Teresa de la Parra (October 5, 1889 – April 23, 1936) was a Venezuelan novelist. She was born Ana Teresa Parra Sanojo in Paris, the daughter of Rafael Parra Hernáiz, Venezuelan Ambassador in Berlin, and Isabel Sanojo de Parra.
As a member of a wealthy family, Ana Teresa spent part of her childhood at her father’s hacienda Tazón. After the death of her father, Ana Teresa and her sisters were taken by their mother to study at the Sacred Heart School, in Godella, Spain. Under fervent religious precepts, they received a solid education, suitable for upper-class young ladies. Ana Teresa returned to Caracas at the age of 19.
After she settled in Paris, de la Parra travelled and had an intense social life. She began to research a biography of Simón Bolívar, perhaps inspired by the centenary of his death. However, her idea was interrupted when she was diagnosed with tuberculosis. Teresa de la Parra wandered in several European sanatoriums, mainly in Switzerland and Spain, but did not find a cure. It was then that she met Cuban poet and anthropologist Lydia Cabrera who would play an important role in de la Parra’s life during her last years. She reflected about her philosophical and literary ideas, and studied her own work and life evolution through the years.
Teresa de la Parra died in Madrid. Her remains were exhumed and brought to Caracas in 1947. In 1989, the 100th anniversary of her birth, she was reburied with honors at the National Pantheon in Caracas.
(Wikipedia)
De la Parra and the Plurality of History
This is a “backwoods” history that aims, with gentle irony, to question the usual privileging of “civilization” over “barbarism” that otherwise structures most literary depictions of nineteenth-century Latin America.
- De la Parra, Teresa. Mama Blanca’s Memoirs. Critical Edition. Trans. Harriet de Onis, revised by Frederick Fornoff. Ed. Doris Sommer. Pittsburgh: University of Pittsburgh Press, 1993.
De la Parra videos
Rostros de Venezuela | Vida y obra de Teresa de la Parra:
TERESA DE LA PARRA: LOS ESPACIOS SACRIFICADOS:
- Sloan, Cynthia. “Nation Building as Child’s Play: Teresa de la Parra’s Las memorias de Mamá Blanca (1929).” Chasqui 47.1 (May 2018): 114-128.
- Sommer, Doris. “‘It’s Wrong to Be Right’: Mama Blanca on Writing Like a Woman.” Mama Blanca’s Memoirs. By Teresa de la Parra. Critical Ed. Trans. Harriet de Onis, revised by Frederick Fornoff. Ed. Doris Sommer. Pittsburgh: University of Pittsburgh Press, 1993. xv-xxviii.
Among the many delights that Mama Blanca recalls from her childhood, she tells us that “the order of the glass of milk fresh from the cow was, without doubt, the pleasantest of them all.” The source of this happiness is not simply the milk’s taste, “covered in foam in which we buried our noses as we raised the glass,” but also the process by which the milk is produced and delivered: “the atmosphere of the cow barn at six in the morning” (90). The “republic of the cows,” presided over by “Daniel the cowherd,” provides a lesson in “wisdom” and “good government” (91). More than this, the young Blanca Nieves and her sisters can see immediately where both the milk and the political arrangements that enable its production come from. In a novel concerned often about the relationship between ideas and habits that come from without, to be imposed on the country, the plantation, and its inhabitants, and ways of being and acting that arise from within, milk, whose origin and emergence can be visualized and understood, seems to be an instance of the latter: an organic source of nutrition and harmonious social order.
De la Parra questions
- What is the role of the “editor”? What is the function of the “frame narrative” presented in the novel’s Foreword?
- What is the effect of presenting this story through the eyes of a young child?
- What is the role of memory in this novel?
- What is the relationship between the children and their parents?
- What is the relationship between the children and the plantation workers?
- What does Blanca Nieves learn through her interactions on the plantation?
- How do things change when the family moves to the city?
- What does the novel have to say about history?
- What does the novel have to say about the relationship between appearance and essence?
- What does the novel have to say about names and naming?
- What does the novel have to say about the relationship between words and things?
- Is this a feminist text?
The following questions are taken from your blog posts…
On Memory
Do you think that the nostalgia and inability to fully grasp memories make them more fond?
