Doctoral Dissertations

Date of Award

12-1995

Degree Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy

Major

Spanish

Major Professor

Michael Handelsman

Committee Members

Carl Cobb, Cynthia Duncan, Yulan Washburn, Martha Lee Osborne

Abstract

This dissertation offers a broad study of the narrative of the Costarrican writer Rima de Valbona. In order to give an appropriate historical overview of her work, the first part of the study focuses on four importante women writers who served as precursors for Rima de Valbona. These writers are Carmen Lyra and Yolanda Oreamuno in the first part of the twentieth century and Julieta Pinto and Carmen Naranjo in the second part of the century. This section includes an analysis of their work, the obstacles that they have overcome, and the acknowledgement of their work which has influenced Valbona's narrative. The second part of the dissertation is devoted entirely to Rima de Valbona and her narrative. This section offers biographical information and a critical aprpraisal of her work. As an important step toward the understanding of the femenine characters in her narrative, key ideas from Feminist Literary Criticism have been adopted. These critical concepts help to understand the society in which the characters are portrayed. To conclude the study, the narrative techniques used in Valbona's novels and short stories are also analysed. After examining her style, it becomes evident that Valbona uses the most modern narrative techniques and should be considered among the most prominent women writers in Latin America. Her characters are portrayed in a traditional society where male domination is all too clear. As a result her female characters suffer the humiliation typpical of patriarchal societies. Nevertheless, compared to traditional female characters, Valbona's women search for a way to find their freedom and self fulfillment. In addition to the analysis of women in a patriarcal society, Valbona offers a wide variety of themes such as racial discrimination, incest, homosexuality, abortion, political repression, the fantastic and magic realism. Valbona's mastery of modern narrative techniques, her literature of protest in favor of women rights, and the wide variety of themes she deals with, place her among some of Latin American most important contemporary writers be they male or female.

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