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BOOK REVIEWS83 ample material to constitute the sole text for the intermediate level. The versatility, the clarity and the conciseness of this book are its greatest assets. CATHERINE G. BELLVER, University of Nevada EdIa Van Steen, ed., O conto da mulher brasileira. Sao Paulo: Vertente Editora, 1978. 251 p. As the title suggests, this anthology presents us with a collection of nineteen short stories by contemporary Brazilian women writers linked by a common theme: middle class women's alienation in a bourgeois society dominated by a patriarchal system. The writers included in this volume form an interesting and dynamic group. The majority of them are young writers whose works found their first publication in the 70s. Indeed, many of the texts appearing here represent some of these authors' public debuts. In terms of their style, a type of intimate narration, at times confessional, wherein the narrators as protagonist confronts their immediate reality, is the predominant focus of these women authors. The language employed to describe this reality is straight-forward, lacking the romantic lyricism characteristic of womeri writers in Brazil prior to the 40s generation. Due to considerations of brevity, we mention only a few of these craftly written works. In "Port Moresby", Dinah Silveira de Queiroz, the author is the main character and by extension, a representative of the elite class. Despite the conveniences afforded by this society, she is confined to preconceived roles; among them, that of wife and lover. In "Luar no Beco", Maria de Lourdes Teixeira, also is unable to find fulfillment, she escapes through the invention of an imaginary lover. In both stories, any attempts to submerge this oppression is aborted. The stories by EdIa Van Steen and Viviana de Assis, demonstrate another type of narrative technique to convey the same stifling environment . In "Os Mortos Nao Tern Desejos", Van Steen using the flashback as the basic structure of the narrative, develops through the use of fragments the history of a useless and failed existence. Viviana de Assis relying on short and abrupt dialogues, traces various stages in an adolescent's growth to adulthood. Once again the woman character is faced with the same failure. The value of this outstanding selection is not only evident in its literary and aesthetic dimension, but also as a testimony of women's cultural conditioning. MARJORIE AGOSIN, Indiana University ...

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