Mapping a legend for ecofeminism

"Mapping a Legend for Ecofeminism" frames itself around the poetry and prose of Gabriela Mistral, and explores its function as a foundation for ecofeminism with particular regard to the theme of virginity. Mistral's work extends outward into dialectics with Mother Goddess figures, the Virgin Mary, the Virgin of Guadalupe, and Queen Elizabeth I. Each shows that it is impossible to divorce motherhood from pain-in raising children and in the act of giving birth itself, which translates from Spanish as "to give light." Poetic tropes of water, light, and nostalgia emerge in these dialectics to illuminate the breadth of Mistral's work and how it throws us to varied meditations on virginity, pain, nostalgia, and transformation. Close readings of Mistral's poetry and prose in their original Spanish facilitate the ripple or mapping effect of the project. The essay attends to etymologies and layered translations. They are the locus from which to explore theoretical and literary relationships between binaries and what occurs upon synthesis and transformation of binaries. Boundaries between conceptual dualisms, like light and dark, function as thresholds for creativity and change. Presenting boundaries not as limiting but instead as thresholds and places of origin is the shaping force in this essay. It considers both departures from origins and loyalty to origins while births of words and "lights" flow in and away from each other, and shape the layers of chiaroscuro in Mistral's verse.

MAPPING A LEGEND FOR ECOFEMINISM by Margaret Jane Stringham A Senior Honors Thesis submitted to the Faculty of The University of Utah In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Honors Degree of Bachelor of Arts In The Department of English Approved Andrew Hoij^ann Supervisor Vincent Pecora Chair, Department of English Mark Matheson Department Honors Advisor Martha S. Bradley Dean, Honors College ABSTRACT "Mapping a Legend for Ecofeminism" frames itself around the poetry and prose of Gabriela Mistral, and explores its function as a foundation for ecofeminism with particular regard to the theme of virginity. Mistral's w o r k extends outward into dialectics with Mother Goddess figures, the Virgin Mary, the Virgin of Guadalupe, and Queen Elizabeth I. Each shows that it is impossible to divorce motherhood from pain—in raising children and in the act of giving birth itself, which translates from Spanish as "to give light." Poetic tropes of water, light, and nostalgia emerge in these dialectics to illuminate the breadth of Mistral's w o r k and h o w it throws us to varied meditations on virginity, pain, nostalgia, and transformation. Close readings of Mistral's poetry and prose in their original Spanish facilitate the ripple or mapping effect of the project. The essay attends to etymologies and layered translations. They are the locus from which to explore theoretical and literary relationships between binaries and what occurs upon synthesis and transformation of binaries. Boundaries between conceptual dualisms, like light and dark, function as thresholds for creativity and change. Presenting boundaries not as limiting but instead as thresholds and places of origin is the shaping force in this essay. It considers both departures from origins and loyalty to origins while births of w o r d s and "lights" flow in and away from each other, and shape the layers of chiaroscuro in Mistral's verse. ii TABLE OF C O N T E N T S ABSTRACT ii ESSENTIALISM 1 VIRGINITY OF C I R C U M S T A N C E 6 THE FLUID VIRGIN 11 THE STATIC QUEEN 16 POETIC NOSTALGIA 21 WATER AS TRANSFORMATIVE 29 CHIAROSCURO 35 WORKS CITED 38 iii ESSENTIALISM M a p p i n g the evolution of goddess imagery in the context of ecofeminism and the writings of Gabriela Mistral illuminates redemptive features in the transforming rhetoric of ecofeminism. T h e features are " r e d e m p t i v e " because this feminist a p p r o a c h to ecology grapples for a place and a face under the umbrella of third w a v e feminism, and nostalgia for second wave feminism of thirty years past potentially threatens its search for a credible home. Dramas of virginity emerge from the personal life of Mistral, virginal Goddess-icons like M a r y and Guadalupe, and lastly the notion of "virgin land," which m a y read harmfully essentialist in basic ecofeminist rhetoric. A n essentialist rhetoric might argue that w h a t is 'natural' is associated w i t h what is 'procreative,' and use this argument to relegate w o m e n to motherhood. Followers of second w a v e feminist B e t t y Friedan and The Feminine Mystique attack such essentialism. Ecofeminism roots itself in an essential and maternal connection between w o m e n and the land~in this light ecofeminism may be seen as a statically essentialist. Statements like "Ecofeminism identifies the t w i n dominations of w o m a n and the rest of nature" from Carol J. A d a m s ' 1993 Ecofeminism and the Sacred (11). Sixty years earlier in 1932, Gabriela Mistral, Chilean poet and pioneer ecofeminist, published an essay that m a p s a foundation for ecofeminism called " C o n v e r s a n d o sobre la tierra," or "Talking A b o u t the Land." M i s t r a l ' s rhetoric presents many binaries A d a m s disparages: "male/female, independence/interdependence; culture/nature; mind/body; white/ non-white," and the layered interactions between 1 binaries inform M i s t r a l ' s early ecofeminist thinking (2). In some cases Mistral seems to call for a reversal of a hierarchy as a solution to oppression—the very thing Vandana Shiva denounces in her 1993 Ecofeminism: Rather than attempting to overcome this hierarchical dichotomy m a n y w o m e n have simply up-ended it, and thus w o m e n are seen as superior to men, nature to culture, and so o n . . . A t t e m p t s to rejoin the atomized p a r t s lead only to standardization and to homogenization b y eliminating diversity and qualitative differences. (6) Disparities between Mistral, a maverick ecofeminist, and contemporary ecofeminists s h o w transformation from a potentially essentialist genesis into a more nuanced school of thought. A n analytical return t o Mistral and the origins, however, illuminates the purest form of this movement and the manners in which it informs timely ecofeminist rhetoric. M i s t r a l ' s writings are pieces of ecofeminism's roots, and it is necessary to divorce her poetry and prose from the s t a m p of essentialism to analyze her writing's place within ecofeminism. "Conversando sobre la tierra" marks the beginning of M i s t r a l ' s dialogue with the " o t h e r , " the inferior half of the hierarchy, the side that serves: " t h e second part of the dualism is not only subordinate but in service to the first. W o m e n serve men, nature serves culture; animals serve humans; people of color serve white p e o p l e " (Adams 2). Hierarchy: "a division of angels; priestly rule," a holy order. T h e first step to divorcing M i s t r a l from essentialism exists in the structural parallels between original and 2 evolved ecofeminist rhetoric. For example, M i s t r a l ' s explanation of the exchange between w o m e n and nature mirrors A d a m s ' stress on relationships: " V o y a hablarles...sobre las relaeiones de la mujer con la tierra y sobre la voluntad de conservation que une a a m b a s " or "I will speak to y o u concerning relations of w o m e n with the land and about the will of conservation that unites t h e m " (298). A d a m s explains interchange's integral role in ecofeminism: "Ecofeminism stresses relationship, not solely because it has been w o m e n ' s domain, but because it is a more viable ethical framework than autonomy for transforming structures that are environmentally destructive" (5). These structures are the dualities that Mistral mentions in " C o n v e r s a n d o , " and in doing so m a y condone them, but she reworks and redefines female roles from subordinate to w o r t h y b y advocating female relationships among each other and with nature. She de-subordinates the "vertical" relationship between these inferior halves of dualisms—women and nature—by emphasizing the universal importance of nature as the source of "everything." The give and take between w o m e n and nature renders the exchange not a holy order, but a dynamic and equitable relationship free from restrictive essentialism. In "Conversando sobre la tierra," Mistral does structure her argument from straightforward binaries. Her rhetoric equates w o m e n , land, and also the global south in their need for defense from outside forces. Yet, Mistral cites the "lenta y sorda" ' s l o w and d e a f loss of land as a problem for all of Latin America, not only for the w o m e n w h o p o s s e s s the capability to feel its pain (289). For Mistral, the irony is in "la masa ignorante y sacrificada" 'the ignorant and sacrificed m a s s ' that asks for help from outside countries, w h o s e help actually harms (288). Her observation exemplifies unsuccessful, y e t notably unstable and therefore capable of change, interdependency between conceptual dualisms. "Conversando sobre la tierra" makes M i s t r a l ' s p o e m s operate as pieces of ecofeminist rhetoric, which has sought to dismantle conceptual value dualisms. Mistral further explicates the idea of the " o t h e r " that she introduces in "Conversando," and also the function of disguises in her p o e m " L a extranjera," ' T h e Stranger' from her 1938 collection of p o e m s called Tola or The Felling. Characters in the p o e m compare seamlessly to the binary of woman/land Mistral addresses in her essay. T h e speaker uses collective voice: "en huerto nuestro que nos hizo extrafio" 'in our garden that m a d e us strange' (1. 