Five Women Writers, Five Ways of Writing

Siles, Jaime

The five works compiled in this book all share elements that are also common to all the female authors studied: the willingness to be and to express oneself, as well as the desire to construct a ‘self’ upon which to base one’s own identity. In this sense, María Teresa León’s observations about her childhood and youth are interesting, as well as her view of men. Equally interesting are the reflections of María Zambrano, the way in which she slowly distances herself from Ortega’s idea of system, until she replaces it with her own personal forma mentis. Or how Ernestina de Champourcin confides in her friend Carmen Conde, telling her about the obstacles and difficulties that impede freedom in her social milieu. Or how Carmen Conde is forced to keep her love’s name silent for years. Or how Clara Janés finds a lifeline in poetry, which transforms the act of writing into a religion and a survival mechanism.