Peruvian Rebel: The World of Magda Portal, with a Selection of Her Poems [Hardcover]

Kathleen Weaver (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 1, 2009

As the Left reawakens in Latin America following widespread disillusionment with neoliberal efforts to apply "shock therapy" to local economies, this story of the exemplary life of a major Peruvian activist and literary figure of an earlier era is particularly timely. Magda Portal (1900-1989) played a historic role in the American Popular Revolutionary Alliance (APRA), which began as a Marxist-inspired but non-Communist radical movement with cells based in both Europe and Latin America in the 1920s before it became a full-fledged political party in Peru in 1931. Often in exile abroad, in prison, or in hiding in Peru to escape arrest, Portal was the leading female organizer for the Apristas until her break with the increasingly Right-leaning party after World War II. As APRA's national secretary for women's affairs, Portal worked tirelessly for women's rights within the framework of a broader fight for social justice. A close colleague of revolutionary leaders José Carlos Mariátegui and Victor Raúl Haya de la Torre, she sided with the latter in the schism that erupted between the two in 1928, but ended up denouncing Haya de la Torre in 1950, accusing him of compromised relationships with the powers of neocolonial capitalism. Already an acclaimed poet by the age of twenty-three, Portal struggled throughout her life to balance her artistic with her political ambitions, at times abandoning her literary pursuits. This conflict is itself a fascinating part of this biography of a woman now regarded as one of the pioneer feminists of Latin America. A substantial selection of Portal's poetry is offered, with accompanying translations.

Editorial Reviews

Review

Drawing on extensive sources in the Benson Collection at the University of Texas, Katherine Weaver draws a deft portrait of the Peruvian poet and political activist as leader of the populist Aprista Party. The author casts Portal as an early Peruvian and Latin American feminist and highlights her struggle with the male-dominated APRA leadership to expand women's rights both within and outside the party. A worthy addition to mid-twentieth-century Peruviana. --Peter Klaren, George Washington University

In this exceptional book on Magda Portal, Weaver creates a rich tapestry of some of the most important Latin American intellectual and political activists from the first half of the twentieth century. In Porta's collaboration with such outstanding personalities as Vallejo, Haya de la Torre, Mariategui, Vasconcelos, Rivera, or Modotti, the reader can recognize the contributions of this foundational figure a true example of political activism and commitment in the avant-garde to the cultural and political processes of APRA and more generally of the Latin American Left. --Mihai Grunfeld, Vassar College

Kathleen Weaver's biography of Magda Portal brings to life a woman too long lost from our histories an extraordinary fighter for women s rights and social justice in Peru, as well as a gifted poet. She is one of the key figures in the twentieth-century struggles of oppressed people in Latin America, and her life story should inspire as well as educate readers of this fine biography. --Howard Zinn, Boston University. --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

About the Author

Kathleen Weaver has translated four books of poetry from Spanish, most recently Omar Cabezas's Fire from the Mountain, with an introduction by Carlos Fuentes (1985), and Julio Cortazar s Nicaraguan Sketches, with her own introduction (1989). She also co-edited The Other Voice: Twentieth-Century Women's Poetry in Translation (1976) and The Penguin Book of Women Poets (1978). --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 326 pages
• Publisher: Pennsylvania State University Press (January 1, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0271035498
• ISBN-13: 978-0271035499
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.4 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,729,353 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars What a woman!!!, November 27, 2009

By 

Robert Baldock (Berkeley, CA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Peruvian Rebel: The World of Magda Portal, with a Selection of Her Poems (Hardcover)

Great true stories from any of the 21 countries of Central and South America (not even counting the Caribbean) are dismayingly scarce for English language readers. Stories specifically about women's lives are even more scarce, making "Peruvian Rebel: The World of Magda Portal" exceptionally welcome. Author Kathleen Weaver has written the biography of a poet who was also a fervent progressive activist for women's rights and social justice throughout Latin America. Magda Portal's life is described in a clear prose that is sound and scholarly and refreshingly free of academic jargon. This should prove compelling to anyone interested in feminism, political activism, Latin American history and the political upheavals that were a forerunner to all the current democratic reforms in Chile, Uruguay, Bolivia, Venezuela, and Nicaragua.

Born in 1900 near Lima, Magda Portal grew into maturity during those decades when social revolution was sweeping through most of the hemisphere, and sweeping her along with it. As the leading womens' organizer of the APRA (American Popular Revolutionary Alliance), she worked with such outstanding intellectuals and artists as Carlos Mariategui, Haya de la Torre, Diego Rivera, and Cesar Vallejo.

In my experience it is unusual to find woven into a serious book of international political history and analysis the personal, intimate story of an individual, in this case a female poet torn between the political and the personal. Her tormented love life is conveyed, her being forced into exile and prison, and her ultimate terrible betrayal - all are vividly described. I can't begin to judge the poetry or the translations, but I can certainly say that "Peruvian Rebel" adds to history a dramatically rounded portrait of an authentically remarkable woman participating fully in the exciting history of her time.

1 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Finally, Magda Portal, May 2, 2010

By 

Gloria Bowles (Berkeley, CA USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Peruvian Rebel: The World of Magda Portal, with a Selection of Her Poems (Hardcover)

This is an in-depth study of a feminist activist and poet well known in Peru but not yet here. Kathleen Weaver did years of digging to give us the political context. Many of Latin America's intellectuals and writers had to flee repression and dictatorship. What they learned abroad - and then in many cases brought home - is one fascinating theme of this book. Magda and her friends put a Peruvian stamp on European ideas, however. Magda's love life is here as is her devoted life as a mother and, blessedly, her poems, translated by an an expert, for Kathleen Weaver is herself a poet.

I hope that the press will bring this book out in paper soon so that many more may have access to it.