5). The character of a solitary envejicida, or old woman, completes a binary: "habla con dejo de sus mares barbaros" ' s h e speaks w i t h an accent of her barbarian seas' (1.1). N o t e " c o m p l e t e . " A binary requires t w o participating parts. " D e j o " translates to "accent", which further distances the envejecida from the uniformity of a collective voice. Yet, the characters that form this dualism experience a unity in their "strangenesses." In b o t h cases the strangenesses are outcomes of nature—gardens and oceans. Line five dialogues directly w i t h "Conversando sobre la tierra": "In our garden that made us strange" correlates with M i s t r a l ' s idea from the prose essay that what benefits one country does not necessarily benefit another. In this manner she advocates individuality and calls for specificity of address—and the t r o p e of a m a p in both p o e m and article evokes guiding specificity. T h e aged lady as the "other," "seria como el m a p a 4 de otra estrella" ' w o u l d be like a m a p of another star' which is "other," yet light-giving and w o r t h y of m a p p i n g (10). In " C o n v e r s a n d o " Mistral mandates the creation of a m a p or a s y s t e m , "de que necesita urgentemente esa masa sacrificada a causa de su ignorancia: el m a p a de la propiedad nativa y de las extranjera gracias al cual ella p o d r a saber cuantas hectareas de tierra forman el predio comun y cuanto se ha enajenado" (290). The m a p is urgently needed for the sacrificed mass, and the collective voice of the poem, to understand w h a t p r o p e r t y is native and w h a t ' s been exploited and stolen by the "other." M i s t r a l ' s use of m a p s is in keeping with her predilection t o w a r d s guiding binaries. " L a extranjera" presents a hierarchical relationship between the earth and the sun. N o t merely a lack of light but a tactile darkness is a metaphor for death. Mistral e m p l o y s a pillow and the habitual act of sleep to symbolize death: "con solo su destino por almohada / de una muerte callada y extranjera" ' w i t h only her fate through a pillow / of death quiet and strange' (97). T h e stranger's death is not a cyclical return to the sun but an arrival at a foreign extreme. The p o e m presents life as linear—the stranger does not return t o her origin in the sun. Linear forms are direct and define themselves b y goals, w h i c h is not entirely consistent with the ecofeminist stress on the importance of process. In "Ecofeminism as Third Wave Feminism? Essentialism, Activism and the A c a d e m y " N i a m h M o o r e cites consensus decision making as a non-essentialist trait of feminism, and claims, "that feminism cannot be about w o m e n only, but m u s t address all o p p r e s s i o n s . Furthermore, feminism is defined through p r o c e s s e s " (234). In third wave feminism the process matters more than its outcome, j u s t as in w o m e n ' s grassroots environmental activism (235). D y n a m i s m , activism, and process are key in third wave 5 feminism and also ecofeminism--in this manner it finds a credible home under the third wave umbrella. A w a v e itself is paradoxically cyclical and progressive. W e may say the process of the tide respects b o t h integrality of origins and the process of transformation. Because of their similarly paradoxical nature, writing off M i s t r a l ' s focus on maternal ties to the earth, exploration of "other," and universal origins as too basic and essentialist is not helpful to transforming ecofeminism. Unlike the envejecida in " L a extranjera," M i s t r a l ' s voice remains relevant. VIRGINITY OF C I R C U M S T A N C E M i s t r a l herself never experienced biological maternity, and her speaker laments a lack in " P o e m a del Hijo," ' P o e m of the Son' from Desolation: "Quise un hijo t u y o / y mio...un hijo con los ojos de Cristo engrandecidos" 'I wanted a son b o t h y o u r s and mine...a son w i t h ennobled Christ-like e y e s ' (2, 7). In 1920, M i s t r a l ' s adopted son Juan Miguel, "exhausted b y an overly emotional existence, committed suicide in a m o s t sentimental w a y " (Fiol-Matta xiv). This was not the M i s t r a l ' s first experience with suicide: the 1909 suicide of M i s t r a l ' s friend and speculated love interest Romelio Ureta is often said to be the inspiration for images of unfulfilled desire in her work, particularly the content of p o e m s in Desolation, published in 1922, which also attend to loneliness and nostalgia. P o e m s like " P o e m a del hijo" and "Volverlo a ver" ' T o See H i m Again,' and " D o l o r " 'Pain,' which is dedicated "a su sombra" ' t o his shadow,' are examples. M o r e recent Mistralian critics may agree that for scholars " t o take these [scenes of pain] as s y m p t o m a t i c of female jealousy toward the philandering male lover, with feelings of guilt and betrayal intervening consequent to his suicide would reduce the 6 p o e t ' s multiple expressions of rage... to individual frustration," w h e n Mistral so emphasizes the collective—both female and universal (Foster 227). M i s t r a l ' s scholarly and publicly perceived "virginity," then, would derive from unfulfilled erotic tension and loss: it may be deemed a virginity of circumstance. Yet, there exists an entire school of thought that speculates on her lesbianism, as in Licil F i o l - M a t t a ' s 2002 Queer Mother for the Nation. " T h o u g h Mistralian scholarship includes some 100 books and hundreds of articles in which a biographical a p p r o a c h is the rule, scholars until recently have been reluctant to situate M i s t r a l ' s erotic representations of w o m e n within a lesbian matrix" (Foster 221). Fiol-Matta is not reluctant in her portrayal of M i s t r a l ' s sexuality. She does not speculate, but entirely accepts M i s t r a l ' s lesbianism as the premise of her book. F i o l - M a t t a ' s premise does not touch directly on ecofeminism, y e t articles like Greta G a a r d ' s 1997 " T o w a r d s a Queer Ecofeminism" and Timothy M o r t o n ' s 2010 " Q u e e r Ecology" observe a necessary connection between the t w o that is relevant to the consideration of M i s t r a l ' s ecoferninist and lesbian persona, both public and private. The connection is similar to the one Timothy M o r t o n draws: "Ecology stems from biology, w h i c h has nonessentialist aspects. Queer theory is a nonessentialist view of gender and sexuality" (275). Gaard observes the base of ecofeminism as "the understanding that m a n y s y s t e m s of o p p r e s s i o n are equally enforcing," like sexism, racism, agism, also specieism and naturism (137). In M i s t r a l ' s w o r k this correlation manifests itself through scenes of pain, which the poet feels should unite and mobilize rather than stifle and create disjunctive boundaries between groups that suffer similar oppression. Gard calls for 7 unity and inclusive identities: " t h e goal of this essay is to demonstrate that to be truly inclusive, any theory of ecofeminism must take into consideration the findings of queer theory; similarly, queer theory must consider the findings of ecofeminism" (138). These findings include the necessary addition of the conceptual duality "heterosexual/queer" to the list of inextricably linked dualities that social ecofeminists recognize—public/private, self/other, for example—and seek to "dismantle," as Gaard says. This essay prefers " t r a n s f o r m " or " r e b i r t h . " Next, this necessity extends into what Gaard deems " e r o t o p h o b i a , " which illuminates the duality of "reason/erotic " ( 1 4 0 ) . Erotophobia is a fear of denying reason, which includes gender role-deviance and "nonheterosexual erotic pratices" (146). Colonization is an erotophobic act because it involves domination and goals of social homogeny. Examining propelling intersections between queer theory and ecofeminsm demonstrates that " a democratic, ecological society envisioned as the goal of ecofeminism will, of necessity, be a society that values sexual diversity and the erotic" (139). M i s t r a l ' s sexuality, whether closeted lesbianism or virginity of circumstance, does not ignore eroticism in the w a y Gaard feels eroticism, w o m e n , and nature have been equally devalued by Western culture. Sexuality does not necessarily have to do with procreation, as is M i s t r a l ' s case, and an argument t o the contrary has been used against b o t h w o m e n and queers. Interestingly, the argument would seem to s h o w that nature is valued, but ecofeminists s h o w that nature is a culturally constructed place of domination (141). M i s t r a l ' s poetic celebrations of symbolic and biological maternity are actually " a pretext for an eroticism at once concentrated on the female yet utterly devoid of masculine influence" (Foster 227). Such eroticism is notably n o t procreative, as i t ' s free from male influence. 