Editorial Espinas recovers Carmen Lyra, a writer who denounced the labor exploitation of women in the banana industry, in an anthology with a prologue by Bibiana Collado
The Espinas publishing house publishes ‘Bananos y hombres’, a set of class-conscious feminist stories, the work of Costa Rican author Carmen Lyra. The collection, published for the first time in Spain, includes several of the most relevant founding texts of Costa Rican literature of social conscience, a small gem of American literature. The prologue is signed by Bibiana Collado Cabrera, author of ‘Yeguas exhaustas’, one of the literary revelations of the moment.
The proposal supports a solid analysis of the historical female subject limited to the domestic space or eclipsed by male dominance. Furthermore, it introduces a political position in which a revolutionary plea for renewal is advanced: criticism of social inequalities. Through this work, Carmen Lyra exposes the abuses perpetrated by economic, political and class power against marginalized groups, especially against women and children. The stories included in this collection offer a colorful, ironic and disturbing journey through the prejudices and social structures of the early 20th century, but, above all, they are a powerful denunciation of the immovable structure of power.
Carmen Lyra, the name used by María Isabel Carvajal Quesada, a writer from the early 20th century, denounced social inequalities. Her fight for the rights of women and the dispossessed included the proposal of an affordable housing law and the creation of the first teachers’ union in Costa Rica.
The prologue of the collection is signed by Bibiana Collado Cabrera, author of ‘Yeguas exhaustas’ (Pumpkin seeds, 2023), a book that also addresses inequality between men and women with a class component. Collado points out: “Carmen Lyra’s voice speaks in our ears about what we know is still happening today. Her writing generates a fruitful restlessness. Who would have thought that excess light could be so disturbing. The sun breaks our reading and strangles us with the certainty that everything remains the same as the pages progress.”
*Original content provided by the publisher
– Carmen Lyra was a writer from Costa Rica who stood out as a communist leader and feminist pioneer in the civil struggle in America, as well as as a writer.
– It is the first time that the work sees the light in Spain
– “Lyra’s voice speaks in our ears about what we know is still happening today. Her writing generates a fertile restlessness,” writes Bibiana Collado, prologue writer of the work.
– The work includes stories such as ‘Ramona, the woman of the ember’ or ‘Children’, which reflect the reality of banana production and the fight for the rights of workers in the region
– Espinas seeks to rescue and disseminate an author who is committed and critical of the social and political reality of her time.
Source: https://algunoslibrosbuenos.com/bananos-y-hombres
