Translation of three plays by Alfonsina Storni: Pioneer examples
of women's theater in Argentina
Modern
Drama by Women 1880s-1930s: An International Anthology
, edited by K. Kelly, that includes The Master of the World, my
translation into English of Storni's El amo del mundo (1927).
Translation
of Alfonsina Storni's Cimbelina
en 1900 y pico/ Cymbeline in 1900-and-Something
and Polilxena y
la cocinerita/Polyxena and the Little Cook. New York: The Edwin Mellen
Press, 2004.
Introduction
Poetry, specifically the Latin American poetry of the first half of this
century, not theater, is the genre usually associated with the name of
Alfonsina Storni. Alfonsina, born in 1892, published her work between 1916
and 1938, and her poetry evolved from the naïve romanticism in her
first books, (for example La inquietud del rosal and El dulce
daño), to the vanguard expression and techniques of her last
two books, Mascarilla y Trébol and Mundo de siete pozos.
She gained recognition and praise for her poetic production, and usually
appears in photographs and anthologies among the well-known writers and
intellectuals of her time in Argentina, her home country. Alfonsina's life
and creation were contemporary with those of three other famous women poets
from neighboring Latin American countries, the Chilean Gabriela Mistral
and two Uruguayans, Delmira Agustini and Juana de Ibarbourou. The concurrence
of these four talented personalities make this period and these writers
particularly relevant for the study of Latin American women's poetry, as
well as for women's studies in general. The personal life of Alfonsina
was a statement in itself about discrimination against women who did not
fit with the social stereotype of her period. Some of her poetry became
a cathartic channel for her frustration, and although these poems do not
necessarily constitute her best, they have received considerable attention
as indicative of pioneer feminist expression in Latin America. Nevertheless,
I agree with the following approach of Rachel Phillips when considering
Alfonsina's work:
That she is one of Latin America's most famous women poets cannot be
denied. But no critic should accept this judgment without considering the
more fundamental question as to Storni's place in Latin American letters
in general. The importance of any poet lies not into which minority group
he or she can be fitted, not what particular vision of life he or she represents.
The heart of the matter will always be what the poet has created and how
this creation has been achieved (Phillips, 13).
Therefore, the special consideration of Storni's theater plays, particularly
those written for adults, throws light on other aspects of Storni as a
creator and on the process of creation per se. From Ocre, a book of poetry
that appeared in 1925, almost ten years passed until the publication of
Mundo
de siete Pozos in 1934. During those years of poetic silence, Alfonsina
applied her talent to the writing of theater which showed her need of expression
beyond the lyric. She wrote four plays for adults, El amo del mundo
(The Master of the World, 1927), La debilidad de Mister Dougall (Mister
Dougall's Weakness, 1927), and Dos Farsas Pirotécnicas (Two
Pyrotechnic Farces, 1931) consisting of Cimbelina en 1900 y pico (Cymbeline
in 1900 and something) and Polixena y la cocinerita (Polixena and
the Little Cook), and several other plays for children. We witness in her
theater for adults the same evolution as in her poetry, from a confessional,
almost autobiographical tone in El amo del mundo, to a more objective approach,
with some experimental and vanguard techniques in the two Farsas.
Definition, significance and methodology of the proposed study
El amo del mundo was performed for only three days at the Cervantes
Theater in Buenos Aires in 1927. The play received harsh criticism which
was aimed more at its feminist themes than at its technical defects (Jones,
87). The play repeats the argument of one of Alfonsina's most known poems,
"Tú me quieres blanca", which denounces the moral double standard.
The theatrical quality of the play suffers from lack of artistic distance
between author and work, although it is a valuable document for the study
of the evolution of Storni's literature and ideas, as well as a testimony
to women's position in Argentine society in the first third of this century.
It was the only one of the four plays performed while Alfonsina was alive
and represents one of the first examples of Argentine (and Latin American)
theater written by women about women that reach the stage. La debilidad
de Mister Dougall was never performed or published in her lifetime,
and Dos Farsas Pirotécnicas were performed posthumously.
The second play has a central theme similar to the one in El amo del mundo,
and although the author considered it as intellectual as her first one,
"the technical improvements far outweigh the defects" (Jones, 93). In the
Dos Farsas..., Alfonsina keeps her thematic focus on women's roles, but
she achieved ironic distance and a more accomplished dramatic technique.
The first farce is based on Shakespeare's Cymbeline, and "Alfonsina
uses the outline primarily as a means of comparing contemporary customs
with those described in the original Cymbeline." (Jones, 96-97).
In the second farce, she transfers the episode of Polixena from Euripides'
Hecuba,
to contemporary Buenos Aires. Both farces are in prose. The first one is
a full length play of six acts, plus a prologue and an epilogue, and the
second one is a one-act play with an epilogue as well. I translated El
amo del mundo and wrote the corresponding introductory study for Modern
Drama by Women 1880s-1930s: An International Anthology edited by
Dr. Katherine Kelly, Department of English, Texas A&M University, and
published by Routledge in 1996. The anthology is aimed at undergraduate
students of theater as well as students of literature and women's studies
in general. I have translated Storni's other three theater plays for adults,
and I am currently furnishing the translations with notes addressing linguistic
and cultural particularities. My translation of Alfonsina's play was one
of the two chosen from the anthology by students at Texas A&M University
Theater Arts Program during the first week of March, 1996. In addition,
the anthology was awarded the 1997 ATHE (Association for Theater in Higher
Education) Research Award in Theater Practice and Pedagogy.
Since El amo del mundo is the first work of a group that presents
a technical and ideological evolution, it is fundamental to make the three
other plays accessible to English-speaking students and scholars in order
to give an accurate picture of Storni's theatrical work and talent. Storni's
poetry has been widely translated and has received various studies and
criticism. On the other hand, her theater has been mostly neglected until
the present. The translation of these plays gives scholars in the fields
of world theater, Latin American literature and women's studies the opportunity
to study the rare example of theater written by a woman at the beginning
of the twentieth century on very controversial and progressive issues.
Bibliography
A Jones, Sonia. Alfonsina Storni. Boston: Twayne, 1979.
Phillips, Rachel. Alfonsina Storni. From Poetess to Poet. London:
Tamesis Books, 1975.
Storni, Alfonsina. Obra poética completa. Buenos Aires:
Meridión, 1961.
---. Obras escogidas. Teatro. Buenos Aires: Sociedad Editora
Latinoamericana, 1980.
. ---. Teatro infantil. Buenos Aires: R.J.Roggero, 1950.
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