House of Mist and the Shrouded Woman/2 Novels in 1 Volume: Two Novels (Texas Pan American Series) [Hardcover]

Maria Luisa Bombal (Author)

Book Description

Series: Texas Pan American Series | Publication Date: March 1995

"Bombal--with her bold disregard for simple realism in favor of a heightened reality in which the external world reflects the internal truth of the characters' feeling, and with her deliberate mingling of fantasy, memory and event--is the precursor of the magical realism that is the flower of South American writing today. . . . Both [novels] awake a feeling of genuine discovery, of minds and hearts not borrowed from European literature but indigenous to a New World of thought and feeling." --Chicago Tribune "María Luisa Bombal is the mother of us all." --Carlos Fuentes "One of the most outstanding representatives of the avant-garde in Latin America. [Her] themes of erotic frustration, social marginality, and cosmic transcendence must be considered as a profound expression of women's predicament presented through a feminine perspective." --Women Writers of Spanish America The shrouded woman, a corpse reviewing her life as she views the mourners at her wake, perceives in the personal ties that made up her life a failure of all parties to benefit from the possibilities of true intimacy. Helga, the heroine of House of Mist, has a powerfully imaginative inner life entirely unappreciated by her husband until he finally learns to value her as something more than a trophy. In these two evocative novels, a daring blend of magical elements, innovative style, and unsparing social criticism opens a window on the privileged yet artificially useless lives of upper-class Chilean women of the earlier twentieth century. House of Mist was first published in 1935 as La última niebla and translated into English by the author in 1947. The Shrouded Woman (La amortajada) was published in Spanish in 1938 and in English in 1948, again in the author's own translation.

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Editorial Reviews

Language Notes

Text: English (translation)
Original Language: Spanish

Product Details

• Hardcover: 259 pages
• Publisher: Univ of Texas Pr (March 1995)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 029270836X
• ISBN-13: 978-0292708365
• Product Dimensions: 8.8 x 6 x 0.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,984,152 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Thought provoking and inquisitive, December 13, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: House of Mist and the Shrouded Womantwo Novels: Two Novels by Maria Luisa Bombal (Texas Pan American Series) (Paperback)

Although I had to read this novel for a Spanish literature class, I found myself enjoying it immensely. There are so many questions that we have about what happens after death. This novel shows you one possibility.

Ana Maria is in limbo between life and death, and although she is dead to our world, she can still hear, see and feel. As she lies on her deathbed, she has memories of her life with each of the people who come close to her bedside. Her tumultuous and unhappy life leaves her unable to die and rest peacefully until she has released her anger and sadness in this world. Through her memories and seeing those at her deathbed for the last time, she is able to die in peace and rest for all eternity.

This novel is captivating as it leads you through her life post-mortem. The narrator is sometimes Ana Maria herself and sometimes another force. At times, she even has the spirit from beyond pulling her closer to her final resting place.

The novel is not always exciting, but it definitely makes you question religion's take on what happens after death.