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Setting La diabla Free

Women, Violence, and the Struggle for Representation in Postwar El Salvador

Central American literature and Latina/o literatures in the Department of Spanish and Portuguese at the University of Kansas

An analysis of the literary representations of women and violence in three postwar Salvadoran narratives sheds light on El Salvador's new neoliberal reality and provides a basis for understanding the role of women in national reconstruction and democratization. By depicting female characters in traditional roles and as passive victims of violence, Castellanos Moya's La diabla en el espejo exemplifies attempts to disempower and exclude women from the public and cultural sphere. In short stories by Claudia Hernández and Jacinta Escudos, the female protagonists refute this victimization, becoming violent aggressors in their struggle to gain access to the public and cultural sphere.

Key Words: Women • Salvadoran literature • Neoliberalism • Violence • Postwar period

Latin American Perspectives, Vol. 35, No. 5, 133-145 (2008)
DOI: 10.1177/0094582X08321966


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