Género, modernidad, letras y ley

Abstract

This essay aims to establish a dialogue between Astrid Cubano‘s proposals about gender and violence in Puerto Rico during the 19th Century and Puerto Rican literary history of the same period. In her book, Cubano concludes that because of the bigger presence of the State in the cities, the relationship of citizens with the law was based more on disbelief than in rural areas. She also describes the relationship of ordinary men and women with the State. Following her analysis, Pérez Ortiz argues that the book is an interesting source for analyzing 19th Century literary texts, mostly written by urban writers. Usually, characters like Silvina, from La Charca (1894) or the characters represented in the Álbum puertorriqueño (1843), among others, are constructed as impotent and silent before the State. This contradicts Cubano‘s interpretation of rural people who in fact showed more agency before the Law and the State in order to claim their rights and citizenship.

URI: https://dire.upr.edu/handle/11721/1011