I’ve never been much interested in reading literature from the perspective of how characters either exercise or are subjected to power in a story’s context. It’s just a little too intense literary study for me but it is an accepted form of scholarship. Yet, the theme of struggle is a key element in life and society. Earlier this year the University of Texas Press issued a book on Women and Power in Argentine Literature: Stories, Interviews, and Critical Essays.

I’ve not actually seen the book and I assume it’s the that type of thing one mostly will find in university libraries but the introduction is available online and provides an overview that is worth reading. Interviews with authors always have the potential for revealing fascinating insights.

The topic of women and power is as complex and diverse as it is fascinating, particularly in a society like Argentina’s, where women are expected to be strong and intelligent, to pursue a career and at the same time be feminine, domestic, and maternal. My observation, after years of research and reflection, is that the women writers of Argentina have excelled in mirroring the many faces of women vis-à-vis power because they have been driven by the desire to understand themselves and their place within the family, the workplace, and society, much like women writers anywhere else. Yet, what makes the case of Argentine women writers unique is a certain ethos of being Argentine that generates a paradoxical self-questioning.

At some point, whenever I get a chance to actually find a copy of this book, I’ll get around to reading it.