8 There existed in Chile a "public fascination with Gabriela M i s t r a l ' s ambiguous sexuality [that] indicates national h o m o p h o b i a " ( Fiol-Matta, 49). F r o m this assertion emerges the dualism of public/private, where public is dominant and equates reason. Ambiguity is not a pillar of reason, especially not sexual ambiguity. Fiol-Matta cites several times the public tendency to describe Mistral b y physical size, which w a s often amplified by her sartorial preferences: "Pablo N e r u d a ' s description of Mistral in his memoirs.. .she was very tall, he recalls, and strange looking: 'I saw her walking b y , with her full-length clothes, and I w a s scared of her' " (52). Other adjectives include swelling, vast, vigorous, and telluric—with a "higher" dosage of masculinity (53). T h e dominating nature of these adjectives denies reason because the masculine adjectives are assigned to a female. T o equate a female body as swelling, vast, and vigorous is unreasonable—though masculine descriptors like swelling and vast m a y well connote pregnancy. F i o l - M a t t a ' s account of public perceptions of Mistral presents a model where the superior half of the dualism (public, in this case) w o r k s as the definer. The public define M i s t r a l ' s appearance, and for Fiol-Matta, her sexuality. Public perceptions of the female Mistral as exhibiting male-identified traits m a y be said to deny reason, especially as reason functions in the dualism of reason/eroticism. M i s t r a l ' s sexuality becomes situated in ambiguous paradox. Also, without the subordinate " p r i v a t e " half of the dualism, which for Fiol-Matta is M i s t r a l ' s closeted lesbianism, the " p u b l i c " would have nothing to define. Such interdependency is important for Gaard. Etymologies of both "circum" and " s t a n c e " describe the function of M i s t r a l ' s sexuality and its effect on her writing. E d w i n J o h n s o n ' s Latin W o r d s of C o m m o n English 9 states that "circum" derives from the Latin "circus": "a circle; a ring; a circular theatre." Images of rings and circles connote renewal and cyclicality. M i s t r a l ' s sexuality guided her public image and iconography—a circular theatre and spectacle encircle her in definition b y external forces. "Circum" and " s t a n c e " become halves of a dualism. Circum, the defining half, is a theatrical cycle that would define " s t a n c e " as an unvaried, undesirable, stagnant o p p o s i t e . " C i r c u m " relates to the ambiguity in public perceptions of M i s t r a l ' s sexuality. M i s t r a l ' s public accessibility p e r h a p s prevented her from being entirely "rara," or "other." "Stance" as derives from Latin: stantia, a standing, whence these four words: estancia, a standing; stanza, a dwelling, but also a 'dwelling' or stop in versification, hence the paragraphing unit of a p o e m , adopted b y English; estance, the act or p o s t u r e of standing; whence via the derivative s e n s e , ' a stay, a s u p p o r t . ' Stance is a means of s u p p o r t and confinement. A t one point loss and death are speculated to confine M i s t r a l ' s sexuality, which she harnesses as fuel for tension and d e p t h in creative expression in Desolacidn. Through virginity of "stance," Mistral develops a certain tone or posture. It is direct, like her politically Marxist leanings in " C o n v e r s a n d o sobre la tierra," or her straightforward binaries in both the essay and in Tala. Tension exists between halves of the dualism "circum" and "stance," indeed it tends t o w a r d s a paradox that mirrors that of the waves, (interject meditation on virginity?) Ecofeminist binaries depend on each other and exist in a cyclical relationship—from this dependence emerges a level of instability and potential for rebirth. M i s t r a l ' s virginity 10 of circular standing is cyclical because it is accessible in its malleability, and stayed because it is an agent in developing her tone. D e s p i t e her virginity of circumstance and "non-procreative" sexuality, Mistral remains associated with motherhood, as the "schoolteacher of the nation." Mistral, as stereotype, "became so visible as the nonmother that this fact became invisible; or, more precisely stated, it w a s disavowed" (Fiol-Matta, 48). For Fiol-Matta, M i s t r a l ' s simultaneous motherhood and otherness eventually cancel out her otherness, at least visibly and publicly. Mistral also remains associated with motherhood through her writings that address the Virgin M a r y , like " P o e m a del hijo." THE FLUID VIRGIN It w a s in the context of the "virginity of circumstance" premise that M i s t r a l ' s "praisers and p r o m o t e r s described her in terms overtly intended to recall the Virgin M a r y " (Foster 225). It would then be logical link M i s t r a l ' s allusion to the Virgin M a r y in " P o e m a del hijo" directly to the p o e t ' s personal life, although the formal divorce between the poet and first p e r s o n speaker should usually be assumed. The link, however unpoetically correct, actually illuminates a few disparities between t w o meditations o n virginity. For the Virgin M a r y erotic acts are figurative and giving birth is real, while both erotic acts and giving birth only figuratively a p p l y to Mistral. Yet, each is a symbol of motherhood. T h e Virgin M a r y experiences a virginal biological motherhood, an immaculate conception. Mistral experiences a similar t y p e of motherhood/teacher-hood through her role as "schoolteacher of a nation." A s I will discuss later, teacher-ship is an element of masochism. Both motherhood and masochism are relevant to specific scenes 11 of emotional pain in M i s t r a l ' s p o e t r y . T h e Virgin M a r y , and Latin American counterparts like La Virgen de Guadalupe s h o w that it is impossible to divorce motherhood from pain—in raising children and even more so the act of giving birth itself, which translates from Spanish as " t o give light." Pervasive images of contrarily dark skinned M a d o n n a s exist throughout Europe, Africa, and Mexico. Though M i s t r a l ' s roots ring essentialist, exploration of her writing illuminates her as a Latin American precursor to a transforming ecofeminism that m a y find an ally in queer theory. Similar attention t o t h e Black M a d o n n a ' s E u r o p e a n origins reveals a radical transformation of the Virgin M a r y ' s role in religious and cultural doctrine. The Black Madonna in Latin America and Europe b y Malgorzata Oleszkiewicz- Peralba p u r p o r t s the image of the darker skinned virgin to be a symbol of hybridization and syncretism of cultures in p o s t m o d e r n times (5). The notion of a M o t h e r G o d d e s s dates back to antiquity. Her status as a Goddess of not only regeneration but also of life and death a p p r o p r i a t e d more power, influence, and d y n a m i s m to the M o t h e r Goddess image than the Virgin M a r y does today. Imposition of Catholicism on Indians in N e w Spain eradicated elements of the Virgin M a r y ' s previous persona and relegated her to curiously symbolize virginity and motherhood, a combination that denies her of eroticism. T h e catalyst for change was the Indo-European warriors' invasion of Europe, the near east, and south Asia between the fifth and third millenniums B C . Very appropriately, a forced usurping marks the shift to a patriarchal society. It devalued: T h e agriculturalists' view — that spirit was immanent in all of nature, that sexuality and reproduction were like the earth's fertility, and that both were 12 sacred - [it] was replaced by a worldview that conceived of divinity as transcendent, separate from nature, with humans and nature as God's creation rather than as equal parts of G o d . T h e female, bisexual, or hermaphroditic G o d d e s s was replaced by the male, heterosexual G o d the Father, and the matrifocal trinity of Maiden, Mother, and Crone became the patriarchal trinity of Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. (Gard 144) T h a t the contemporary Catholic Virgin M a r y undoubtedly derives from representations all over Europe s u p p o r t s the eradication premise of her transformation. This backwards evolution of stripping away original traits calls for a reworking of the image that m a y be facilitated by returning to its roots, its origins. " O l d Europe had a peaceful, matrifocal and matrilineal culture, venerating the allpowerful goddess of all creation, death and regeneration" (Peralba 20). Undertones of