full review, see Hispania 89.3 (Sept.
2006): 530-31.
"At a time when power relations are so intricately
connected to discussions of national character and sexuality
has guaranteed its proper place in our understanding of
human identity, this nice volume is certainly more than
welcome. Although literature is Ferreira-Pinto's main interest,
cultural anthropologists and students of psychology, among
others, will find her work illuminating." —Antonio
Luciano de Andrade Tosta, Brasil/Brazil
For the full review, see Brasil/Brazil (July 2007):
108-10.
"… carefully researched and engaging study …
the author demonstrates how a new language of feminine eroticism
has emerged, but also highlights some of the pitfalls inherent
in this process. … This study will be of interest
to anyone concerned with gender studies and the literary
and cultural construction of female identity in twentieth-century
Brazil. Considering the diverse selection of twentieth-century
women writers in her analysis, it also serves as a useful
introduction to contemporary Brazilian women's poetry and
fiction writing and to the critical literture available
on it." —Charlotte Liddell, Bulletin of Hispanic
Studies
For the full review, see Bulletin of Hispanic Studies
84 (2007): 538-39.
For more reviews of this book, see
Choice 42.6 (Feb. 2005): 1025-26 (K. D. Jackson)
Cristina Ferreira-Pinto, Texas State University–San Marcos,
was born and raised in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. She holds a PhD in Brazilian
and Spanish American literatures from Tulane University. Her major fields
of research are Brazilian literature and feminist theory, and she has
published numerous essays in academic journals in Brazil, the United States,
and Spain.
1-55753-352-0
2004. Vol. 29. xiv, 208 pp. Paper $32.95
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