"ALFONSINA STORNI IN HER SELF-PORTRAITS: THE WOMAN AND THE POET"

Author(s): María A. Salgado

Source: Confluencia , Spring 1992, Vol. 7, No. 2 (Spring 1992), pp. 37-46
Published by: University of Northern Colorado

Stable URL: https://www.jstor.org/stable/27922094

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 "ALFONSINA STORNI IN HER
SELF-PORTRAITS:
THE WOMAN AND THE POET"
Mar?a A. Salgado
The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

Verbal self-portraiture is a neglected plary of this change. She started her literary
genre. This neglect seems even more curi career by espousing Modernism's idealism,
ous in view of the large number of studies and frequently used the textual space as a
dedicated in recent years to the related field means of self-discovery. Her self-portraits,
of autobiography.1 A verbal self-portrait, as Ihowever, never attained the Modernist ideal
use the term, differs from autobiography in of fusion of life and works into one cohesive,
that it consists of a short text in which the self-exalting whole.4 Instead, she portrayed a
author describes his or her own self at a self permanently divided into two warring,
specific moment in time. It is a one-sided incompatible halves. This essay examines
and circumstantial verbal portrayal, analo several of Storni's self-portraits concentrat
gous in these respects to a painted portrait. ing on the relationship between her failure to
In order for such a text to be read as a self render a unified picture of herself and her
portrait, it is also essential that the author growth as a feminist and as a Post-Modern
state explicitly its autobiographical nature poet.
through an author-reader pact of the type As it is the case with all artists, Storni's
Philippe Lejeune discusses in Le Pacte auto life?real and imagined?left its mark in the
biographique ( 1975).2 many volumes she wrote. This fact is impor
In Hispanic literature, self-portraits came tant because her pre-eminent status within
into prominence with Modernismo, as a con the convoluted history of Spanish American
sequence of a literary tradition that believed letters is due to her role as a poet and as a
in the autonomy of the author, in his or her feminist. Her dual role, although not infre
total control over their creation, in the au quent among twentieth-century women
thenticity of the self, and in the referential writers, is significant because within His
nature of language. The Modernist ideal au panic literature she was influential in shaping
thor attempted to fuse life and works into a distinct feminist discourse where little ex
one harmonious whole.3 In contrast, the isted before. In fact, it has been stated that it
Modernist's literary heir, the Post-Modernist is principally as a feminist that Storni has
writer, considered the self to be shattered by influenced many of the Spanish-speaking
the unconscious and determined by linguis women writers who came after her.5 This is
tic conventions beyond any author's control. so much the case that Sonia Jones, who has
Not surprisingly, this change of ideology was thoroughly studies the Argentine poet's life
reflected in the way a number of authors and works, actually considers her literary
portrayed themselves. contributions less influential than the exam
The poetry of Alfonsina Storni is exem ple set by her life (132).