cyclically and recycling are impossible to ignore in this description of a matrifocal culture p a s t — t w o values lauded in ecology and ecofeminism. T o forge a link between the notion of recycling, its triangular visual symbol, and an overlooked trait of the Black M a d o n n a m a y redeem essentialist understandings of ecofeminism: as Peralba states, " t h e central and m o s t pervasive life-giving and regenerative symbol from prehistory to modern times is the triangle, representing the sacred pubic triangle of the goddess" (21). T h e Virgin of Guadalupe, often seen against a triangular backdrop, represents a blend of Spanish and Indian cultures and their rituals of worship. Pre-Cortes conquest, the natives w o r s h i p p e d the goddess Tonatzin-Ciuacoatl. In fact, " T o n a n t z i n w a s revered in the same location where the Virgen de G u a d a l u p e ' s apparitions occurred in 1531, where the Virgin's basilica stands t o d a y " (Peralba 52). Tonantzin w a s not lost in the 13 Catholic imposition, only synthesized into a darker skinned image of Guadalupe. People still plan and execute pilgrimages to the basilica. Their j o u r n e y s involve great sacrifice and assign significance not only to the j o u r n e y ' s goal, but also to the journey itself. Ecofeminist N i a m h M o o r e ' s states that "... feminism is about the p r o c e s s " (235). T o give birth, "dar luz," is a process like a pilgrimage full of sacrifice and pain. Images of the Virgin M a r y find a symbolic mother in the E u r o p e a n Black Madonna—just as M i s t r a l ' s p o e t r y m o t h e r s ecofeminism. The link between them harries travel and an illuminating heritage has been lost along the w a y . In Paleolithic doctrine, a dove is the symbol for travel between t w o worlds. T h e bones of a dove are hollow and y e t n o t a void, instead they facilitate flight. " D o v e s represented the Great G o d d e s s in Asia Minor, under several of her names such as A p h r o d i t e and Astarte...and were a primary symbol of female sexuality...there also w a s an ancient belief that the essence of every soul is female" (Peralba 67). Female sexuality, then, is transcendent. It is dynamic and mobile in an extreme and powerful w a y — comparable to a d o v e ' s role in bringing souls to heaven. Paleolithic and Neolithic beliefs affirm that some essence of every soul is female. Disparate understandings of the soul's "essence" affected the process of imposing Catholicism u p o n N e w World natives. C o m m o n l y , "Indian actors dramatically interpreted stories from the Bible, lives of saints, and miracles, such as the apparition of the Virgin of Guadalupe" (Peralba 70). Creative images and performances were the strategy to transcend language barriers. Catholics p o r t r a y e d the divinities b y calling on an external power, an "other." For them, performance poorly imitated a parsed semblance of 14 God. Conversely, the Mexican Ixiptla representations of divinities observe fluidity between what is sublime and what is base. Through ceremony and ritual, w o r s h i p p e r s become vessels of the gods' real essence. This Ixiptla notion may be deemed entirely female, because a goddess-dove acts as a vessel for souls. The Ixiptlan p r o p e n s i t y assigns p o w e r to vessels, and the female body is a vessel from which to give light, or "dar luz." Symbols for the Ixiptla are more than obscure connections between "sign" and "signified"—some transition of real p o w e r occurs between the t w o . Signs, then, are freed from arbitrariness and become incredibly specific in context of Ixiptla belief. Mistral similarly calls for specificity of symbols through repeatedly employing the symbol of a m a p . If "sign" and "signified" may be considered a conceptual dualism in ecofeminist rhetoric, p e r h a p s the Ixiptlan successfully rebirth the dualism through creatively mingling boundaries between divine and base. Participants become agents in creation as o p p o s e d to subjects in an oppressive and stratified p o w e r s y s t e m . T h e differences b e t w e e n p o o r imitations and powerful incarnations seen in the juxtaposition of the Catholic and the Ixiptlan portrayals of divinity are significant in transforming ecofeminism—keys lie in unsung ritual of the past, "and her eye has become accustomed to obvious " t r u t h s " that actually hide what she is seeking" (Irigaray 193). In addition to cyclical waves and a hollow y e t powerful dove, the Virgin M a r y is also associated with the tree of life. Like the dove, the tree unites heaven and the underworld and contributes traditional facets of the M o t h e r Goddess that m a y have been lost in the transformation of the Virgin M a r y . These are: "life force, fertility, and regeneration" (Peralba 72). The tree is an axis, like the cross is an axis and a center. 15 Crosses and trees b o t h guide, which recalls M i s t r a l ' s use of the m a p as a symbol of guidance. The cross represents " t h e conjunction of o p p o s i t e s and sexual union" (Peralba 75). This blurring of symbols across genders s h o w s the mere passage of time as s y m p t o m a t i c of loss and drastic change, just as the Virgin M a r y w a s stripped of her regenerative symbolic existence. M i s t r a l ' s " P o e m a del hijo," then, ripples o u t w a r d s into conceptualizations of the Virgin M a r y , w h o s e p e r s o n a is a locus from which to consider the implications of M i s t r a l ' s sexuality and to contextualize her role as " m o t h e r " and "schoolteacher of a nation." The nostalgia and regret in " P o e m a del hijo" also forge a link t o literary and artistic interpretations of virginity seen in Queen Elizabeth I. THE STATIC QUEEN T h e Virgin M a r y is a very mobile, accessible, and relevant historical figure while Q u e e n Elizabeth I is more static and limited by her historical context. In M i s t r a l ' s poetic treatments of nostalgia, the former symbolizes fluidity of the " n o w " and the latter compares to static memory. Mistral arguably desires to rewrite the past in her p o e t r y , which I'll discuss later in the section entitled "Poetic Nostalgia." D e s p i t e boundaries of time, a link exists between Mistral and this Tudor. Analyzing their superficially distinct p o e t r y and public images as meditations on virginity results in a dialectic situated within ecofeminist rhetoric as a partially nostalgic rhetoric for unsung Goddess and virginal figures of the past. T h e t r o p e of nostalgia and its poetic function in both M i s t r a l ' s " P o e m a del hijo" and " T o d o s ibamos a ser reinas," compares to Queen Elizabeth's verse " W h e n I w a s Fair and Young" and Phillip S y d n e y ' s " N o w W a s our Heavenly Vault Deprived of Light." 16 " S o m e m o d e r n scholars doubt that Elizabeth wrote the p o e m ["When I w a s Fair and Y o u n g " ] , but all accept it as an important cultural document about her" (Ferguson, Salter, Stallworthy). " W h e n I was Fair and Y o u n g " circa 1585 presents nostalgia not as protective escapism but as a demonstrative form of repentance and regret: "Wherefore I did repent that I had said before: / Go, go go, seek some other where, importune m e no m o r e " (15-16). Re-pent, re-member, re-sound. The p o e m ' s speaker wishes to rewrite the past. " R e p e n t " offers religious and guilty connotations, yet the only form of divinity explicitly mentioned in the p o e m is the mythological E r o s — a whimsical departure from the religious upheaval that marked Elizabeth I's reign. The speaker's pride breeds regret, amplified by the intervention of Eros w h o says: " Y o u dainty dame, for that you be so coy / 1 will so pluck your plumes as you shall say n o m o r e " ( 1 0 - l 1). Feathers symbolize not only beauty but also strength, independence, and mobility. Feathers also molt and regenerate. The tone b e c o m e s more desperate and extreme during the transition between the third and fourth stanzas, and the featherless speaker cannot rest "neither night nor d a y " (14). Eros renders the speaker speechless, paralyzed, and in constant vigil. Like " P o e m a del hijo," articulating desire becomes simpler in retrospect. In each p o e m the past emerges as a character with which the speakers engage and wish to mobilize. Panegyric w o r k s dedicated to Queen Elizabeth often compare her to Diana, the virginal R o m a n m o o n Goddess. The motif of Elizabeth's sexual inaccessibility especially exists in panegyrics written during the latter portion of her reign. Shakespeare in A Midsummer Night's For William Dream, circa 1590 and the last fifteen years of Elizabeth's life, love is a w o u n d in the body. Shakespeare associates a wounding, penetrating love with colors. Realized, it's purple; untouched it's white, pure, and light, 17 as Oberon describes in Act 2, Scene 1: "Yet I marked where the Bolt of Cupid fell. It fell upon a little western flower—before milk white; now, purple with l o v e ' s w o u n d " (1. 