perhaps the most acclaimed Argentine poet of the modernist period, Alfonsina Storni is one of the foremost writers and intellectuals in Latin American literature. Storni was one of the first successful fighters for women to occupy spaces in American literature.
her writing was characterized by a “feminine” vision of the world, coupled with a combativeness then unusual in intellectual circles. she became an influential person to other writers and literary circles (see picture below), many times being the only woman invited to intellectual societies and events. her valuable voice became particularly relevant in Latin American poetry, and she worked for feminist causes along with contemporaries Gabriela Mistral and Juana de Ibarbouroi.
throughout her career, her writing style
underwent an evolution from
romanticism to the “symptomatic”
intimacy of rising modernism to avantgarde. the breadth and themes of her
poems, coupled with her death by suicide
in 1938, have transformed her into a
mythical figure in the Latin American
consciousness.
born in 1892 in Switzerland, Storni immigrated to Argentina in 1896 and lived most of her life there until her death in 1938. forced to earn her living at an early age, Storni joined a theatrical troupe and later taught school in the rural areas of Argentina. in 1912 she bore a child out of wedlock and in 1913 was driven to seek anonymity in Buenos Aires.
some of Storni’s most famous poems include: “Tú me quieres blanca”, “Peso ancestral”, “Voy a dormir”, “Date a volar”, “Dos palabras”, and “Esta tarde”.
