Constructing the Self Through Otherness in the Works of Gioconda Belli, Daisy Zamora, Michele Najlis, Vidaluz Meneses and Rosario Murillo
Jaeger, Frances Betty
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https://hdl.handle.net/2142/86178
Description
Title
Constructing the Self Through Otherness in the Works of Gioconda Belli, Daisy Zamora, Michele Najlis, Vidaluz Meneses and Rosario Murillo
Author(s)
Jaeger, Frances Betty
Issue Date
1997
Doctoral Committee Chair(s)
Schulman, Ivan A.
Department of Study
Spanish
Discipline
Spanish
Degree Granting Institution
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Degree Name
Ph.D.
Degree Level
Dissertation
Keyword(s)
Women's Studies
Language
eng
Abstract
When Gioconda Belli, Daisy Zamora, Michele Najlis, Vidaluz Meneses and Rosario Murillo began writing poetry in the seventies, they embarked on a quest to establish a new feminine identity free from the constraints imposed by traditional Nicaraguan society. This journey of self-definition as women would lead them to participate actively in the Sandinista Revolution and the subsequent construction of a new society. However, this search is not an easy one since they must face the difficulty of defining themselves in the face of an already established identity based on patriarchal models of feminine perfection. Moreover, as they continued to express their needs to break free from these molds, they became more and more aware of the role that language plays to sustain these pre-established identities created by a patriarchal society. In short, the poetry of these five writers undergoes a process of coming to terms with the condition of Otherness they experience in order to begin to create a new identity from themselves and a language with which to express that identity. These realizations lead each of them to explore the issues of identity, gender, class and race, and to affirm the need to establish a space to grow and be free.
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