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 Storni grew up poor and female in a tradi may be true that by over-emphasizing sub
tionally sexist, patriarchal culture, and was jective emotions, autobiography has the po
thus far from well-equipped to face her fu tential to hurt the quality of any creative
ture. That she succeeded at all in becoming work, it does not necessarily afect the qual
a major poet is to her credit. Her education, ity of a self-portrait, since in this genre one
rudimentary as it was, had to be cut short at of the prime requisites is faithful adherence
the age of twelve to allow her to work and to the author's vision of his or her own self.
support her family. Eventually, she did earn Furthermore, all of Storni's self-portraits
a teaching degree but, by and large, she was were written after she began her second per
self-taught. This lack of a formal education iod, that is, after she began to master a more
was difficult to overcome, but even more abstract, objective style, leaving behind the
difficult was the stigma of being an unwed subjective feminine expression so often criti
mother. Growing up among the uneducated cized. Thus, although her self-portraits are
poor and raising an illegitimate child marked unavoidably autobiographical, she succeeds
Storm's personality, and inevitably affected in establiching a more objective aesthetic
her poetry. This is particularly true of her distance between herself and her text. In
earlier books, which established her reputa part, she accomplished this distance
tion as a sensitive, rebellious "poetisa? and through irony.
which are characterized by their eroticism Storni's explicit self-portraits are:
and their strong note of feminist protest. As "Humildad;; and "Epitafio para mi tumba"
Storni matured as a poet she moved into the (1925), "Autodemolici?n" (1930),9 "Soneto
second phase of her literary career; a phase a la mujer que aparece en mis retratos"
characterized by the introduction of experi (1932), and "Autorretrato barroco," pub
mental techniques and a more objective and lished posthumously in Mascarilla y tr?bol in
abstract approach to her themes.6 Most crit 1938. Their dates of publication clearly indi
ics, however, have continued to identify her cate that they were written after Storni had
with the earlier feminine (and overtly femi abandoned her "feninine poetry." In fact, the
nist) poems. But while some heap praise on first self-portrait, the sonnet10 "Humildad,"
her feminine sensibility and on the original introduces the book Ocre, a transitional col
way in which she has poeticized the emo lection that heralded her new style while
tions and concerns of womanhood, others retaining many of her old themes and tech
harshly criticize the close correspondence niques. "Humildad announces her poetic
between her life and her poetry, and what change implicitly by glossing the opening
they consider a shameless exhibition of inti lines of Rub?n Dar?o's well-known "Yo soy
mate emotions.7 aqu?l... ." But the similarities between the
Although sometimes it is overstated, it two poems go no further. Dario's text, the
cannot be denied that Storni's early poems opening poem of Cantos de vida y esperanza
are decidedly feminine and feminist in nat (1905), is a self-portrait in which the Nicara
ure, and that these same poems do show a gu?n writer announces his own stylistic
close correspondence between her life and change and the successful fusion of his life
her art.8 Sidonia Carmen Rosenbaum sums and his art into a coherent whole. 11 Storni's
it up this way: "Fated to a life of sorrow that poem is a parody of the original.
terminated in suicide at the age of forty-six In "Humildad," the poetic voice speaks to
... Alfonsina Storni pours out in her many herself, both in the first and the third person
books ... her torments, her ideals, her disil singular (addressing herself as mujer and not
lusionments, her love ..." (206). But, while it as poet), to reject with self-mockery and

