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This thesis examines the flowering of women's poetry in twentieth-century Spanish American “postmodernismo.” Filling a void in the study of the female lyric, I attempt to determine the unique position and particular aesthetics adopted by women poets in this period, with special attention to the expression of feminine sexuality and eroticism, as well as to the emergence of women's subjectivity. Both topics have been ignored until now—doubt because of the historical relegation of women to a position of silence on the assumption that these were topics appropriate only for men.
I analyze the creative process of three women poets: the Uruguayans Delmira Agustini and Juana de Ibarbourou, as well as the Argentine Alfonsina Storni, all of whom gain their own voice through their poetic discourse. Unlike many women, they did not shy away in their poetry from such forbidden topics such as eroticism or seduction. Instead, they challenged early twentieth-century patriarchal culture in Latin American by entering into the prohibited field of poetic discourse and using it as a way to gain discursive power.
My dissertation places the three women poets in their historical contexts by examining their role and place within the “postmodernista” movement. I focus on: (1) the evolution of women's poetry from the beginning of “postmodernismo” to the present; (2) the new poetic direction adopted by the three women; (3) the role they play in the later development of Spanish American poetry; and (4) their new vision of love, sexuality, and eroticism as expressed through innovative metaphors and images.
In the introduction I discuss relevant backgrounds and explore the concepts of feminine discourse, power, the poetic representation of the body and language, and the erotic gaze. Chapter two considers Delmira Agustini's dynamic treatment of eroticism. Chapter three examines Juana de Ibarbourou's sublimated eroticism. Chapter four analyzes eroticism and the depiction of dichotomous male images in Alfonsina Storni's poetry. I close with an overview of how language and eroticism are intertwined in these writers' poetry, thereby privileging erotic energy as a pillar for a new feminine subject.