Foreign Languages & Literatures ETDs

Publication Date

6-29-1979

Abstract

Silvina Bullrich's literary career spans over four decades and covers every genre except theatre. She is considered a national institution in Argentina where her fame rivals that of her former mentor, Jorge Luis Borges. Despite her national renown, Bullrich often has been condemned by critics who base their judgments on non-literary criteria. In the United States, recent doctoral dissertations have considered Bullrich as part of a group of either political or women writers. There are no existing studies that regard her alone and as a portrayer of women. The author's abundant production though is devoted principally to the problems of the contemporary upper-class Argentine woman. Bullrich's strong criticism of her own milieu created a scandal at the time she began her career. Yet undoubtedly she has contributed to the surge of Argentine women writers, the largest literary group in Latin America. Bullrich's fiction follows the trajectory of her personal experiences among the upper classes at a time when women were expected to follow only two vocations, marriage and motherhood, whether or not they had the aspiration for either one. Although Bullrich is not a feminist, the themes and preoccupations of her very first novel, Calles de Buenos Aires--Barrio Norte (1939), anticipate those of Simone de Beauvoir's The Second Sex, written ten years later. The types of women Bullrich portrays do not fall into a chronological pattern; instead the roles are repeated throughout her writing. The present study deals with these various roles: Wife, Mistress/Adulteress, Mother and Independent Woman. Major female protagonists are examined in relation to environment, family, men, marriage, career and self-perception. Although the author's personal life is considered, Bullrich's women are not necessarily her alter ego but often a distant fictional cousin. Novelistic technique is studied because of Bullrich's development of an appropriate mode that expresses her characters' innermost thoughts. Her method ultimately places her alongside contemporary women authors in her penetration of the female psyche. Like her colleagues, the author analyzes friendships between women and not just women vis-à-vis men. Bullrich's leading female figures are intelligent, alienated and search for that ever elusive happiness they consider to be their inalienable right. Those who successfully combine marriage and career end tragically since the author is reluctant to concede to her protagonists that which she herself was denied. They overshadow and dominate the men with whom they are paired. Bullrich's most typical female characters are a blend of what are regarded as stereotypical male/female traits. The result is often an androgynous ideal who seems to be a solution to prior opposition of masculine and feminine roles. Bullrich's evolving study of the Argentine woman is intimately tied to her concern for the progress of the nation. Her vision of a harmonious pareja--a couple united in physical and spiritual love who work together for the good of the country--rarely ends well. Later female protagonists continue the quest for self-fulfillment and happiness solo. The journey is still a difficult one but, at times, proves to be more rewarding.

Document Type

Dissertation

Language

English

Degree Name

Comparative Literature and Cultural Studies

Level of Degree

Doctoral

Department Name

Department of Foreign Languages and Literatures

First Committee Member (Chair)

Dinko Cvitanovic

Second Committee Member

Marshall Rutherford Nason

Third Committee Member

William Holloway Roberts

Fourth Committee Member

Tamara Holzapfel

Fifth Committee Member

George Arthur Huaco

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