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false humility, not only her past style but
also, and most importantly, the significance
of her life?a life she has foolishly dared to
mold into the fragile pages of her perishable
books:
Yo he sido aquella que pase? orgullosa
El oro falso de unas cuantas rimas . . .
Ten paciencia, mujer que eres oscura:
Alg?n d?a, la forma destructora
Que todo lo devora,
Borrar? mi figura.
Se bajar? a mis libros, ya amarillos,
Y alz?ndola en sus dedos, . . .
De un cansado soplido
Me aventar? al olvido. (OPC 239)
"Humildad" foregrounds Storni's intense
sense of worthlessness, her fears about the
predominant (male) critical opinion of her
works?an opinion that will prevent her from
attaining a place in literary history. Thus,
instead of a well-rounded self-portrait,
"Humildad" offers an incomplete record: it
renders the one-sided picture of a woman
whose lack of worth as a poet stops her from
developing a satisfying sense of self. Despite
its narrow approach, however, this poem is
an essential key to understanding Storni's
personality, her bitterness at seeing her
books evaluated exclusively for their femi
nine traits.
Not surprisingly, this same sense of per
sonal irrelevance reappears in her second
self-portrait, "Epitafio para mi tumba," a
poem in which she portrays not her opinion
of herself as a poet, but as a woman. "Epita
fio" uses an impersonal thirdperson voice to
speak about the poetic persona. This person
is identified as Alfonsina in the first line and
then simply as mujer in the rest of the poem.
The text, written in pareados is structured as
a dramatic dialogue between Alfonsina, the
dead woman buried under the stone that
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bears the epitaph, and a passerby. Dramatic
tension is established in the first two lines
through the double meaning of the word
"descanso":
Aqu? descanso yo: dice Alfonsina
El epitafio claro, al que se inclina.
(OPC 272)
In this poem, to rest (to be dead) is to escape
feelings, and since feelings and suffering are
given as synonymous, the poetic voice sug
gests that to rest is to be free of suffering:
Aqu? descanso yo, y en este pozo,
Pues que no siento, me solazo y gozo.
(OPC 272)
However, the insensitivity to life of which
the poetic persona boasts at this point is
steadily contradicted in the following lines.
It is contradicted first, when the speaker
states that having no feelings brings her joy;
second, when she insists on enumerating
the many ways in which she no longer feels;
third, when she shows her interest in life by
questioning her interlocutor as to the mean
ing of a bird's song; and fourth, when she
admits, in the last four lines, that her epitaph
is an outright lie:
"La mujer, que en el suelo est?
dormida,
"Y en su epitafio r?e de la vida,
"Como es mujer, grab? en su sepultura
"Una mentira aun: la de su hartura."
(OPC 273)
The bitter tone of this last statement, and,
the sarcastic allusion to women's lies, sug
gest that by and large Storni's suffering
results from her inferior social status as a
woman. It further suggests that her cele
brated feminine sensibility has brought her
pain in her private life and little lasting fame
in the masculine world of poetry. Her power
over language (the limited power of a wom
an's voice) has served her only to write her
own epitaph?her final lie. Thus suggesting,
as in "Humildad," the lack of significance of Storni is even more sarcastic when she
her work as a poet. moves on to judge her works. In this section
Five years after the publication of these she states, again mockingly, that since a per
two early experiments in self-portraiture, son as sweet as she is could not possibly
Storni published "Autodemolici?n," a totally contradict "God" (that is, the all-powerful
different and more complex portrait. In this critics of her poetry), she has to agree with
first-person work, written in prose, she com "His" prevailing opinion: "soy una gran
ments on her physical, psychological, liter poetisa; pero llena de horribles lunares: de
ary, and moral worth. Even so, it is not a fectuosa, desencontrada y esperando a?n
totally balanced portrayal, but rather, a criti decir mi ?ltima palabra" (331). Storni next
cal review of her shortcomings. In it, she gives a succinct, ironic evaluation of each of
mockingly speaks of the "extraordinary" the six books of poetry she had written to
things that have taken place in her life. For date, 12 followed by a recitation of her major
example, "ser mujer y tener sentido com?n; literary "sins": "poca severidad en la selec
tenerlo, y a pesar de ello, escribir versos" ci?n, complejidad, precipitaci?n, desorden,
(329). She adds, however, that inspite of it despreocupaci?n de detalles y haberme
all, she never thought that she would end up ganado, con un solo libro dos regios premios
writing something negative about her own en met?lico, cosa que no me ha perdonado
self, as she is about to do. She then proceeds mi hermano el literato" (331). Storni's allu
with her portrayal, announcing that she will sion to her male peers' envy, suggests the
first describe "La envoltura, cofre, estuche, same scorn for their critical opinion of her
guante, tubo, vaina, casa o cuerpo donde se works that she had evidenced when she re
halla felinamente recogida mi alma astral" ferred to them as "God."
(329). Of this outside "wrapper" (thus far Next, Storni mentions her "defectos mo
presented in rather impersonal terms, ex rales," without ever alluding to a single one
cept for the negative sexist connotations of of them. By so doing, she succeeds in sug
the adverb felinamente), she delineates the gesting to her readers, once again, the subtly
most obvious details. But in addition to negative effects of the discrimination she has
those, she also reveals a few others which suffered in her personal life. Her words fur
gallantry might have overlooked. Thus, she ther suggest that a great deal of this discrimi
speaks of her short stature; her nose "que nation has come from other women. Storni's
salta violentamente contra el cielo"; her blue resentment against women who uphold a
eyes, "dos ojos oblicuos azul pizarra"; her male moral code is subtly indicated in her
hair, "una nubecilla rubia ceniza"; and, finally noncommittal statement that her moral de
and irreverently, her ungainly large feet fects had been caused by other women, but
(329). that "humilde al fin, los soporto sin disfru
After finishing her physical portrait, Storni tarlos" (331).
mockingly warns the reader, not to look too The text of this autorretrato ends with the
closely at this "wrapper," less she or he be same self-mocking note. That is, by "hum
startled by its contents, which, according to bly" explaining that she is profoundly stupid
her, consist of the following formula: 20% while clueing the readers about the irony of
instinct, 9% fantasy or feeling, 1% heart, the text: "Y si alguno dudara de ello [su
and 70% sugar (329). Although humorous, estupidez] le ruego que relea dos o tres
this description of her psyche is a devastat veces este art?culo" (331).
ing portrayal of typically sexist female attrib In Autodemolici?n, the use of prose allows
utes. Storni to create a more explicit portrait of

