the madwomen

 I want to start this post by saying that The Madwomen by Gabriela Mistral was the first of the books we've read that I actually really liked. As in, I want to buy my own copy and reread it until I feel I understand it. I'm not sure exactly what it is about this collection of poems that really resonated with me, but something about it did. 

It's interesting to me how this is a collection of poems as opposed to a novel; I don't remember if the restriction to solely novels/novellas carried over to this course from RMST 202 last year, but it was something I noticed. I'm glad it's this way though because I think poetry can be just as, if not more, hard-hitting than novels, and are certainly an important part of literature. Poetry in translation can always be a tricky thing to navigate because inevitable you'll lose some of the layers and nuances behind each word selection and intentional rhythm when you change the language. That said, I find Latin American poetry (in translation) to be so beautiful to read. The reason I chose to read Mistral in the first place was that I've read and studied Neruda's works before (specifically some of the 20 love poems and a song of despair), and so I wanted to expose myself to something new. Though the subject matter is definitely not the same, I find the lyricism and - dare I say it - poetic-ness to be a similar feature across both writers that I definitely enjoy.

Speaking of similarities to other texts, as soon as I started reading the collection I remembered a book we read in RMST 202 by Maria Luisa Bombal called The Shrouded Woman. Obviously there are similarities in the structure of the names of the book and the poems, hence the initial connection. Interestingly however, Bombal and Mistral were both Chilean women who lived at similar times, and The Shrouded Woman was published in 1938, only a few years before The Madwomen. I suppose there are some tonal overlaps between the two works, but I mostly just find it an interesting connection. Funnily enough, Bombal's work was my favourite of last year's course, too.

I loved how some of the poems in this collection were inspired by women from Greek mythology. I'm not overly well-versed in Greek characters but I always enjoy hearing about the stories. Perhaps if I reread it after having learned a bit more mythology I'll have fun making more connections. Overall, I think my favourite of the poems was The Storyteller. All of the women in poems feel real to me as a reader, but the Storyteller just felt a little more like someone who I could know personally. Again, I need to spend some more time deciphering what exactly resonated so much with me but in all, I loved reading this collection and will probably reread it in the future at a slower pace to do it more justice.

My question for you all: Do you think all of the women in the poems are mad? Some of them are for sure, but all of them? If not, why do you think the collection as a whole is called Madwomen? Also, Did any of the poems resonate with you?