Fashioning Feminism in Cuba and Beyond: The Prose of Gertrudis Gaomez De Avellaneda

Though open public discussion of the oppression of women was precluded by the nature of Hispanic societies during the nineteenth century, some Hispanic women - among them the Cuban writer Gertrudis Gomez de Avellaneda - subtly sought to promote ideas of emancipation. Focusing upon her autobiographical letters and a selection of her novels, and drawing on contemporary psychoanalytical feminist theory, this book traces the evolution of Avellaneda’s feminism, showing how she developed a series of narrative techniques and stylistic resources to explore male and female self-representation, and subvert the existing textual tradition. Fashioning Feminism in Cuba and Beyond establishes Avellaneda at the forefront of both Cuban and Hispanic nineteenth-century literature and feminist thought.