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her own self. The added details confirm that ?Por qu? me vuelves torpe la manera?
Storni's basic approach remains unchanged. ?Mu??n deforme la nariz reidera?
Irony still points to her deep-rooted sense of ?Los discretillos ojos garabatos?... .
inferiority as a poet and as a woman. The (OC 524)
insistent portrayal of her feelings of inferior
ity invite the reader's speculations as to the The two tercets foreground the speaker's
negative effects on Storni's life of having had feelings of inadequacy when the poetic voice
to live and to write as a female in a male states that her rather modest desire to be a
dominated cultural milieu.13 simple but distinct woman ("No the ped?a
The next self-portrait, "Soneto a la mujer que me hicieras hada: / Una mujer com?n
que aparece en mis retratos," is a dramatic que tiene acento" [OC 524]) has been
dialogue between the poetic persona and her thwarted by an alter ego who insists in por
body (her alter ego), who she implicitly re traying an image radically different from the
one she knows to be true:
criminates for its constant "betrayals" ("?Por
qu? conmigo haces tan malos tratos?" [OC Pero al bromuro o sepia te me enconas
524]). Judging by this self-portrait, and by
Y, ya fuera de ti, gritas, pregonas,
"Autodemolicidn," Storni disliked her pho
Contra tu pobre madre a todo viento.
tos or, more exactly, she disliked the way she
(OC 524)
looked-an implicit admission of her vanity
and of her awareness that her physique did Despite its damaging psychological impli
not respond to the classical Western ideal of cations, the playful mood of "Soneto a la
female beauty.14 It is interesting to note that mujer" reflects a lighter side of Storni's per
this poem, published with a series of Storni's sonality. In it, the bitterness characteristic of
photographs, was written as a commentary her previous self-portraits, and their allu
on that specific group of pictures.15 sions to her insecurities, are replaced by an
In the first quatrain of "Soneto," the po intensely feminine concern with her physical
etic voice speaks directly to the reader to appearance. "Soneto a la mujer" thus fore
correct the images of herself that are shown grounds the poet's vanity as a woman.
in the photographs. She begins by contrast Storni's final and most accomplished self
ing different segments of her body with al portrait is the anti-sonnet "Autorretrato bar
ternative "shots" of her imagined self. The roco."16 In this text, written at the end of her
first words of "Soneto" accuse her alter ego, life, she omits all individualized physical de
the subterr?nea mujer" in the photo, of sub tails and all petty allusions to literary quar
verting her true self by making her look old rels. Instead, she concentrates on recreating
and ugly: an abstract image of herself; an abstraction
that is characteristic of all of Storni's late
Subterr?nea mujer de mis retratos, poems. All of them show a poet who had
De rostro oscuro y lacia cabellera, abandoned subjective emotion in favor of
Perdida tengo en ti mi primavera intellectual abstraction. The use of abstrac
Que, aunque segunda, reflorece a tion allows Storni to portray her essence
ratos. (OC 524) through the struggle between her masculine
brain (reason) and her feminine heart (emo
tion). This struggle, already implicitly sug
A series of questions follow, to suggest
gested in more sentimentalized form in her
alternative views (readings) of the poet's
previous self-portraits, emerges as a central
poses:
metaphor in her late poems. It becomes

