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Rosario Ferré (1938–2016)

Author of The House on the Lagoon

61+ Works 985 Members 7 Reviews

About the Author

Rosario Josefina Ferré was born in Ponce, Puerto Rico on September 28, 1938. She received a bachelor's degree in English literature from Manhattanville College, a master's degree in literature from the University of Puerto Rico, and a Ph.D. in Latin American literature from the University of show more Maryland. She was a professor of Latin American literature at several universities including the University of California, Rutgers University, Harvard University, Johns Hopkins University, and the University of Puerto Rico. She was a novelist, poet, essayist, and children's book author. She was the editor of the literary magazine Loading and Unloading Zone as well as a newspaper columnist and critic. She wrote several books in Spanish and English including The House on the Lagoon, Eccentric Neighborhoods, and Sweet Diamond Dust: And Other Stories. She died on February 18, 2016 at the age of 77. (Bowker Author Biography) show less
Image credit: Rosario Ferré

Works by Rosario Ferré

The House on the Lagoon (1995) 390 copies, 2 reviews
Eccentric Neighborhoods (1997) 139 copies, 1 review
Sweet Diamond Dust (1986) 110 copies
The Youngest Doll (1991) 84 copies, 2 reviews
Papeles de Pandora (1976) 53 copies
Flight of the Swan (2001) 49 copies
Memoria / Memory (2012) 7 copies
A la sombra de tu nombre (2001) 6 copies, 1 review
First Fictions: Introduction 12 (1995) — Contributor — 5 copies
Die Stimmen der Träume (2000) 4 copies
De jongste pop (2001) 3 copies
Las dos Venecias (1992) 3 copies
La sortija de rubí (2004) 3 copies
El Medio Pollito (1996) 2 copies
Memoir (2016) 2 copies
Corre la voz (1980) 2 copies
Rice And Milk 2 copies
Memoria (2011) 2 copies
Sonatinas (1989) 2 copies
Fisuras (2006) 1 copy
Liens excentriques (2000) 1 copy
La Cucarachita Martina (1990) 1 copy
Isabel (1997) 1 copy
vecindario 1 copy
Maldito Amor 1 copy

Associated Works

The Year's Best Fantasy and Horror: Seventh Annual Collection (1994) — Contributor — 282 copies, 3 reviews
The Big Book of Modern Fantasy (2020) — Contributor — 168 copies, 1 review
A Hammock Beneath the Mangoes: Stories from Latin America (1991) — Contributor — 162 copies, 3 reviews
The Oxford Book of Latin American Short Stories (1997) — Contributor — 121 copies
Goddess of the Americas (1996) — Contributor — 115 copies, 1 review
The Oxford Book of Caribbean Short Stories (1999) — Contributor — 107 copies, 1 review
Gods and Mortals: Modern Poems on Classical Myths (2001) — Contributor — 74 copies, 2 reviews
The Norton Anthology of Latino Literature (2010) — Contributor — 68 copies
Daughters of the Fifth Sun: A Collection of Latina Fiction and Poetry (1995) — Contributor — 59 copies, 1 review
Huellas de las literaturas hispanoamericanas (1996) — Contributor — 59 copies, 1 review
These Are Not Sweet Girls: Poetry by Latin American Women (2000) — Contributor — 45 copies, 1 review
Floricanto Si!: A Collection of Latina Poetry (1998) — Contributor — 30 copies
One World of Literature (1992) — Contributor — 27 copies
Stories of Fantastic Ladies (2002) — Contributor — 12 copies

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Reviews

8 reviews
The House on the Lagoon is a clever story within a story. At the center it tells the tale of Quintin and Isabel Mendizabal. Isabel is trying to become a writer. The House on the Lagoon is her latest project. Multigenerational and historical it sounds a little too much like Quintin and Isabel's own ancestors and personal history. Quintin, being a historian, finds Isabel's manuscript and he simply cannot leave it as fiction. He has to edit the historical details and set the record straight. show more The more he edits the more he realizes the truth about his own marriage. Her unhappiness and his sense of betrayal create a powerful cauldron of simmering disaster.
Ferre's writing is grand. She writes about a time when grand patriarchs presented their heirs with gifts such as steamships weighing eight thousand tons each. A time when segregation had an unsettling effect on Puerto Ricans. Not used to inequality they worried about the color of their skin not being as pure lily white as their northern neighbors.
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A la sombra de tu nombre está constituido por ensayos de diversa índole: recuerdos íntimos, reflexiones acerca del arte de narrar, paseos por el Caribe y diálogos con ilustres muertos. A todos ellos los cobija la sombra de la Dama Literatura, y también todos están signados por la pasión y la sinceridad. No podría ser de otra manera, pues la escritura para Rosario Ferré es el fundamento para vivir, o más que eso, es la vida misma: “Creo que el oficio que escogemos determina show more nuestro destino mucho más que la genética o el entorno. Ni el nombre de pila, ni el apellido de familia resultan, al fin y al cabo, tan importantes. Para identificar certeramente quiénes somos no deberíamos decir ‘soy fulana de tal’, sino ‘amo lo que hago”. Así, puede ase¬gurarse que ninguno de los textos que aparecen aquí carece de cariño y amor, pero tampoco de inteligencia, certeza y razón.

Este libro es el recuento de una vida dedicada
-minuto a minuto, paso a paso - a ese acto que nos hace muy humanos: la literatura.

Tomado de: A la sombra de tu nombre
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Note: I read only the title story:

A surreal story of revenge and the creative ways in which women overcome patriarchal society.
Her short stories are like puzzles or riddles.

Common themes: social classes; relationships; city vs country; Puerto Rico vs the U.S.; truth (subjective)

A good quote from her: "Anger has caused innumerable women writers to write well." -Ferre'

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Statistics

Works
61
Also by
24
Members
985
Popularity
#26,139
Rating
½ 3.7
Reviews
7
ISBNs
99
Languages
7

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