“memories do not change, and change is the law of existence.” I understand the point she is making. But memories are not static in two senses. [. . .] How do others interpret this line? Am I overthinking an offhand observation, or is there a tension between memory as a static object and a dynamic process in this text?
What are your thoughts on the idea that all power is lost if your name is lost to history, is power only eternal as long as your name remains in the consciousness of those living in the present?
Did you have any similar experiences as a child to those of Mama Blanca? How did they shape you? In your own words, how would you describe the value of memory throughout literature–what social power does it have?
Was there a particular scene that was described, that made you think back to your childhood? And if so, how did you feel when recalling that memory?
If you were to write a memoir of your childhood, which memories or significant events would you include? What makes these memories significant? Would you wish for this memoir to be publicly published or would you, like Mama Blanca, be firmly against these personal recollections being shared with the world?
What is your favorite childhood memory that you think still has a great impact on you to this day?
Do your grandparents/grandparents’ house have significant meaning and memories to you? Do these memories differ from the ones you had in your own house?
Have you visited a place important to your childhood? And, if so, was it the same as it was in your memory? Did you experience any feelings of loss or pain like Mama Blanca did?
Does the acceptance of change mean we should let go of our past and memories? Is it possible to hold onto our past while still embracing change?
On the Characters
At what points is Mama Blanca portrayed negatively in the text through her behaviour, and what points are positives? Additionally, are the positives always in line with contemporary thought and how we think today?
Why do you think Violeta is unable to connect with the magic of storytelling, compared to her sister, Blanca Nieves? Is storytelling a silly activity to bide one’s time, or is there something more profound within it?
Why was “admiration” for their personality differences was one-sided between Violeta and Mama Blanca.
Which sister did you find more exciting or liked the most?
Apart from Blanca, what character stood out the most? Which character embodied the central themes of the novel to you?
Why do you think Mama Blanca included the story of cousin Juancho, or Vincente, or the man that milked the cows specifically?
On the Editor
Do you think it was justified for the young girl to publish Mama Blanca’s work to have her memory persist? Or was it a betrayal?
To what extent do you think Mama Blanca’s Memoirs by Teresa de la Parra differs from the original memoirs by Mama Blanca?” How do you think having a memoir be edited in this way impacts the experience of reading it? Do you think most memoirs being published today follow this same editing style, or do you think it is different?
To what extent do you believe that Mama Blanca’s memoirs were altered by the unnamed editor to serve some unknown motivation of their own?
To what extent does the memoir lose or gain value though having been edited prior to publication? Can the narrator be trusted to not have over-edited so as to fit into the ‘fashion’ of published biograhies?
On story-telling
Mama Blanca stated that she sometimes “demanded an ‘old story,’ but stipulating tyrannical changes that reflected the varying states or desires of [her] spirit” (32). Do you have any experiences of allowing your imagination and feelings to create new endings to stories?
What might the ever changing stories told by Blanca Nieves’ mother represent? Do they simply respond to the whims of a child? Or are they a symbol for pluralism?
Other
How would you describe Mama Blanca’s memoir in one word?
Do you think aesthetic appearance gives people power in society? And if so how? Does it hinder or advance female influence/power?
Why do you think there is such an emphasis on naming throughout the memoir?
Looking further into the meaning of your own name, do you think your own name matches its original meaning? How so? Do you think others would have the same perspective as you or not (e.g. how Blanca does not believe that Violetta’s name corresponds to the meaning of the name)?
While growing up, was there something that made you feel like an outsider whether with siblings or friends? And how that might continue to impact you today?
What specific events or reasons do you think that motivated Blanca to fight for her rights as a woman? In your opinion, how is sexism related with the social and political setting of Venezuela at the time?
What do you think is the symbolism behind the use of the colour white in Mama Blanca’s Memoirs?
Did you make any personal connection with the text?
“Love is not love unless it is opposed, nor is a friendship that does not involve sacrifice worth the name.” What do you think of this quote about love? Do you agree that opposition/sacrifice is necessary?
What was your favorite line of imagery that was used in this reading?
How do you see Blanca Nieves’ sense of justice playing out in the relationships and dynamics of her own family and community as an old woman?
What do you think the author was trying to communicate through the conclusion of the novel?
Do you think play is necessary in literature? Why/why not?