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 apparent to her readers that the split, obvi tortions of traditional Western Culture. For
ously encoded in the very language she Storni, in Latin America, and despite the
speaks and writes, has prevented her from softening effects of the (supposedly more
developing an accepting relationship with feminine) warmth and light provided by the
her own self. tropics, culture continues to be dominated
Stylistically, the title, "baroque self by masculine signs. Thus, her head, al
portrait," points to Storms discovery of though that of a woman, is crowned with
Gongorism and of the new use of metaphor tresses of steel. That is to say, the "new"
she had learned through her belated ac mask still stresses masculinity, a fact visually
quaintance with the Spanish Vanguard.17 represented in the changing of the ornamen
Her awareness of the baroque is evident also tal leaves into combative curls:
in the objects she chooses to portray in her
El Nuevo Continente soplo rachas
self-portrait and in the pose she strikes. In
de tr?pico y de sud y abrid sus soles
fact, the arrangement of the text implicitly
sobre la testa que cambi? su acanto
portrays the author as a prime example of en acerados bucles combativos.
the deformed sexist ideology prevalent in
(OC 371)
her milieu. Storni begins her self-portrait, by
suggesting that she, as a product of Western
culture, is a "baroque" mixture of Judeo The tercets, in which she represents the
Christian and Greco-Roman elements, heart in traditionally feminine terms, draw a
which, upon being transplanted to the New contrast with the quatrains, and their dehu
World, have undergone a further deforma manized depiction of the head. The mascu
tion.18 In the quatrains, she effectively uses line images used to describe the head had
several well-chose markers of Western cul emphasized lifelessness through the hard
ture to portray herself. Her head (seat of the ness and coldness of the stone and mineral
intellect) disappears under a Greek mask, worlds, but the images she will use to de
turned rusty in the Roman catacombs: scribe the feminine heart pulsate with life
and tenderness:
Una m?scara griega, enmohecida
en las romanas catacumbas, vino En un cuerpo de luna, tan ligero
cortando espacio a mi calzante cara. que acunaban las rosas tropicales
El cr?neo un viejo m?rmol carcajeante. un ?rgano, tremendo de ternura,
(OC 371)
me dobl? el pecho. . . . (OC 371)
While the use of the classical mask may
superficially appear to allude to Storni's per The last line suggest that despite its femi
sonal ties to Italy, a closer examination will nine tenderness, her heart contains a pas
show that at a more universal level it is in sion capable of bending her body out of
tended to stand for a fossilized, self-mocking shape. Storni uses this paradox to indicate
cultural tradition: a rusty mask, superim the duality of her nature: her passion infuses
posed on a guffawing marble skull. Thus her her heart with powerful strength, but her
head, a piece of cold marble fused to a rusty passion also makes it unduly vulnerable
mask, becomes an irreverently deformed "(ternura"). Due in part to this duality, it will
image of the Old World. In the next qua never be able to overcome reason-the main
train, Storni completes the delineation of attribute of the intellect in the male oriented
her intellectual half by alluding to the New ideology of Western Culture?which she rep
World's aggressive reaffirmation of the dis resents in the dehumanized mask that liter

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ally and figuratively rules her life and that Storni's text evidences not only her in
effectively prevents the harmonious reunifi creased mastery of the tools of her poetic
cation of her divided self. Not surprisingly, craft, but more importantly, the beginnings
the poem ends by graphically portraying of a feminist discourse. Finally, and in terms
with a question mark the unresolved dis of Storni's modernity, this self-portrait
agreement between the head and the heart, shows that she had outgrown not only Mo
between reason and emotion. dernista modes of expression, but also the
By choosing to structure "Autorretrato ideology of Modernism. By so doing, she
barroco" through the opposition of moved beyond a satisfied, and obviously
"head/heart," and of reason and feeling, male-centered, search for a unified self to
Storni alerts the reader to the fact that she wards the disconcerting uncertainties which
knew her true essence lay in the unresolved are at the core of Post-Modernist ideology.
conflict created by her experiences as a fe In other words, "Autorretrato barroco" por
male.19 Her inability (symptomatic of the trays Storni's struggle to find her own poetic
inability of her cultural milieu) to bring about voice while capturing her emergence into
a resolution of the conflict?in spite of know the Post-Modern ideology of the shattered
ing of its existence- is embodied in the un self. It may thus be concluded that in addi
answered question with which she chose to tion to being an accurate self-portrait and a
end her self-portrait: conclusive document of Storni's poetic
growth, "Autorretrato" is a most powerful
. . . Mas, ?por qu? sus sones feminist indictment of a male dominated
[los latidos del coraz?n]
system that had deprived her?and so many
contra el cr?neo se helaban y
other women like her?of her right to fulfill
expand?an herself as an intellectual and, above all, as a
woman.
por la burlesca boca acartonada?
(OC 371)
Notes
My reading of this text suggests that
Storni finally succeeded in portraying her *I refer to the several well-known studies
essence, but she did not do it by exalting a by critics such as James Olney, W. C.
harmonious (Modernist) joining of life and Spengemann, Michel Beaujour, Elizabeth
works. On the contrary, she did it by writing W. Bruss, William L. Howarth, Paul Jay, G.
a self-portrait that is a locus for converging Gusdorf, John Pilling, Avron Fleishman, and
but unresolved tensions: a portrayal of her Sidonie Smith, to mention just a few.
feminist struggle in terms of the divisive cul 2Lejeune later rejected the normative and
tural split that had created it.20 From an artis existential definitions which are at the core
tic point of view, it is evident that by of Le Pacte, arguing instead, that autobiogra
presenting an intellectualized, abstract, di phy is a mode of reading (see "Le Pacte
vided self, that is, by omitting physical de autobiographique [bis]"). But, precisely be
tails and personal anecdotes, Storni's cause it is a mode of reading, I believe that to
self-portrait mirrors the experiences of many read a text as an autobiography, readers need
thinking women of her own time. "Autorre to be told explicitly that author, narrator, and
trato barroco" thus becomes an emblematic protagonist are one and the same.
portrait of the plight of women in the West 3I am using the term Modernism not in its
ern World. From a feminist perspective, narrow sense of el Modernismo hispano fin de