165167). Color is sexualized and light is implicitly sexualized as the c o m p o u n d of color. Phillip Sydney considers textured images of light and their symbolic implications of sterility in " N o w w a s our Heavenly Vault Deprived of Light." Sydney penned "Heavenly Vault" around the time Elizabeth I rejected the Duke of A n j o u ' s marriage proposals. If light in the p o e m symbolizes an heir, then Elizabeth is the empty vault deprived of a Tudor light. The image of Elizabeth's dark body as a void is static and without sound. It deprives both auditory and visual senses: "and wanting use of eyes, their eyes began to close," and "till deadly sleep at length possessed m y living corpse" (6, 30). A w o m b unfilled is not vigilant, and for Sydney such ignorance is deadly. Unconscious sleep is a void, while wakefulness requires light. To possess a filled w o m b and to fill a female vessel, then, are vaunted to a sort of intellectual and observant adherence to procreation. Perhaps for this reason Elizabeth w a s often gifted the moonlight of Diana in panegyric adulation—her light is a balance somewhere between vigil and dream. The m o o n reflects light from the sun despite its vigil in darkness. Also in A Midsummer Night's Dream, Shakespeare compares Elizabeth to the m o o n through Oberon: H e speaks of the flower struck by C u p i d ' s arrow, although Cupid initially took aim "at a fair vestal, throned by the west." The vestal symbolizes Elizabeth, and y o u n g C u p i d ' s phallic "fiery shaft" is "quenched in the chaste b e a m s of the w a t ' r y m o o n " (20). In the play symbols for Elizabeth deflect sexuality with chasteness, and she is devoid of sexual desire: "fancy free" (23). Oberon compares Elizabeth to a mermaid whose song 18 quiets the rude sea and alters stars' orbits: "that the rude sea grew civil at her song and certain stars shot madly from their spheres" (10). In Ptolemaic Cosmology, all things below the moon's sphere are mutable and all above are stayed, so Elizabeth's power is vast. Her deference to G o d as the sun reflects a stayed p o w e r that contrasts with the functions of lunacy, moon-sickness, and a specific virginity in the construction of Gabriela Mistral's iconography. In Spanish, "luna" m e a n s m o o n . Lunacy, lunatic, and "una locura" m e a n "affected with the kind of insanity that w a s supposed to depend on changes of the m o o n . " Because of their layered iconography, authoritative representations of virginity, and associations with the moon, the etymology of "lunatic" is important to comparing Queen Elizabeth I to Mistral. Lunatic literally m e a n s "moon-sick." Elizabeth as the m o o n reflects the light of G o d as the sun, and in speech astutely adheres to the privilege and truth of divine right, including hers. Moonlight, in her literary case, is a secondary force and a steady force. It is asexual and free from lunacy. Elizabeth's virginity and relationship to the m o o n are static, contrary to the cycles and d y n a m i s m of Mistral's sexuality, even the transformations of the Virgin Mary and Mother Goddess personas. Mistral's virginity of circumstance has an element of "stance" similar to Elizabeth, but the paradox presented by " c i r c u m " discerns between the Chilean and the Brit. In his essay " L a locura en Gabriela Mistral," Santiago Tolson-Daydi mentions a Christian tradition of madness or lunacy as a representation of the highest expression of love to God (47). This calls to m i n d mystic writers like Teresa de Avila and Margery K e m p e w h o seek ecstasy as a form of divine union, but also imitation: "the spiritual 19 knowledge imparted in books could not compare to the knowledge of God through the experience of imitating Christ and identifying with his passion" (Carrera-Marcen 26). "Ecstasy" originates, " . . . v i a late Latin from Greek exstasis 'standing outside o n e s e l f . Classical senses included 'insanity' and ' b e w i l d e r m e n t ' ; this developed to m e a n 'withdrawal of the soul from the b o d y ' " ( O E D Etymology 168). The state of ecstasy is etymologically passive, yet for Teresa de Avila it's an imitation. Imitations involve an amount of interpretation and creativity. Luce Irigaray explores a strictly female transcendence of body and plays with the varied implications of "ecstasy" in " L a Mysterique": T h e ' s o u l ' escapes outside herself, opening up a crack in the cave so that she may penetrate herself once more. The walls of her prison are broken, the distinction between inside/outside transgressed. In such ex-stasies, she risks losing herself or at least seeing the assurance of her self-identity-as-same fade away. (192) To what extent is this scene passive? The "unity" in "self-identity-as-same" is subjecting, framing logic. I t ' s ambiguous whether varied fragmentation or unity is the ideal. The transcendence is blind, and it must be, because the reasoning eye is male. The w o m a n must travel in darkness, so touch guides. A tactile encounter with light and fire w o u n d the traveler w h e n she realizes s h e ' s always been herself, "and she will never k n o w it or herself clearly as she takes fire, in a sweet confusion whose source cannot at first be apprehended" (193). T h o u g h self-knowledge is an ideal regardless, she may never k n o w herself clearly in large part because male eyes write veracity, write light, write divinity, and write origins. Emily Dickinson, contrarily, gifts pens to all: " w e give and take heaven 20 in corporeal person, for each of us has the skill of life." " L a locura" as a poetic theme occurs often in Mistral's work, according to Santiago Daydi T o l s o n ' s essay. It cites madness or lunatic-ness as a strong theme in all four of Mistral's books of poetry (48). Daydi-Tolson m a p s the transformation of m o o n sickness: "la locura tiene u n a larga historia que, remontandose en la antigiiedad a interpretaciones magicas y religiosas, h a llegado en los tiempos modernos a incidir directamente en las teorias de lo poetico y de las capacidades unicas del poeta para de velar una realidad inaccessible a las facultades normales del individuo," 'the madness h a s a long history that, overcoming antiquated magic and religious interpretations, has arrived in m o d e r n times to directly influence poetic theory and the unique capacities in the poet to unearth a reality inaccessible to the normal faculties of the individual' (48). Parallels m a y be d r a w n between Mistralian moon-sickness and ecstasy because DaydiTolson acknowledges magical and religious interpretations that recall fourteenth century mysticism and religious ecstasy. In the essay, the evolved form of "locura" is successful in poetry w h e n its readers must rely o n devices for interpretation outside of " n o r m a l " or base faculties, like the five senses. This calls to m i n d the poetic device of synesthesia, which occurs in " T o d o s ibamos a ser reinas": "y Lucila; que hablaba a rio / a montana y Canaveral / en las lunas de la locura / recibio la verdad" ' a n d Lucile; w h o was talking to river / to mountain and reedbed' (101). Lucila speaks to tactile elements in a resulting synesthesic personification of nature. T h e ultimate lines of the quatrain read, "in the m o o n s of madness / she received the truth." Clarity in madness is paradoxical, and Mistral explicitly links "la luna" to the lunatic. 21 POETIC NOSTALGIA " T o d o s ibamos a ser reinas" and " L a extranjera" fall in a section of Tala entitled " S a u d a d e , " 'Nostalgia.' T o w h a t extent is nostalgia threatening? Earlier I discussed nostalgia for past ideology as a threat—nostalgia for second wave feminism as potentially harmful to transforming ecofeminism. Nostalgia may be read as a t y p e of dwelling, etymologically: "homesickness, compiled from nostos to return h o m e and dlgos pain." M i s t r a l often makes allusions to her birthplace, Vicuna, and " P o e m a del Chile" ' C h i l e ' s P o e m ' is a nostalgic homage to her homeland, which Soledad Falabella explores in her essay "Desierto: Territorio, Desplazamiento y Nostalgia en ' P o e m a del Chile' " 'Desert: Territory, Displacement, and Nostalgia in ' P o e m of Chile.' ' Nostalgia is a sickness, somewhat reminiscent of Mistralian moon-sickness. It is a sickness contracted from a lack and a longing for o n e ' s first dwelling, "for our house is our corner of the world. A s has often been said, it is our first universe" (Bachelard 4). Contrarily, moon-sickness is without objective and dictated by the m o o n ' s waxing and waning. Nostalgia is static and lunacy is m o b i l e — a dwelling and a noun; and an action and a verb, respectively. These prevalent themes in Mistral's poetry resolve themselves w h e n placed in the context of Gaston Bachelard's Poetics of Space and his definition of "poetic i m a g e . " Nostalgia is a space to poetically light and sift through the "polarities" between soul and mind, as Bachelard outlines in Poetics: "In m y opinion, soul and mind are indispensable for studying the phenomena of the poetic image in their various nuances, above