Latin American Women and the Literature of Madness

Elvira Sánchez-Blake is an associate professor of Latin American literature and culture at Michigan State University. Her publications include books, short stories, theatrical plays and poetry. She lives in Florida. Laura Kanost is an associate professor of Spanish at Kansas State University. Her studies on constructions of gender and disability in Latin American literature have appeared in various journals, including Hispanic Review and Frontiers. She is the editor of the open access journal Studies in Twentieth and Twenty-First Century Literature. She lives in Manhattan, Kansas.

• Table of ContentsAcknowledgmentsPrefaceIntroductionOne.A Dialogical Journey: Cristina Peri Rossi’s La nave de los locos (Elvira Sánchez-Blake)Two.Homesickness: Lya Luft’s Exílio (Laura Kanost)Three.Dissonance on Display: Diamela Eltit and Paz Errázuriz’s El infarto del alma (Laura Kanost)Four.See the World Through My Lens: Cristina Rivera Garza’s Nadie me verá llorar (Elvira Sánchez-Blake)Five.A Poetics of Madness: Laura Restrepo’s Delirio (Elvira Sánchez-Blake)Six.Literary Agency: Irene Vilar’s ­Life-Writing (Laura Kanost)ConclusionsChapter NotesBibliographyIndex

“valuable...essential academic resource”—Hispania; “in-depth study...impressive exploration of contemporary literary representations of madness in Latin American narratives...essential”—Letras Femininas; “an important contribution to the field of Latin American literary and women’s studies. The most outstanding contribution of this book is thorough and clear review of theoretical and critical texts regarding madness...of the utmost importance.”—Tulsa Studies in Women's Literature.