Utopia and compromise in the writings of contemporary central american female narrators

Abstract

The essay comes of life history interviews with three female writers (Claribel Alegría of El Salva­ dor; Tatiana Lobo of Costa Rica; and Gloria Guar­ dia of Panamá) about ownership of the written word in order to name the world from a rational and feminine experience. Within this workof affir­ ming a subject placed on the margins of patriar­ chal discourse, these women challenged traditio­ nal literary canons and transformed Central American narrative, generating a new discourse written from a female­sexed body, conscience, and language. Constructing characters in this way recovered females as protagonistsin society, chan­ ged women and men’s identity construction, and contested social and power relations.