The Oscillationes of the House in the Romances Written by Latin American Women

Abstract

In the symbolic repertoire produced by androcentric imagination, the house is associated with the feminine. As an enclosed space which provides food, shelter, and protection, it resembles the womb and as such, it is equated to the roots and origin of one’s identity. From a feminist perspective, the house is a tangible symbol of patriarchal restriction, of that closed place women were relegated to in their primary role of mothers and wives. The house motif is also a complex sign of enclosure and transgression for a Self who paradoxically uses this conventional place assigned by society to create multiple identities. Within the houses which appear in text written by Latin American women, mirrors, fantasies, and writing transform a marginalized other into a subject with subversive alternatives.