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siglo, but, to include the more universal con included in Andreola s Alfonsina Storni under
cept of Modernism prevalent in Western lit the title "?Qui?n soy yo?" (15-18).
erature in the 1920s and 30s. For an analysis 10For Phillips, in Ocre, there is no drastic
of Modernist and Post-Modernist ideology change in poetic form and content, but,
and their depiction on an artist's visions of rather, a more subtle change in the tone of
the self see John C. Wilcox, Self and Image in the poetic voice. The book is also "shot
Juan Ram?n Jim?nez (Urbana and Chicago: U through by disconcerting lashes of the irony
of Illinois P, 1987). which from now on will mark Storni's ma
4Storni's inability to reach a harmonious ture work, poetry and drama alike" (45). In
resolution of the problems of the self are reference to Storni's feminism, Percas be
expressed through the use of paradoxes, the lieves that it is "en Ocre donde el tono
abstractly dehumanized nature of her imag feminista aparece de manera m?s definida
ery, and the rejection of traditional versifica porque ve la inexorabilidad del destino de
tion. The vision of herself that she presents esclavitud de la mujer. . . . Considera a la
in her last portrait suggests that her contact mujer no inferior intelectualmente sino
with the Vanguard and her experiences as a biol?gicamente" (152).
woman writer had moved her away from the nFor a valuable analysis of "Yo soy
relative security of the author-centered (and aqu?l..." as a text that outlines Dar?os's
totally male oriented) Modernist ideology internal-external duality, see Angel Rama's
into the conflictive perspectivistic ideology introdution to Rub?n Dar?o. Poes?a (Caracas:
of Post-Modernism. Biblioteca Ayacucho, 1977).
5See the evaluations of Storni's feminist 12These are Storni's opinions: La inquietud
role in Sonia Jones' Alfonsina Storni and Ra del rosal "libro tan malo como inocente"; El
chel Phillips' Alfonsina Storni. From Poetess to dulce da?o "despreocupaci?n de la forma,
Poet. extravagancia y exceso de literatura"; Irreme
6The critic Rachel Phillips has clearly es diablemente "sobre saturaci?n de az?car":
tablished this evolution in her book Alfonsina Ocre "exceso de razonamiento y una anti
Storni. From Poetess to Poet. p?tica iron?a"; Poemas de amor"nada m?s que
7For some negative critical opinions on su brevedad" (329, 331).
Storni's work see Phillips 29-30 and 40-41. 13Although tongue-in-cheek, her slurs at
8In reference to this topic, Helena Percas herself and at women in general abound in
explains that all of the "events" present in this text: as pointed out above she considers
Storni's works "happened," "hayan existido it "extraordinary" to be a woman and to have
o no?en el sentido que responden a su tem common sense; she describes her astral soul
peramento, a las situaciones de su vida, al as "felina"; over-emphasizes what she con
ambiente en que vivid y al momento his siders to be her physical defects (her "un
t?rico de entre-guerras. La justeza de su feminine" large feet, for example); states that
realidad psicol?gica es, por otra parte, una she has no brain (she is 100% instinct, feel
de las mayores innovaciones de su arte, pues ing, heart, and sugar); blames her moral de
rebasa los l?mites personales para experien fects on other women; refers to her
cias de la mujer de esa ?poca de transici?n "humble" (that is, woman-like) suffering;
entre la vida patriarcal y la moderna, con and calls herself stupid.
todo lo que esto supone de modificaciones 14On the subject of self-portraits and pho
materiales y cambios ps?quicos en el sentir y tographs see Mar?a A. Salgado, "Mirrors,
el pensar femeninos" (136). Portraits, and the Self," Romance Quarterly
9A somewhat loner version of this text is 33.4 (Nov. 1986): 439-52.

