Women, guerrillas, and love : understanding war in Central America /

Rodriguez (Ohio State Univ.) offers a feminist analysis of the position of women in revolution, politics, government, and the nation. If revolution implies change in tradition, it should include new roles for women. However, in political, revolutionary literature, women have been largely excluded and marginalized. Che Guevara's writings on the revolutionary warrior posit a "new man" with increased sensitivity; Che himself eventually emerges as the romantic image of the ideal revolutionary. Yet there is no clear role for women. In addition to Che, authors discussed include Tomas Borge, Roque Dalton, Miguel Angel Asturias, Rigoberta Menchu, Gloria Guardia, Carmen Naranjo, and Claribel Alegria. Other critics who have looked at this subject include Margaret Randall, John Beverley, and Marc Zimmerman. Rodriguez shows the convergence of literature and politics, the contrasts between patriotic and erotic love, with some reference to testimonio and magical realism, continuing some themes from her earlier work House/Garden/Nation: Space, Gender and Ethnicity in Postcolonial Latin American Literature by Women (CH, May'95). These thought-provoking analyses should inspire further research on these important topics. Recommended for upper-division students, researchers, and faculty. M. V. Ekstrom St. John Fisher College