all, for following the evolution of poetic images from the original state of revery to that of execution" (xvii). The soul p o s s e s s e s an inner light that is not a reflection of the 22 world—it dwells calmly while the mind is more intentional. For Bachelard and Mistral, one nuance of poetic image is the character of the past. T h e " p a s t " emerges as a character in Poetics of Space w h e n the " p h e n o m e n a of the poetic image" is described as an instance in which this image's brilliance causes the past to resound, reverb, re-act. W e , as readers, reverberate the p o e m and then o w n it. The past becomes mobile through poetic image as it reacts to the image's brilliance, which "derives from the adjective brilliant, from brillant, of briller, to sparkle or shine" (Partridge 59). Brilliance reflects light. Mistral could not biologically give light, so she gives it poetically, which is a manner of re-writing the past and resolving and moving from the dwelling of nostalgia that some critics observe in her virginity of circumstance. M a p p i n g the evolution of unsung goddess imagery in the context of ecofeminist rhetoric also re-writes the past. For M i s t r a l ' s motherly and implicitly sexual nostalgia, poetic nostalgia functions as an initially masochistic yet ultimately cathartic time machine. A s outlined in Giles Deleuze's essay "Coldness and Cruelty," the term "masochist" w a s born from the life of Leopold von Sacher-Masoch: In coining the term masochism, Krafft-Ebing was giving M a s o c h credit for having redefined a clinical entity not merely in terms of the link between pain and sexual pleasure, but in terms of something more fundamental connected w i t h bondage. (16) In its purest form, masochism associates w i t h pain and sexual pleasure. It also involves the desire to feel pain through punishment that liberates the masochist from guilt, free to experience sexual gratification. A masochistic agenda involves an exchange: one gives and 23 one takes—"bondage"—as o p p o s e d to sadism, where the goal is demonstrative loyalty to and authorship of violence. "In every respect, as w e shall see, the sadistic 'instructor' stands in contrast t o the masochistic 'educator' " (19). M i s t r a l ' s role as "schoolteacher of a nation" and poetic her nostalgia link her to this reading of masochism. M a s o c h i s m depends on interaction and contractual alliance between educator and student. W h e n Deleuze distinguishes between sadism and masochism he makes a link to the ecofeminist and Mistralian emphasis on interdependent relationships. A poetic expression of nostalgia is masochistic for Mistral because it involves interdependent interaction between poet and a poetic image that "teaches" the distant p a s t . Through this relationship, the p o e t overcomes punishment (which is static memory and nostalgia) to experience catharsis in rewriting the past. Brilliant poetic images are the catalyst. " M a s o c h i s m is characterized not by guilty feelings but by the desire to be punished, the purpose of masochism being to resolve guilt and the corresponding anxiety and m a k e sexual gratification possible" (Deleuze 104). Poetic nostalgia functions masochistically for Mistral, so it purges in manners that m a y allow her gratification in the future, whether sexual or generally cathartic. Nostalgia exists as a theme throughout Mistral's poetry and also in "Conversando sobre la tierra"—fittingly: i t ' s impossible to divorce both nostalgia and motherhood from pain. Scenes of pain are prevalent in M i s t r a l ' s essay, especially w h e n equating pain of the earth to pain of women: " C u a n d o el padre hipotecan esa lonja labrada, la mujer es la unica que llora, que siente en ese suelo una calidad de carne y se duele de la perdida como de una a m p u t a t i o n , " ' W h e n the father mortgages that carved strip of land, the w o m a n is the only 24 one w h o cries, w h o feels in that ground a quality of meat, and she hurts from the loss as if it were an a m p u t a t i o n ' (161). Mistral observes a link between the treatment of the land and the response of women, not necessarily b e t w e e n twin dominations that necessitate t w i n s y m p a t h i e s . A s evident from the quote, male ownership of land is unnatural for Mistral, w h o is homesick for ancient ideologies. She describes primitive cities that associate males with fire and air, and w o m e n with the land and affirms that these civilizations "tenian razon redonda" (161). Her diction is n o t e w o r t h y : "razon redonda" translates to b o t h "perfect reason" and "round reason." To make these w o r d s s y n o n y m o u s w h e n nostalgically recalling primitive traditions of ecofeminism correlates w i t h the mission of this essay, where cycles emerge as shaping symbols that guide the legend in a m a p of ecofeminism. M i s t r a l cites an ancient gender-paradigm as shaping force behind ideal gender roles: A d a m and Eve. Without Eve and especially her responsibility of motherhood, the world would be a "conceited fire of tireless adventure" (162). Yet, in Christianity, A d a m is the male source of both males and females, as E v e ' s b o d y grew from his rib. Mistral overrides the notion of a male source and transforms the reason/nature dualism by vaunting nature as a universal origin. In "Conversando," her primary complaint is the general violation of native rights—mainly Latin America's right to o w n and w o r k its land, because the earth is the universal source. Strangers are violating this right, and her secondary complaint is that c o u n t r y w o m e n do not take action against these strangers. It is their responsibility not necessarily because w o m e n and the earth experience t w i n violation, but because traits like regeneration h a p p e n to be female-identified and link them 25 to the earth. Her assertions of ownership may be read as complicating, but her rhetoric emphasizes universal origin and each being's individuality to beneficial ends. A commonality like universal origin would facilitate relationships across boundaries. For Mistral, w o m e n guard regenerative perpetuation of "nuestra raza" ' o u r race' (162): L a que escribe estas lineas necesita ser campesina de costumbres y campesina voluntaria o deliberada, para que el problema le golpee el corazon d e s p u e s de quemarle los ojos con los que ha mirado la venta paulatina de la America nuestra" 'She w h o writes these lines should be a c o u n t r y w o m a n of c u s t o m s and an honorary or deliberate c o u n t r y w o m a n , so that the problem hits her heart after burning her eyes with those that have seen the gradual sale of our America' (162). Mistral leans t o w a r d s Marxism, here. What place does Marxism have in ecofeminism? If Mistral is Marxist, her a t t e m p t to mobilize c o u n t r y w o m e n in " C o n v e r s a n d o " implies that they should lead a "proletariat uprising" and govern. She specifically cites a s y s t e m of female-identified characteristics, not exclusively physical female bodies, as the most capable paradigm by which to understand the need for an uprising. In this manner, her call does not harmfully u p e n d a conceptual dualism. In M i s t r a l ' s work, the importance of relationships, process, and adherence to consensus decision-making models are the primary female-identified characteristics of ecofeminism. M i s t r a l ' s Marxist subtleties in " C o n v e r s a n d o " entirely correlate with these three pillars of transforming ecofeminism. In Ralf D a h r e n d o r f s essay "Revolution or Peaceful C h a n g e ? ' he states that the emancipation M a r x wrote would imply that the creation of a 26 n e w society " w o u l d stem from the proletariat becoming conscious of itself and making a revolution, thus becoming the bearer of social change and the creator of social humanity" (263). Mistral calls for this in "Conversando," and she calls directly to w o m e n as capable citizens of Latin America and the world. In her essay, " ' D e s i e r t o ' : Territorio, Desplazamiento y Nostalgia en ' P o e m a del Chile' por Gabriela Mistral" Soledad Falabella explores the intrinsic link between nostalgia, pain, and desire: " L a herramienta psiquica que el h o m b r e desarolla para fijar la m e m o r i a es el dolor.. .el dolor fija al deseo en la m e m o r i a , " ' T h e psychic tool that m a n develops to secure the m e m o r y is pain.. .pain secures desire in the m e m o r y ' (82). T h e function of pain in the construct of desire recalls the premise of Mistral's virginity of circumstance that derives from erotic tension and loss. Perhaps the tension mirrors "las tensiones entre el olvido y la m e m o r i a " 'the tensions between forgetting and m e m o r y ' because Mistral's is a retrospective pain, like nostalgia. The pain is a yearning for something external, solid, and written rather than mental, spoken, and liquid like the " n o w . " Nostalgia represents the desire to rewrite. Mistral's p o e m "Volverlo a ver" ' T o See H i m