Madwomen

A schoolteacher whose poetry catapulted her to early fame in her native Chile and an international diplomat whose boundary-defying sexuality still challenges scholars, Gabriela Mistral (18891957) is one of the most important and enigmatic figures in Latin American literature of the last century. TheLocas mujerespoems collected here are among Mistral's most complex and compelling, exploring facets of the selfin extremispoems marked by the wound of blazing catastrophe and its aftermath of mourning. From disquieting humor to balladlike lyricism to folkloric wisdom, these pieces enact a tragic sense of life, depicting "madwomen" who are anything but mad. Strong and intensely human, Mistral's poetic women confront impossible situations to which no sane response exists. This groundbreaking collection presents poems from Mistral's final published volume as well as new editions of posthumous work, featuring the first English-language appearance of many essential poems.Madwomenpromises to reveal a profound poet to a new generation of Anglophone readers while reacquainting Spanish readers with a stranger, more complicated "madwoman" than most have ever known.

Randall Couch is adjunct professor of English at Arcadia University and an administrator at the University of Pennsylvania. He received a Pennsylvania Council on the Arts fellowship in poetry in 2000.