Recuerdo, recordemos: Ética y política en Rosario Castellanos by Andrea H. Reyes (review)

Rosario Castellanos (1925-74) began publishing essays in 1947, while still a student at the Universidad Autónoma de México. At the time of her tragic death twenty-seven years later, this prolific writer had shared with her readers more than 500 critical and insightful articles that range in focus from introspective, autobiographical writings to literary criticism, from analysis of Mexican politics and society to explorations of universal topics such as human rights and feminism. However, as Andrea H. Reyes points out in her recent book, Recuerdo, recordemos: Ética y política en Rosario Castellanos, in spite of the volume and variety of Castellanos’s non-fiction writing, the essays of this well-known author are among the least studied pieces in her extensive oeuvre. Reyes’s text, therefore, responds to a particularly important need in the vast scholarly research already dedicated to one of Mexico’s most prominent writers. By examining a good number of the most frequently anthologized essays of Castellanos as well as many of her nearly forgotten newspaper and journal contributions, Andrea H. Reyes offers a compelling and eminently readable study of Castellanos’s achievements as a great thinker and writer.

Reyes emphasizes the overall ethic of Castellanos as one that is honest, uncompromising and fully committed to exposing the inequalities and injustices that have marked human society for centuries in order to understand the underlying prejudices and begin to transform the world in which we live. Additionally, she meticulously presents a guiding precept in the works of Castellanos: that of writing as a political act. By presenting her subject in this way, Reyes would like readers to move beyond the common conception of Castellanos as a literary figure and intellectual strictly preoccupied with issues related to feminism and indigenous rights and primarily producing poetry and narrative works. The intent is to expand a limited vision of the author and her contributions to Mexican letters. The result is a richer appreciation of her participation in national and international discussions of her lifetime.

In Recuerdo, recordemos: Ética y política en Rosario Castellanos, Reyes outlines and closely examines the intellectual and ideological development of Rosario Castellanos through her expository writing. In the first chapter, Reyes draws attention to the notable preference on the part of editors of anthologies for the essays in which Castellanos explores mainly literature and culture; Reyes then posits a need for a more thorough consideration of those articles that question and challenge more fiercely contested political and social issues. Arguing that, by means of her essays, Castellanos was able to firmly establish a woman’s voice in many public debates of the mid-twentieth century, Reyes proceeds to delineate the main topics and concerns present in the author’s essay production. In addition to writing on literature and her own personal experiences as a wife, mother, and professional, Castellanos most often took on subjects related to the social and political life in Mexico, the marginalization of women in society, and world events. Subsequent chapters each focus on these different aspects of Castellanos’s non-fiction writing.

“La autobiografía en sus ensayos” follows the two introductory chapters in this text and allows Reyes to examine the impact that growing up in Chiapas had on Castellanos. In her writing, Castellanos often reflected on what her experiences had been as a young woman of social and economic privilege in provincial Mexico. As Reyes indicates, she was not afraid to critically expose and explore the assumptions she made and the lessons she learned about inequality and injustice in that setting. This examination of her individual, personal history permitted Castellanos to challenge her own ideas, to redefine herself through her writing and to document how her particular perspective changed over time.

In subsequent chapters, such as “Sus ensayos sobre literatura, como vocación y como crítica”, “En la vanguardia del feminismo internacional,” and “Las contradicciones particulares de la mujer mexicana,” Reyes takes...