A g a i n ' Desolation may be read as personal and poetic manifestations of nostalgia from the virginity of circumstance premise. T h e link between Mistral's personal nostalgia and a poetic nostalgia may superficially appear in violation of the formal non-relationship between poet and poetic speaker, but its correlation to Poetics of Space may prove otherwise. Bachelard outlines the marriage of poetic image and a p o e t ' s distant personal m e m o r y in the introduction: " T h e poetic image is not subject to an inner thrust. It is not an echo of the past. O n the contrary: through the brilliance of an image, the distant past resounds with echoes, and it 27 is hard to k n o w at what depths these will reverberate and die a w a y " (xii). The poetic image resurrects the distant past in subtle repetitions or re-speakings of static acts. Echoes, as auditory phenomena, present opportunities for re-readings or reinterpretations. Mistral combats nostalgia by treating it poetically. Poetry then functions for Mistral as a modifier of the past, especially regarding the suicide of Romelio Ureta and "Volverlo a ver." The sonority present in Bachelard's description of this relationship is inescapable—a sonority that emerges as a motif in Mistral's p o e m "Volverlo a ver" ' T o See H i m Again.' The first three stanzas are compiled of tercets and questions, which introduce dialogue between the speaker and a listener. T h e third stanza is the culminating point for the building sonic imagery: "c,Bajo las trenzaduras de la selva / donde llamandolo m e h a anochecido / ni en la gruta que vuelve mi alarido?" 'Beneath the tight braids of the j u n g l e / where while calling to him the j u n g l e has darkened m e / nor in the cave that returns m y shriek?' (60). T h e cave returns the speaker's scream in the form of an echo, which recalls Bachelard's idea that poetic image may inspire echoes of the distant past. In the p o e m the past resounds and sounds again, inspired by the poetic image of a scream. The madness embodied in this scream aids the transition into the fourth and penultimate stanza: " . . .bajo las tunas placidas o en cardeno horror!" ' . . .under the placid m o o n s or in bruised horror!' In Mistral, themes of madness and urgency often coincide with lunar imagery. Moonlight is vaporous and inconstant just as the madness of a lunatic is cyclical. Mistral joins dynamic moon-sickness and static nostalgia in "Volverlo a ver" in strong paradox. Mistral's mention of turning seasons in the last stanza 28 embodies the tangled c y c l i c a l l y of paradox: "j Y ser con el todas las primaveras / y los 4 inviernos, en un angustiado nudo/ en torno a su cuello ensangrentado!" A n d to be with h i m all the springs / and the winters, in an anxious knot/ around his bloodstained neck!' (60). W A T E R AS T R A N S F O R M A T I V E Mistral's p o e m "Ausencia," or " A b s e n c e " falls in the section of Tola entitled " L a ola muerta," ' T h e Dead W a v e . ' Water emerges as a transformative character in the p o e m . The speaker liquefies its body in the first line: "Se va de ti mi cuerpo gota a gota" ' M y body leaves you drop by drop' (110). "Ausencia" explores the effects of h u m a n relationships and the w a y s an individual's presence or absence affects another, both mentally and physiologically. The p o e m uses tactile images to express the physical effects of leaving: the speaker's body drips away like water, its face leaves like deaf oil, its hands go like mercury, and its feet leave like dust. Absence is a fluid p r o c e s s — i t ' s an event articulated similarly to the gradation found in Luis de G o n g o r a ' s famous sonnet "Mientras por competir con tu cabello": "en tierra, en h u m o , en polvo, en sombra, en n a d a " ' i n earth, in smoke, in dust, in shade, in nothing' (Anthology of Spanish Poetry 14). T o compare the speaker's body with the elements water, oil, mercury, and dust is to n a m e the process of absence organic and natural, especially w h e n considering death and regeneration. The process becomes a collective experience in the second stanza with the introduction of a " n o s " or a " w e " : "jSe te v a todo, se nos va t o d o ! " 'Everything leaves you, everything leaves u s ! ' (110). The space between two bodies and t w o identities begins to blur. Enjambment in the second stanza contrasts with direct thoughts in the 29 first and causes tension with watery imagery. Enjambment emerges in the p o e m as a form of play, because it presents the opportunity for layered interpretations of Mistral's verse. Lines 6-7 break at the word "bell": "Se va mi voz, que te hacia campana / cerrada a cuanto no somos nosotros" ' M y voice leaves, that m a d e you a bell / closed to h o w m u c h w e are not ourselves' (110). It's ambiguous whether "closed" describes the speaker's voice or the bell, because each wields a feminine pronoun. A ritual of re-naming functions similarly to the ambiguity of enjambment: "y en tu r e c u e r d o . . . y en tu m e m o r i a " ' a n d in your r e m i n d e r . . . a n d in your m e m o r y ' (111). Considering the prefix ' r e ' is interesting w h e n comparing t w o Spanish w o r d s that each translate to one word: memory. A reminder attends to a previously addressed thought while m e m o r y is a constant, albeit shifting reference point. M e m o r y is the internalization of experience for future reference. It functions as a guide, which recalls Mistral's predilection towards the symbol of maps. A reminder, however, is an isolated instance. Only conditional of life, m e m o r y is malleable. The poetic functions of memory, water and nostalgia are similar because nostalgia is a dwelling similar to that of water. To r e m e m b e r nostalgically is to yearn for a chance to relive, rewrite, or resound an internalized experience. Each is fluid, moonlike, vaporous, and also operates to transformative ends in Mistral's poetry. A lunatic's madness mirrors the tide in its dependency on the m o o n , and Mistral resolves poetic nostalgia and m o v e s from her masochistic dwelling. Enjambment also mirrors the imagery of breathing in the p o e m : " M e voy de ti con tus m i s m o s alientos" 'I leave from y o u with your same breaths' (110). Enjambment is an unnatural break within a fluid body, presented in the p o e m with auditory images of bell- 30 ringing and rhythmic breath. Bachelard's footnote on page xvi of the introduction to Poetics of Space is from Charles N o d i e r ' s Dictionnaire francaises: raisonne des onomatopes " T h e different names for the soul, among nearly all peoples, are just so many breath variations, and onomatopaoeic expressions of breathing." The Spanish w o r d for soul is " a l m a " which derives "from the Latin cmima 'breath, soul', akin to animus 'soul, mind, spirit, breath.' " Breathing is a cycle. Like a relationship and even like masochism, it is a give and take process. Repetition and enjambment are the breath of "Ausencia." Repetition recalls B a c h e l a r d ' s " e c h o " image in Poetics of Space. Mistral appropriately renders passion a stringed instrument that "retumba en la n o c h e " 'resounds in the night,' sounds and sounds again (111). Passion resounds " c o m o demencia de mares solos" 'like dementia of lone seas' (111). T h o u g h Mistral does not explicitly mention the moon, coupling madness and bodies of water in the penultimate line of "Ausencia" recalls themes of lunacy and m o o n sickness, and water as transformative. T h e speaker leaves its addressee " c o m o h u m e d a d de tu cuerpo e v a p o r o " 'like dampness of your body I evaporate' (110). Absence and its variation of evaporation are organic processes that relate to images of oil and mercury in the first stanza. While both elements are liquid, neither evaporates. In fact, water and oil naturally refuse to mix. Disparate elements reflect disjointed enjambment throughout the poem. Appropriately, the speaker's tone is both precise and fluid: " M e voy de ti con vigilia y con s u e n o " 'I leave from you with vigil and with d r e a m ' (110). Vigil is a steady observance, and a dream is intangible and unpredictable. Paradox emerges again, similar to that of the waves. " W a v e " is a term attached to b o t h feminism and immigration. Waves of Spanish 31 immigrants affected the evolution of mother-goddess iconography through a story of synthesis: Europe and N e w Spain beget the Virgin of Guadalupe. Cortes and crew navigated arrival in N e w Spain flying a banner of the Virgin M a r y that strongly resembles a p o s t m o d e r n Virgin of Guadalupe. T h e y arrived b y sea, which is an element often linked to the Virgin. M i s t r a l ' s " T o d o s ibamos a ser reinas" from Tala presents the image of water as a bridge, along with several other images associated with the Virgin M a r y and the M o t h e r Goddess. Water functions as a desirable vehicle for transformation within the poem. Mistral treats corresponding themes of travel and water in a framing way for analysis of this p o e m in "El mar," her