Re-Writing in the Margins: Caro's Valor, agravio y mujer as Challenge to Dominant Discourse

UNCG Author/Contributor (non-UNCG co-authors, if there are any, appear on document)
Amy R. Williamsen, Department Head (Creator)
Institution
The University of North Carolina at Greensboro (UNCG )
Web Site: http://library.uncg.edu/

Abstract: The title of this paper deliberately establishes a dialogic relationship with Paul Julian Smith's work Writing in the Margin; at the same time, it suggests the possibility of the "re"-writing of dominant discourse in marginalized works. The concept of marginality holds significant implications for the consideration of literature beyond those directly addressed in Smith's work. In this discussion, I will use Ana Caro's comedia, Valor, agravio y mujer, to question assumptions underlying Smith's provocative treatise. His interpretive strategy, informed by post-structuralist theory, does not sufficiently allow for the challenge to both social and artistic norms posed by the self-conscious, metatheatrical elements of Golden Age theatre. The constant play with gender roles and the honor code in Caro's texts represents a rewriting of societal standards; moreover, her consistent manipulation of generic conventions critically engages "canonical" comedias. I will argue that in order to explore "writing in the margin" we must carefully consider works that have been marginalized; otherwise, we as critics may falsely claim to appropriate the place of "the Others," thereby propagating exclusionary practices that merely re-center rather than de-center discourse.

Additional Information

Publication
Bulletin of the Comediantes 44.1 (1992): 21-30
Language: English
Date: 1992
Keywords
Spanish Golden Age Theatre, Literary Criticism, Theater

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