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 15According to Andreola (269), this sonnet contradictions within her; for there was a
was published in the journal El Hogar (Bs As, bitter war, as in so many other 'idealists,'
Dec. 30, 1932). G?mez Paz discusses it as between her aspirations and reality, between
one of two "forgotten poems." She considers her art and her life, between her emotions
"Soneto" a very circumstantial text, written and her intellect" (225-26).
in response to Storni's need to correct the 20Storni's awareness of the double
negative effect she feared her pictures might standard implicit in her culture is verbalized
have had in her reading public. G?mez con in a statement translated and quoted by
curs that Storni's pictures presented a dis Jones: "My greatest failure has been not to
torted image of the poet: "El otro poema be able to convince those around me that,
olvidado es un soneto. Apareci? encuadrado since I have a masculine brain I have the
por varios retratos de la autora en los que su right to live my life with the independence,
rostro, sonriente, pensativo, reconcentrado, the dignity, and the decorum with which any
melanc?lico, suspicaz o malicioso no daba la normal many can live his" (38). Ironically
imagen inconfundible de la poetisa de Ocre: this statement betrays Storni's unconscious
el halo de su caballera, la claridad de su acceptance of the double-standard she so
mirada, su grano de sal y su gota de miel. ardently decried and that effectively pre
Eso ocurr?a siempre con sus retratos, quiz? vented her from ever accepting her feminine
porque nu naturaleza m?vil y su ser tremo half.
lante se trasluc?an sobre todo en la pureza
del timbre de su voz y en la c?lida onda de su
presencia. Al verse asi, enga?ada y torpe
mente aludida por un rostro que no era el Works Cited
suyo, se decidi? a encarar a la usurpadora en
los versos titulados A la mujer que aparece en
Andreola, Carlos A. Alfonsinsa Storni.
mis retratos" (47). Vida-Talento-Soledad Buenos Aires: Plus Ul
16Storni called her last poems anti-sonnets tra, 1976.
because, contrary to traditional sonnets,
they have no rhyme.
G?mez Paz, Julieta. Leyendo a Alfonsina
Storni. Buenos Aires: Losada, 1966.
17For most critics, Storni's late experimen
tation with her theatrical and poetic texts Jones, Sonia. Alfonsina Storni. TWAS 519.
occured after her contacts with Garcia Lorca Boston: G.K. Hall, 1979.
and the Spanish Vanguard, following Lorca's Lejeune, Philippe. Le Pacte autobiographi
visit to Argentina in 1930 and her two trips que. Paris: Seuil, 1970.
to Spain in 1930 and 1934.
? "Le Pacte autobiographique (bis)." In
18I am not convinced by Percas' reductive
L'Autobiographie en Espagne. Actes du 11mm
interpretation that Storni's division between
Colloque International de la Baume-less-Aix.
her head and her heart is limited to repre
Baume-less-Aix: U de Provence, 1982. 7
senting the poet's mixed European and 26.
Latin American cultures.
19Rosenbaum also sees in Storni's internal Percas, Helena. "Alfonsina Storni y la
struggle the essence of her personality: Generaci?n del 16." La poes?a femenina ar
"One can say, therefore, that Alfonsina never gentina (1810-1950). Madrid: Ediciones de
achieved true happiness?nor spiritual Cultura Hisp?nica, 1958. 77-249.
repose-not only because Fortune was ad Phillips, Rachel. Alfonsina Storni. From Po
verse but because of the insurmountable etess to Poet. London: Tamesis Books, 1976.

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 Rosenbaum, Sidonia Carmen. "Alfonsina ? Obras completas, I. Buenos Aires:
Storni." Modern Women Poets of Spanish Amer SELA, 1976.
ica. New York: Hispanic Institute, 1945.
205-27. ? Obra po?tica completa. 2nd ed. Buenos
Storni, Alfonsina. "Autodemolici?n." Re Aires: Editora Latino Americana, 1964.
pertorio Americano. (San Jos? de Costa Rica)
11.21 (7 Junio 1930): 329, 331.

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