essay from the collection Materias: prosa inedita: "Viaje por el mar y p a r a el, sin mas objeto que el horizonte desnudo y las olas en eterno abotonamiento," ' T h e journey for the sea and t o w a r d s the sea, without any objective other than the naked horizon and the waves in eternal budding' (138). C y c l i c a l l y emerges in imagery of eternally blooming waves, and finds a paradoxical complement in a linear yet ever elusive quest t o w a r d s the horizon. Characters in " T o d o s ibamos a ser reinas" embark on this quest. T h e p o e m ' s title houses a lament and a narrative: " W e Were All Going to be Q u e e n s . " T h e speaker introduces four characters w h o were going to rule "cuatro reinos sobre el mar: Rosalia con Efigenia / y Lucila con Soledad" 'four kingdoms about the sea: Rosalia with Efigenia / and Lucila con Solitude' (2-4). Four girls symbolize the cardinal directions reminiscent of the guiding cross and branches, but the characters become lost in the trajectory of the poem. T h e use of "reina" 'queen' implies a debunking of authority, 32 which occurs through a retelling of the characters' missteps. Youthful plans of royalty are barred because none had experience governing, "ni en Arauco ni en C o p a n " ' n o r in Arauco or C o p a n ' (36). ( C o p a n is a M a y a n archaeological site in H o n d u r a s — M i s t r a l ' s eclectic geographical allusions s h o w she is well traveled.) M i s t r a l ' s presentation of female joint-rule, Rosalia with Efigenia and Lucila w i t h Solitude, accords with the ecofeminist consensus-decision making model. The speaker e m p l o y s the Quran to emphasize h o w "indudable" 'undoubtable' it w a s that the girls' journey should end at the sea. T h e sea symbolizes union with nature, which is comparable to female-identified governance. M i s t r a l ' s potentially Marxist leanings in " C o n v e r s a n d o sobre la tierra" make the p o e m operate here. In the context of a governing s y s t e m conditional of experience-based or memory-based qualifications, the femaleidentified characters would be perpetually barred from decision-making. This is a nod to "Conversando." M i s t r a l ' s attention to color and time connect to G o d d e s s imagery and the temporality of life. El mar, or the sea, is the scene and the goal of future queens' reign, and the speaker discusses the manners in which they will reach the water: drunk with y o u t h , " c o n las trenzas de los siete afios" ' w i t h the braids of seven years age,' the girls pursue gray escapes (9-15). Their clear white robes of percale paradoxically equate gray and inebriated dreams of y o u t h . Later, Solitude approaches an o p p o s i t e extreme: lack of light. She raised seven brothers, " y su sangre dejo en su p a n / y sus ojos quedaron negros / de no haber visto nunca el mar" 'and she left her blood in her bread / and her eyes remained black / because she never saw the sea' (42-44). The image is an incomplete and garbled 33 sacrament, which considers hierarchical religious ritual as limiting. E y e s are tools for interpreting, and the character's unrealized potential renders her creativity black and lacking light. Efigenia and Rosalia are "disloyal" to their senses and instincts: Rosalia's lover " s e lo comio la t e m p e s t a d " ' w a s eaten by the storm,' because the marine w a s " y a d e s p o s a d o con el mar" 'already married to the sea' (40, 38). The interaction symbolizes unsuccessful mediated communication—Rosalia could not connect with the sea, and by extension the earth, through a male voice. Efigenia's mistake was silence, or a lack of identity and self-expression: "Efigenia cruzo extranjero en las rutas, y sin hablar, le siguio, sin saberle n o m b r e " 'Efigenia crossed p a t h s w i t h a foreigner, and without speaking, she followed him, without knowing his name' (49-51). I t ' s only Lucila, in communion with the river, mountain, and reedbed, w h o receives the true kingdom. Though Lucila's story is optimistically ecofeminist, what superficially a p p e a r s to be misuse of senses in the p o e m may actually be creative use and only deemed as abusive by the structural dualism of reason/nature. Lucila's communication involves the exchange or the "intercambio" central to M i s t r a l ' s "Conversando sobre la tierra." In the context of the p o e m , misuse or abuse of w h a t ' s native to an individual, like eyes or voice, harms progress of the cyclical journey t o w a r d s the horizon-line and blooming waves. If the idea extends to h u m a n i t y ' s intrinsic home, the earth, then the p o e m personifies nature and gifts it voice. Nature then applies to the p o e m in its purest definition: as inherent, instinctive, and natural. O n a j o u r n e y t o the sea, M i s t r a l ' s characters lose themselves through a lack of authenticity. In the 34 Limning: "...all is lucidity, the light of day realistically depicted. Hilliard's medium required that painterly shading be subservient to drawing, but his disdain for chiaroscuro effects goes b e y o n d complacency in his o w n mode. H e presents his views with the noblest of all sanctions, the Q u e e n ' s agreement" (122). H e explains to Elizabeth that chiaroscuro and its sharp contrasts are only useful to the neglectful painter. Observing only disparities between extreme instances of light and dark is a static exercise. As transformation is the breath of this essay, it acknowledges the contrasts between gifting light and mothering Black M a d o n n a s but actively attends to the shaping transformations in between. Gabriela Mistral's poetry and prose ultimately extend outwards into dialectics with Mother Goddess figures, the Virgin of Guadalupe, The Virgin Mary, and Queen Elizabeth I. Poetic tropes of water, light, and nostalgia emerge from these dialectics to show the breadth of Mistral's work, and h o w it throws us to varied meditations on virginity, pain, nostalgia, and transformation. T h e essay has attended to etymologies and layered translations that facilitate mapping and rippling trajectories of thought. These origins are the locus from which to explore theoretical and literary relationships between dualisms and what occurs upon synthesis and transformation of dualisms. For example, a queer reading of Mistral's sexuality challenges the dualism of reason/nature, and also introduces the heterosexism/queer duality as ripe for "dismantling" or rebirthing. Also, synthesizing the rhetoric of Mistral and T i m o t h y M o r t o n may rebirth the conceptual dualism of old/new and present o p p o r t u n i t i e s for creative t r a n s f o r m a t i o n — M o r t o n re-introduces and engages with aspects of M i s t r a l ' s 36 process of giving birth, water breaks. The journey to the sea is a cyclical return from that rupture of birth—a process of seeking identity. Relationships emerge along boundaries between conceptual dualisms: circum/stance, reason/nature, male/female, light/dark—and these relationships function as thresholds for creative change and exchange. Timothy M o r t o n ' s "Queer Ecology" reads that "ecofeminism arose out of separatist feminism wedded to a biological essentialism that, strategic or not, is grounded on binary difference and thus unhelpful for all kinds of difference multiplication" (274). It is necessary to observe the implied extension from ecofeminist efforts to dismantle hierarchical dualisms, which is that the "dismantling" ripples into transformations that favor mingling along and across dualisms and boundaries. Ecofeminism is a p r o p o n e n t of diversity and transformation, j u s t as boundaries between dualisms are birthplaces of creativity and change. " N o t h i n g exists independently, and nothing comes from nothing" ( M o r t o n 276). Socially constructed dualisms may not exist independently of each other, and for this reason they are unstable and subject to change. Ecofeminism is not founded in biological essentialism because it lauds such exchange as an integral part of process. CHIAROSCURO Meditations on dualisms—light and dark—guide this essay. "Chiaroscuro" embodies a dualism within a single word. "Chiaroscuro," a term often associated with painting, is a combination of "chiaro or clear, and oscuro, dark or obscure." The artist Nicholas Hilliard became Queen Elizabeth I ' s painter after 1570, and allies his views on artistic chiaroscuro with the static queen's, as noted b y Kinney Salamon in The Art of 35 lesbianism that m a y re-inform her ecofeminism. Presenting boundaries not as limiting but instead as thresholds and places of origin considers that ecofeminism is still transforming and departing from its Mistralian origins in a bit of a circle game. Whether departures from origins or loyalties to origins, births of w o r d s and "lights" flow in between, and m a p the layers from the chiaroscuro in Mistral's verse. 37 Works Cited A d a m s , Carol J. Ecofeminism and The Sacred. Continuum International Publishing G r o u p : N e w York, 1993. 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