'The Shrouded Woman' of Maria Luisa Bombal

‘The Shrouded Woman’, by Maria Luisa Bombal is by far my favourite book we have read yet. I couldn’t say exactly why, but I think one of the key reasons is that the book was written by a woman. I have been reading all my life, and despite my attempts to read all kinds of literature despite the genre or author, I have found it is always easier to read books written by women. I imagine it is something to do with my ability to relate to the story. While reading ‘Combray’, and ‘Paris Peasant’, I could appreciate the beautiful imagery and the philosophical questions posed by the authors, but I could never quite understand them. Especially with Aragon, who at some points referred to women in a practically objective light. Bombal gave me something to relate to, the position of a woman in a man’s world.

For me, it was so interesting to see the contrast between the world of men and women in this story. Even though the men had most of the power and could often sway the lives and deaths of these women, the women by far had the most interesting lives. It was interesting to see the men sidelined for once, to see a world where women are central to the lives of everyone as opposed to the men being the sole driving forces. This focus on women gave an insight to a world I feel we did not often get insight into – while today there are many books on the lives of women, ‘The Shrouded Woman’, gives an insight into the lives of women over a century ago. Often in literature from this time, I have found female characters to be hard to understand or relate to, which often leads me feeling alienated from the text. Through Bombal’s words and depictions of the unpredictable women in Ana Maria’s life (including herself), I was able to relate to and understand the women in the text. I and every other reader, is able to see a world that I think is often hidden from the male gaze – especially in literature.

Other than the position of women in the text, my favourite part was the imagery Bombal used, and the way she strung together her sentences. The fact that she translated her story from Spanish herself makes me like this even more. I feel there is often an understanding when reading translated texts, that the translation cannot equate to the story in its original language. With Bombal translating this text herself however, the images she contructs seem all the more powerful. Even if the translations are not direct, the story is still wholly hers. This brings me to my question, which is not as philosophical as it could be; what was your favourite piece of imagery in the text? What stood out to you in the most? I’ll leave you with mine:

“Someone, something, drags her along, leads her thorugh an abandoned city covered with a slight layer of dust of ashes, as if some evil breeze had delicately blown over it.

She walks. Night falls. She walks on.

A lawn. In the very heart of that accursed city, a lawn recently watered and phosporascent with insects.

She takes a step. She crosses the double ring of mist surrounding it, and enters shoulder high into the fireflies, as in floating golden dust.” (183)